文稿来源：经济学人 2018年12月8日期刊
George H.W. Bush
这是一篇由现象级英语社群小伙伴们组队解析《经济学人》文章的笔记，以下是我负责的 ⑥-⑦ 段的内容赏析：
标题：Doing his darnedest
George Herbert Walker Bush, 41st president of the United States, died on November 30th, aged 94
Paragraph 6:
① His forte, and first love, was foreign policy. ② He had been ambassador to the UN for Nixon, an envoy to China for Gerald Ford (he and Barbara riding round delightedly on bicycles) and head of the CIA, besides, as vice-president, a follower-of-the-hearse at dozens of state funerals. ③ Instinctively, he thought in terms of global power games; fortuitously, his time as president coincided with the end of the cold war, a heady and fascinating moment. ④ With Mikhail Gorbachev he struck up an easy working friendship, and in 1991, in the wake of the Gulf war, he even had a moment of comprehensive vision: a new world order, based not on force but on the rule of law, which America would strongly lead.
段落大意：这一段主要介绍老布什总统在外交政策方面的长袖善舞，既是他的强项(forte)，又是他的初心(first love)。 后面的②句介绍他在外交史上的身份、角色，③④句简单说明他在任总统期间的重大外交事件，点出他作为一个时代的过渡性人物的恰逢其时。
① His forte, and first love, was foreign policy.
这句统领整段的中心句着实漂亮，三个断句中的中心词 forte, first love, foreign policy 押头韵，读起来琅琅上口。
forte，在音乐方面表示 “强音”，最常见的意思是指 “某人的专长/长处”，可同义替换 strong point，反义词可以是我们在 “每日一词” 里学过的 soft spot. 比如说，写作是我的强项，不过唱歌却是我的软肋，就可以这么表达：Writing is my forte, although music is my soft spot.
② He had been ambassador to the UN for Nixon, an envoy to China for Gerald Ford(he and Barbara riding round delightedly on bicycles) and head of the CIA, besides, as vice-president, a follower-of-the-hearse at dozens of state funerals.
这句介绍老布什总统令人瞩目的履历，表达足够简洁精炼，用 ambassador 和 envoy 这两个异词同义分别表示联合国大使和驻北京联络处主任的身份，且用 for+总统的名字点出任职的年间，一目了然有新意的同时还不拖沓，不过这种用法受限于你所指代的信息得是广为人知的才能让人心领神会。
③ Instinctively, he thought in terms of global power games; fortuitously, his time as president coincided with the end of the cold war, a heady and fascinating moment.
这句话用副词 instinctively 和 fortuitously 分别引导两个句子，说明老布什总统执政的恰逢其时(1989-1992)。他内在本能地对全球权力博弈（外交事务）的长袖善舞，又恰逢世界格局中，冷战时代的结束，各国都处于百废待兴，跃跃欲试的兴奋中。这里体现出他作为一个时代的关键性和过渡期人物的形象。
fortuitously，作为副词，常见于书面语中，表示 “意外地，幸运地”，happening by chance, especially in a way that has a good result，与 fortunately, luckily 同义。与句子后面的 coincide with 形成对应，进一步说明他出任总统的恰逢其时。
heady，形容词，表示 “饮料易使人醉的；气氛/经历等令人兴奋的”，very exciting in a way that makes you feel as if you can do anything you want to；比如我们想表达 “他们被接二连三的成功冲昏了头”，就可以这么说：They were heady with one success after another.
fascinating，形容词，表示 “引人入胜的”，extremely interesting.
④ With Mikhail Gorbachev he struck up an easy working friendship, and in 1991, in the wake of the Gulf war, he even had a moment of comprehensive vision: a new world order, based not on force but on the rule of law, which America would strongly lead.
这句继续介绍当时的世界格局&老布什总统的外交策略：和前苏联领导人戈尔巴乔夫(Mikhail Gorbachev) 的建交，随后的海湾战争(the Gulf war)，老布什总统的“世界新秩序” 和 “超越遏制战略” 的理论，使得美国爆发出新一轮强大的政治经济攻势。
strike up a friendship/relationship/conversation etc，固定短语搭配，表示 “开始建立友谊/关系，开始交谈”，to start to become friendly with someone, to start talking to them, etc；比如想表达某人没有勇气向坐在角落边的女生搭讪，就可以这么说：I dare you to strike up a conversation with the girl sitting in the corner.
in the wake of，表示 “紧随而来，作为…结果”，比如 “干旱之后必然是饥荒” 可以这么说：Famine followed in the wake of the drought.
Paragraph 7:
① Such grandiloquence, like eloquence, was rare in him. ② He was schooled in modesty, fond of the small behind-the-scenes gesture rather than the large public show. ③ He belonged to a generation that had no patience for today’s blowhards who, putting self before nation, always push themselves forward. ④ But when the times and events demanded he could, perhaps to his own surprise, find the right words and walk confidently ahead.
这一段的①句是对上一段的承接，后面的②③④句则是对文章前面内容的回顾与呼应。
① Such grandiloquence, like eloquence, was rare in him.
这里的 grandiloquence 承接上一段老布什总统提出 “世界新秩序” 和 “超越遏制战略” 理论，志在加强美国在世界格局中的主导地位，像这样的豪言壮语在他的性格里是不多见的。
grandiloquence /grænˈdɪləkwəns/，名词，表示 “豪言壮语，夸张之言”，可以分成 grand +词根 loqu(说话) + ence 来记忆；同时还可以加上后面表示 “雄辩、口才、修辞” 的名词 eloquence 一起记忆。
② He was schooled in modesty, fond of the small behind-the-scenes gesture rather than the large public show.
这句是对①句中的 eloquence 进行解释，同时也是对文章前面内容的回顾，再次强调老布什总统性格中的谦逊，对应本文第二段中母亲对他的教导：don’t walk ahead。所以比起公开露脸，他更喜欢退后一步，当个幕后人员，比如前文中提到的在里根总统任期的他，从未批评里根或抢其风头(never criticised or upstaged him)。
这里的 small behind-the-scenes gesture 和 large public show 是一对妥妥的对比。
③ He belonged to a generation that had no patience for today’s blowhards who, putting self before nation, always push themselves forward. ④ But when the times and events demanded he could, perhaps to his own surprise, find the right words and walk confidently ahead.
这句说的是老布什总统的那个时代，并不推崇当今动辄高谈阔论，将个人利益置于国家利益之上，夸夸其谈的人(个人感觉这里有在隐射某现任总统的意味呀~)。只不过倘若时势需要，他也可以义无反顾的站出来 “发声”，比如前文公开要求尼克松总统辞职的举措。同样的，最后的 walk confidently ahead 也是对前文母亲的教导 don’t walk ahead 的再次呼应。由此可见作者行文的思虑周全。
blowhard，非正式文体中表示 “自吹自擂，高谈阔论的人”，someone who talks too much and has very strong opinions；可以联想记忆 windbag 这个表示 “夸夸其谈的话痨子”，someone who talks too much.
have no/little patience for sb, 这个句式表达可以学起来，比如想表达 “我受不了浪费时间的人”，就可以这么说：I have no patience for time-wasters.
网友评论