冠词的使用在英文中虽然看似作用不大,但实际上对逻辑梳理起着举足轻重的作用,特别是定冠词的使用绝对不能等闲视之。以下为两个冠词应用练习篇章,自己做完后再参阅答案和讲解,体会冠词使用的大致规律,为英汉、汉英翻译打下扎实基础。在讲解部分之后还有两个应用练习篇章供大家进行巩固训练。
提示:以下空白标号处有些需要填写冠词,有些则不需要填写。
At dinner with 1 friend the other night, I mentioned that I was giving 2 talk this week debunking 3 idea that we need to grow more food on 4 large scale so we can “feed 5 nine billion”— 6 anticipated global population by 2050.
The difference between you and the hungry is not 7 production levels; it’s money. There are no hungry people with money; there isn’t 8 shortage of food, nor is there 9 distribution problem. There is 10 I-don’t-have-the-land-and-resources-toproduce-my-own-food, nor-can-I-afford-to-buy-food problem.
And poverty and 11 resulting hunger aren’t matters of bad luck; they are often 12 result of people buying 13 property of traditional farmers and displacing them, appropriating their water, energy and mineral resources, and even producing cash crops for export while reducing 14 people growing 15 food to menial and hungry laborers on their own land.
Poverty isn’t the only problem, of course. There is also 16 virtually unregulated food system that is geared toward making money rather than feeding people. (Look no further than 17 ethanol mandate or high fructose corn syrup for evidence.)
If poverty creates hunger, it teams up with 18 food system to create another form of malnourishment: obesity (and what’s called “hidden hunger,” 19 lack of micronutrients). If you define “hunger”as malnutrition, and you accept that overweight and obesity are 20 forms of malnutrition as well, then almost half the world is malnourished.
The solution to malnourishment isn’t to produce more food. The solution is to eliminate poverty.
Look at the most agriculturally productive country in the world: the United States. Is there hunger here? Yes, quite a bit. We have the highest percentage of hungry people of any developed nation, 21 rate closer to that of Indonesia than that of Britain.
Is there 22 lack of food? You laugh at that question. It is, as the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner David Kessler likes to call it, “a food carnival.”It’s just that there’s 23 steep ticket price.
A majority of the world is fed by hundreds of millions of small-scale farmers, some of whom are themselves among the hungry. The rest of the hungry are 24 underpaid or unemployed workers. But boosting 25 yields does nothing for them.
The best method of farming for most people is probably 26 traditional farming boosted by science. The best method of farming for those in 27 highly productive agricultural societies would be 28 farming made more intelligent and less rapacious. That is, 29 kind of farming we can learn from people who still have 30 real relationship with 31 land and are focused on quality rather than yield. The goal should be 32 food that is green, fair, healthy and affordable.
It’s not news that the poor need money and justice. If there’s a bright side here, it’s that it might be easier to make 33 changes required to fix 34 problems created by industrial agriculture than those created by inequality.
There’s plenty of food. Too much of it is going to feed animals, too much of it is being converted to fuel and too much of it is being wasted.
We don’t have to increase yield to address any of those issues; we just have to grow food more smartly than with 35 brute force of industrial methods, and we need to address 36 circumstances of the poor.
Americans have never hesitated to pack up 1 U-Haul in search of 2 big time, 3 better job or just 4 warmer weather. But these days, domestic migrants are increasingly driven by 5 quest for 6 cheaper housing.
The country’s fastest-growing cities are now those where housing is more affordable than average, 7 decisive reversal from 8 early years of 9 millennium, when 10 easy credit allowed cities to grow without regard to 11 housing cost and when 12 fastest-growing cities had housing that was less affordable than 13 national average. Among 14 people who have moved long distances, the number of those who cite housing as their primary motivation for doing so has more than doubled since 2007.
Rising rents and 15 difficulty of securing 16 mortgage on 17 coasts have proved 18 boon to inland cities that offer 19 middle class 20 firmer footing and 21 easier life. In 22 eternal competition among 23 urban centers, 24 shift has produced some new winners.
Oklahoma City, for example, has outpaced most other cities in growth since 2011, becoming the 12th-fastest-growing city last year. It has also won over 25 coveted demographic, 26 young adults age 25 to 34, going from 27 net loss of millennials to 28 net gain. Other affordable cities that have jumped in 29 growth rankings include several in Texas, including El Paso and San Antonio, as well as Columbus, Ohio, and Little Rock, Ark.
