「《紐約客》精讀 」選取The New Yorker雜志的片段，介紹文章背景、精講單詞、詞組和句式。這是一個(gè)固定欄目，更新頻率為每周兩次。

第一期這個(gè)段落選自一篇書(shū)評(píng)。點(diǎn)評(píng)書(shū)目為Barry Gewen的The Inevitability of Tragedy，一本基辛格的傳記。

“The young Kissinger was drawn less to the classic exponents of Realpoli-tik, such as Clausewitz and Bismarck, than to “philosophers of history” like Kant and anatomists of civilizational decay such as Arnold Toynbee and Oswald Spengler. From these think-ers, Kissinger cobbled together his own view of how history operated. It was not a story of liberal progress, or of class consciousness, or of cycles of birth, maturity, and decline; rather, it was “a series of meaningless incidents,” fleet-ingly given shape by the application of human will. As a young in-fantryman, Kissinger had learned that victors ran-sacked history for analo-gies to gild their triumphs, while the vanquished sought?out the historical causes of their misfortune.”

Words

1.?classic exponents of Realpolitik

· exponent n. 支持者（某種思想、理論）

a person who supports an idea or theory and?tries to persuade people of its truth or benefits?

· Realpolitik n. 現(xiàn)實(shí)政治

來(lái)源德語(yǔ)，在內(nèi)政外交中，把國(guó)家利益作為最高考量標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的政治思想

2. Kissinger?cobbled?together his own view of how history operated.

· cobble v. 組裝、拼湊

roughly assemble or produce something from?available parts or elements?

3.?victors ransacked?history for analogies to gild their triumphs

· ransack v.

ransack 廣為人知的意思是：打劫(to plunder), 但在這里是另外一個(gè)意思：徹底????地搜尋，search (a place or receptacle) thoroughly, 常出現(xiàn)在ransack...for...中。

ransack history for analogies, 搜尋歷史，找到類比

· gild v. 鍍金

cover thinly with gold

Phrases

1.?anatomists?of civilizational decay

? ??文明衰落的剖析者

????anatomist 解剖學(xué)家

2.?not a story of liberal progress, or of class consciousness, or of cycles of birth, maturity, and decline?

? ??這個(gè)故事無(wú)關(guān)自由的進(jìn)步，或階級(jí)意識(shí)，亦或誕生、成熟和衰敗的循環(huán)往復(fù)

3.?“a series of meaningless incidents,” fleet-ingly given shape by the application of human will

? ??一系列毫無(wú)意義的事件, 迅速地被人類意志所塑造。

????fleetingly, for a very short time, 快速地、迅速地

????given shape: 被賦予形狀

????human will: 人類意志

Sentences

1.?As a young in-fantryman, Kissinger had learned that victors ran-sacked history for analo-gies to gild their triumphs, while the vanquished sought?out the historical causes of their misfortune.

譯文：作為一名年輕的步兵，基辛格已經(jīng)領(lǐng)悟到，勝利者會(huì)搜尋歷史，找到類比，來(lái)為自己的勝利鍍金，而失敗者會(huì)尋找出自己不幸的歷史原因。

這句話工整煉達(dá)，可以學(xué)習(xí)近反義詞。前一半講述勝利者的做法，后一半用連詞while轉(zhuǎn)折，說(shuō)明失敗者的境遇。

victors對(duì)應(yīng)the vanquished

the victors and the vanquished 剛好是一組反義詞, 形式和意思都能對(duì)應(yīng)工整。vanquish v. 打敗，vanquished 被打敗的，the vanquished 被打敗的

ransacked對(duì)應(yīng)sought out

triumphs對(duì)應(yīng)misfortune