雅思阅读时间：说脏话还有好处？摘自《经济学人》

　　大家对说脏话的人什么印象？低俗？粗鲁？没文化？也许吧。不过来自经济学人一期关于“脏话”的文章对飙脏话有别的看法哟。文章在下面，大家自己去看吧，备考雅思的小伙伴们都知道，经济学人的文章有空还是需要多刷一刷的~既能拓展知识层面，又能从文章中提炼出不同角度的观点，无论是雅思口语还是写作都有一定的帮助。

 

 

　　文章精读

　　Profane language

　　Foul play --- Swearing Is Good forYou.

　　摘自TheEconomist January 27th 2018

　　

　　01

　　IN THESE potty-mouthed times, when certain world leaders sling profanity about with abandon, many observers naturally lament  the debasement of speech. But instead of clutching pearls, why not find a silver lining? Learning more about when, how and why people swear offers insight into everything from the human brain to a society’s taboos. Trash talking even affords some real physical and social benefits, as Emma Byrne argues in “Swearing Is  Good for You”.　

　　

　　段落大意：大部分人认为说脏话是语言的堕落，但是Emma Byrne认为谩骂其实有好处。

 

　　potty-mouthed  满嘴脏话的

　　potty mouth满口脏话的人

　　sling v.  （随意而稍用力地）扔，掷，抛

　　e.g. Lou slung his suitcase onto the bed.

　　卢把手提箱扔到床上。

 

　　profanity n.  亵渎的语言；脏话

　　profane adj.亵渎的  v.亵渎

　　with abandon  恣意地，放纵地

　　abandon v.抛弃  n. 放任

　　lament v.  哀悼，悲叹

 

　　e.g. The nation lamented the death of its great war leader.

　　举国上下都在哀悼他们伟大的战时。

　　debasement n.  贬低，堕落

　　debase v.贬低(声望)

　　e.g. The medical profession has been debased by these revelations.

　　这些事被披露后，医学界的声誉受到了损害。

　　a silver lining  希望

　　taboo n.   禁忌

　　trash talking  废话，脏话

 

　　02

　　For all their shock value, swear words are practical and elastic, capable of threatening aggression or coaxing a laugh. Among peers, profane banter is often a sign of trust—a way of showing solidarity with a larger group. Critics may say such language reveals boorish thinking or a limited vocabulary, but swearing is often impressively strategic, and a fluency in crass language typically correlates with verbal fluency in general.

　　

　　段落大意：脏话很实用而且很灵活。说脏话通常需要策略，而且流利地说粗话表明语言使用的流利度。

 

　　elastic adj.  有弹性的

　　elasticity n.弹性，灵活性

　　aggression n.  攻击性

　　e.g. Television violence can encourage aggression in children.

　　电视暴力会助长儿童的攻击性行为。

 

　　coax v.哄骗，劝诱　　

　　banter n.玩笑，打趣

　　solidarity n.团结

　　solidary adj.团结一致的

　　boorish adj.粗野的

　　boor n.粗野的人

　　strategic adj.策略的

　　crass adj.粗鲁的

 

　　03

　　Because the language learnt in infancy has the greatest emotional resonance, swearing in your mother tongue always feels most powerful, even among the most fluent multilinguals. As swearing functions as a complex signal, subtle enough either to amuse or to offend, these words vary according to what a culture deems unmentionable. Russian, for example, “has an almost infinite number” of ways to swear, most of them involving the honour of your mother. As for Japanese, because the culture is largely free of an excretory taboo (hence the poo emoji), there is no equivalent of “shit”. Yet the word kichigai (loosely translated as “retard”) is usually bleeped on television. Translators often struggle to render curse words and insults in other languages, as their emotional heft tends to be culturally circumscribed. For example, Westerners were more amused than alarmed by reports of an Iraqi minister declaring “A curse be upon your moustache!” to a Kuwaiti diplomat in 2003.

　　　　

　　段落大意：婴儿期习得的语言最引起感情共鸣，所以大家骂人用母语。每个语言用的脏话往往是该文化的禁忌语。如俄罗斯人骂人经常是‘问候’母亲，日本人是与‘shit’有关等。

 

　　emotional resonance情感共鸣

　　a traditionthat has little resonance in the 21st century

　　在21世纪难以引起共鸣的传统

　　

　　vary v.变化

　　excretoryadj.排泄物的

　　equivalentn.对应物adj.等价的

　　

　　aqualification which is equivalent to a degree

　　相当于学位的资历

　　

　　bleep v.（发出）哔哔声

　　render v.（以某种方式）表达；致使

 

　　The blow to his head was strong enough to render him unconscious.