Since 30 start of 31 recession, the number of Americans who have moved each year has fallen sharply for 32 host of reasons, including 33 sluggish economy and 34 increasing similarity of job options from city to city. When people do move, they have all kinds of reasons, including family, climate and, especially for those who move long distances, employment.
But of those who moved more than 500 miles, 35 share who said they were chiefly motivated by housing has risen to 18 percent in 2014, from 8 percent in 2007, the earliest year such data is available, according to 36 Census Bureau. The desire for 37 new, better or cheaper home and 38 opportunity to buy instead of rent were among 39 housingrelated reasons people cited.
The story was different from 2000 to 2006, when cities with high-cost housing grew more quickly than those with affordable housing, according to 40 analyses of metro areas by Redfin, 41 national real estate brokerage firm. From 2006 to 2012—years that encompass 42 housing bust, recession and recovery—that pattern reversed itself, with most low-cost cities growing 2.5 percentage points more than 43 high-cost cities. The analysis excluded cities with 44 poor job growth.
1. 复数前面一般不加定冠词,除非后面跟定语从句(或其缩略式)进行限定(you accept that overweight and obesity are 20 forms of malnutrition as well; it’s that it might be easier to make 33 the changes required to fix 34 the problems created by industrial agriculture than those created by inequality);
2. 明确特指对象一般要加定冠词(debunking 3 the idea that we need to grow more food on 4 a large scale so we can “feed 5 the nine billion”—6 the anticipated global population by 2050);
3.“of”前的单数名词一般要加定冠词,固定词组除外(Since 30 the start of 31 the recession, the number of Americans who have moved each year has fallen sharply for 32 a host of reasons);
4. 同位语进行解释说明时一般要加不定冠词(by Redfin, 41 a national real estate brokerage firm);
5. 单数名词前有形容词,一般需要添加不定冠词(The country’s fastest-growing cities are now those where housing is more affordable than average, 7 a decisive reversal from 8 the early years of 9 the millennium);
6. 定语从句(包括“doing和done”的从句缩略形式)的先行词前一般都要添加定冠词(There is also 16 the virtually unregulated food system that is geared toward making money rather than feeding people);
7. 如果实在搞不清楚,不妨将其翻译为中文,看看加不加、加什么更符合汉语习惯,也不失为一种实际应用技巧。
根据总结出的这些大致规律,自行完成以下两个巩固练习,看一下准确率是否有明显提升。
When young college graduates decide where to move, they are not just looking at 1 usual suspects, like New York, Washington and San Francisco. Other cities are increasing their share of these valuable residents at 2 even higher rate and have reached 3 high overall percentage, led by Denver, San Diego, Nashville, Salt Lake City and Portland, Ore., according to 4 report published Monday by City Observatory, 5 new think tank.
And as young people continue to spurn 6 suburbs for urban living, more of them are moving to 7 very heart of cities—even in 8 economically troubled places like Buffalo and Cleveland. The number of college-educated people age 25 to 34 living within three miles of city centers has surged, up 37 percent since 2000, even as the total population of these neighborhoods has slightly shrunk.
Some cities are attracting young talent while their overall population falls, like Pittsburgh and New Orleans. And in 9 reversal, others that used to be magnets, like Atlanta and Charlotte, are struggling to attract them at the same rate.
Even as Americans over all have become less likely to move, 10 young, college-educated people continue to move at 11 high clip—about a million cross 12 state lines each year, and these so-called young and the restless don’t tend to settle down until their mid-30s. Where they end up provides 13 map of 14 cities that have 15 chance to be 16 economic powerhouses of the future.
“There is 17 very strong track record of places that attract talent becoming 18 places of long-term success,”said Edward Glaeser, 19 economist at Harvard and 20 author of “Triumph of the City.”“The most successful economic development policy is to attract and retain smart people and then get out of their way.”
About 25 percent more young college graduates live in major metropolitan areas today than in 2000, which is double 21 percentage increase in cities’total population. All 22 51 biggest metros except Detroit have gained young talent, either from net migration to 23 cities or from residents graduating from college.
Denver has many of 24 tangible things young people want, economists say, including mountains, sunshine and jobs in 25 booming industries like tech. Perhaps more important, it also has 26 ones that give cities 27 perception of cultural cool, like microbreweries and bike-sharing and 28 acceptance of marijuana and same-sex marriage.
Other cities that have had significant increases in 29 young and educated population and that now have more than their share include San Diego, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Nashville, Salt Lake City and Portland, Ore.
At the other end of 30 spectrum are 31 cities where less than 4 percent of the population are young college graduates. Among those, Detroit lost about 10 percent of this group, while Providence gained just 6 percent and Memphis 10 percent.
Atlanta, one of the biggest net gainers of young graduates in the 1990s, has taken 32 sharp turn. Its young, educated population has increased just 2.8 percent since 2000, significantly less than its overall population. It is suffering 33 consequences of 34 overenthusiasm for new houses and new jobs before the crash, economists say.
Historically, 1 science of epidemiology was directed toward identifying and controlling 2 epidemics of infectious disease. In 3 study just published in 4 New England Journal of Medicine, my colleagues and I highlight another important job for epidemiologists: identifying and controlling 5 epidemics of medical care.
The setting is South Korea, where, over 6 last two decades, 7 incidence of thyroid cancer has increased fifteenfold. Nowhere in the world is the rate of any cancer growing faster.
We’ve all been taught to seek biological explanations for 8 significant rise in disease—perhaps 9 new infectious agent or environmental exposure. But in South Korea, we are seeing something different: 10 epidemic of diagnosis.
In 1999 11 government initiated 12 national health-screening program focused on reducing cancer and other common diseases. Although 13 thyroid cancer screening was not included in 14 program, all it requires is a simple test— 15 ultrasound of 16 neck. Hospitals have ultrasound machines and so do many doctors’offices. Both promoted 17 thyroid cancer screening as 18 inexpensive add-on to 19 government program. It was 20 easy sell, particularly with the government, the medical community, the news media and 21 cancer “survivors”praising 22 virtue of early cancer detection.
In doing so they inadvertently highlighted 23 major harm of early detection: What was 24 rare cancer is now the most common cancer in South Korea.
Where did all those new thyroid cancers come from? They were always there. As early as 1947 pathologists recognized that, although it was a very rare cause of death, thyroid cancer was 25 frequent finding during autopsies. Studies have since shown that over a third of adults have thyroid cancer. Virtually all of these cancers are small “papillary thyroid cancers,”many of which will never become evident during a person’s life.
Unless that person receives 26 screening ultrasound. In fact, virtually all 27 newly identified thyroid cancers in Korea are papillary thyroid cancers. How do we know this is not 28 real epidemic of disease? Because the number of Koreans dying from thyroid cancer has not changed. If 29 screening were saving lives, the death rate would decline, or increase more slowly as 30 epidemic spread—but not stay perfectly flat.
An epidemic of diagnosis is not good for anyone’s health. Resources are needlessly diverted; people are needlessly scared. But the biggest problem is that it begets 31 epidemic of treatment.
The majority of patients given 32 diagnoses of thyroid cancer have their thyroid gland removed. The thyroid is an important gland—it produces 33 hormones that control metabolism. Without it, patients may need 34 lifelong thyroid replacement therapy. And it can take doctors a while to find 35 right dose for each individual. In the meantime, patients suffer from 36 effects of too little or too much thyroid hormone, including 37 energy and weight fluctuations.
Could what happened in South Korea happen here? Absolutely. Even without 38 concerted effort to promote screening, thyroid cancer incidence in the United States is up threefold since 1975. To reverse this trend, we need to actively discourage 39 early thyroid cancer detection.
The virtue of early detection is so ingrained and so appealing that many assume that screening can only be good for you. But that’s not true. The Korean experience illustrates 40 downside of trying to find cancer early: overdiagnosis and overtreatment. The problem is greatest for thyroid and prostate cancer, but also exists for 41 cancers of 42 lung, breast, skin and kidney. And then there is all 43 angst surrounding screening—that can’t be good for anyone’s health.
Of course, screening makes sense in some situations: in particular for people who are at 44 genuinely high risk for 45 cancer—those with multiple cancer deaths in their family history. People at average risk who expect to live long enough to experience 46 potential benefit in the future—and who are willing to accept 47 chance of harm from 48 unneeded treatment now—may also decide that 49 screening makes sense for them.
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