　　他头上挨了重重的一击，昏了过去。

　　

　　heft n.重要性，重量 v.举起

　　circumscribe v.限制

 

　　04

　　Women who curse face a double standard. Although swearing in a male-dominated profession can be a short cut to acceptance, women are also more likely to be shunned or seen as untrustworthy—even by women—when they sound like stevedores. This is not only because women are expected to be more polite than men, Ms. Byrne suggests, but also because swearing tends to be associated with sexuality. Since women are judged more harshly than men for their sexual adventures, bad language leads to assumptions of bad behaviour.

　　

　　段落大意：在骂人领域也有性别歧视，如果女性爆粗口对自身不利。哎，这个男权社会。

 

　　male-dominated男性主导的

　　dominate v.主宰，统治　

　　shun v.避开，躲避

 

　　e.g. Victimsof the disease found themselves shunned by society.

　　患这种病的人发现，社会上的人都躲着他们。

　　

　　stevedore n.搬运工

　　harshly adv.严厉地，苛刻的

 

　　e.g. Histheory met with harshcriticism from colleagues.

　　他的理论遭到了同事们的严厉批评。

　　

　　05

　　Stoicism in the face of pain may seem noble, but swearing a blue streak is apparently more helpful. A study of volunteers forced to plunge their hands in ice-cold water found that those who swore kept their hands submerged for longer than those who were stuck bellowing a neutral word. By making people feel more aggressive— and therefore, perhaps, more powerful— swearing seems to improve the tolerance of pain.

 

　　段落大意：实验表明说脏话可以提高大家对痛苦的容忍度。

　　

　　stoicism斯多葛学派,坚忍

　　stoic adj.斯多葛派的，禁欲的　　

　　a blue streak连珠炮似的讲话

 

　　e.g. Mrs.White always talks a blue streak.

　　怀特太太总是一开口就滔滔不绝。

　　

　　bellow v.吼叫，怒吼

　　neutral adj.中立的，中性的

 

　　原文例句：A study ofvolunteers forced to plunge their hands in ice-cold water found that those whoswore kept their hands submerged for longer than those who were stuck bellowing aneutral word.

　　翻译：由志愿者所做的研究—志愿者被迫将手浸入冰水中-- 发现那些咒骂的人要比那些只能大声说些中性词语的人停留在水下的时间久一些。

 

　　06

　　A self-described swearing evangelist, Ms. Byrne is certainly bullish on the merits of bad words. But in her eagerness to prove how “fucking useful” they are, she sometimes overplays her hand. She argues that swearing makes people less likely to be physically violent, but offers little evidence to back this up. She commends the way piss-taking can help people work together more effectively, but largely overlooks the way this approach can alienate minorities. She also occasionally trades empiricism for hyperbole, as when she declares: “I don’t think we would have made it as the world’s most populous primate if we hadn’t learned to swear.”

 

　　段落大意：尽管说脏话的好处有不少，但是具体作用有多大还是不确定的。

 

　　evangelistn.福音传道者

　　bullish adj.乐观的，有信心的;股市行情看涨的

 

　　e.g. He’s very bullish about thecompany’s prospects.

　　他对公司的前景充满信心。

　　

　　overplay her hand过高估计自己的力量

　　overplay v.夸大，把…做得过头

　　underplay v.对…轻描淡写；淡化…重要性

　　commend v.(公开)赞扬,推崇，推荐   同：recommend

 

　　piss-take(讽刺性)模仿

　　alienate v.疏远

　　alienadj.陌生的，外星的

　　empiricismn.经验主义

　　empiricaladj.经验主义的

　　hyperbolen.夸张

 

　　07

　　Still, “Swearing Is Good for You” is an entertaining and often enlightening book. It may not quite stand up the bold claim of its title, but Ms. Byrne’s readers are sure to come away with a fresh appreciation of language at its most foul.

 

　　段落大意：读到其实本文是一本书评，本书讲了脏话的好话，是一本挺搞笑又有启发性的书。

 

　　entertainingadj.令人愉快的

 

　　e.g. This isan entertaining yet thought-provoking film.

　　这部电影令人捧腹，却又发人深省。

　　　

　　enlighteningadj.启发性的

　　foul adj.污秽的 n.犯规

 

　　作者简介：王少娟

　　上海新航道雅思主讲，上海外国语大学教育技术学硕士。对综合英语的阅读教学有深入的研究，教授了数百名学生均取得了优异的英语成绩。讲解细致、逻辑清晰、课堂活跃，丰富的教学经验能帮助学生在学习中和练习中能够更有效的提高英语能力。

 

　　所以说脏话这件事作为延续下来的一种文化，是有一定的道理的，凡事都有两面性。不过小编觉得，换一种方式说“脏话”—让人听不出来你说的是脏话，可就得多~你觉得呢？希望新航道上海学校的王少娟老师对这篇关于脏话别样看法的文章的解读，对你的思考有所帮助。英语高能高分，就上新航道！更多精彩文章与备考资源，敬请移步新航道官网~