《經濟學人》辣麼強,該如何讀懂一篇上面的文章?

原標題：《經濟學人》辣麼強，該如何讀懂一篇上面的文章？

英文老師總說《New York Times》《The Wall Street Journal》是他們的課外休閒讀物，學霸們喜歡說他們從《Time》《National Geographic》學到很多，很炫很牛X！

然鵝，我每次僅僅是看了雜誌裡文章的標題和長度，就放棄了這條路，該背單詞還是要去背單詞的……咳，但也不是說就不能讀，其實閱讀是有方法的，舉個老例子：

In Search of Lost Time

Time poverty is a problem partly of perception and partly of distribution.（原文太長可以谷一下或者度一下）

Dec 20th 2014 | From the print edition of The Economist

1、標題

正標題「In search of lost time. Why is everyone so busy?」 這是一個關於lost time的問題。

副標題「Time poverty is a problem partly of perception and partly of distribution.」全篇文章著力於解釋「時間不足」的兩個原因， perception（感知）和distribution（分配）。

所以從標題我們獲得了全文的最主要信息：

現象：Time poverty

從兩個方面解釋現象：perception and distribution

2、每段的中心句

中心句（Topic Sentence）是十分重要的。基本上大部分的文段中，中心句都會出現在每段的開頭部分，但也有一些會在段末尾出現。

比如第一二段：

THE predictions sounded like promises: in the future, working hours would be short and vacations long. 「Our grandchildren」, reckoned John Maynard Keynes in 1930, would work around 「three hours a day」—and probably only by choice. Economic progress and technological advances had already shrunk working hours considerably by his day, and there was no reason to believe this trend would not continue. Whizzy cars and ever more time-saving tools and appliances guaranteed more speed and less drudgery in all parts of life. Social psychologists began to fret: whatever would people do with all their free time?

This has not turned out to be one of the world’s more pressing problems. Everybody, everywhere seems to be busy. In the corporate world, a 「perennial time-scarcity problem」 afflicts executives all over the globe, and the matter has only grown more acute in recent years, say analysts at McKinsey, a consultancy firm. These feelings are especially profound among working parents. As for all those time-saving gizmos, many people grumble that these bits of wizardry chew up far too much of their days, whether they are mouldering in traffic, navigating robotic voice-messaging systems or scything away at e-mail—sometimes all at once.

這樣很長的閱讀文章，一般開頭第一段是一個引入，所以Topic Sentence出現在最後，提出一個疑問。

第二段，我們的Topic Sentence就出現在開頭啦。This出現在段首，指代是上一段末尾，這裡就是上一段提出的疑問。這個中心句很有意思，有一定的難度，採用正話反說：「whatever would people do with all their free time？」不是一件很緊迫的問題（Pressing problem）。但實際上如果你沒看懂第一句話，那你看下一句話也對上一句做了解釋。

除去中心句的部分就是細節了。所有的細節都是說為了說明「Everybody, everywhere seems to be busy.」，就不是閱讀的重點了。當然，這樣的長篇閱讀中不是每段話都有topic sentence的，有些段落只是銜接，或者繼續羅列上一段的細節，這點在閱讀中也要注意。但在託福考試中，由於文章比較短小，基本每一段都會出現自己的中心點。

所以，全篇的閱讀就是需要找每段的中心句，理解這段的要點，新觀點。長閱讀，最好根據每段內容寫下全篇的outline，這樣閱讀起來比較輕鬆，也比較能把握文章的思路。

3、抓住文章中的邏輯詞

對邏輯詞的熟悉是十分重要的，無論在聽力裡，還是閱讀中，對邏輯詞越敏感，對文章的解讀就會更快。

Individualistic cultures,which emphasise achievement over affiliation, help cultivate this time-is-money mindset.因果邏輯

That economic prosperity would create feelings of time poverty looked a little odd in the 1960s, given all those new time-saving blenders and lawnmowers.But there is a distinct correlation between privilege and pressure. But是十分重要的轉折邏輯詞，你看它的出現，很明顯段落開頭的部分就不是該段的中心句了。

除此之外，還有表示並列的邏輯詞，最簡單的and，表示時間的邏輯詞，這些在閱讀中要特別注意。

4、邏輯段的精讀

不是所有文段都是「中心句+細節」的結構。就像我們寫作文一樣，在一篇文章中我們總是嘗試變換論證方法。這些知名雜誌的大牛作者的邏輯論證一般都十分的精彩，這樣的部分就需要我們精讀，去了解它的邏輯結構。

我們來看這一段：

The problem, then, is less how much time people have than how they see it. Ever since a clock was first used to synchronise labour in the 18th century, time has been understood in relation to money. Once hours are financially quantified, people worry more about wasting, saving or using them profitably. When economies grow and incomes rise, everyone’s time becomes more valuable. And the more valuable something becomes, the scarcer it seems.

Topic sentence很明顯在第一句話。（less A than B 與其說是A不如說是B）

中心句之後就是一段很棒的邏輯論證，通過不同的新信息的產生，來說明「how they see Time」。

Ever since a clock was first used to synchronise labour in the 18th century, time has been understood in relation to money.出現新信息money，從時間聯繫到了錢。Once hours are financially quantified, people worry more about wasting, saving or using them profitably. Financially quantified是money的同義改寫，老信息；從錢又引申出了新信息profitably（有收益地）。When economies grow and incomes rise, everyone’s time becomes more valuable. Profitably又引申出了valuable（有價值的）。And the morevaluable something becomes, the scarcer it seems. 從而提出了時間的是scarce（稀有的），來說明人們是怎麼看待時間的。

這樣的邏輯結構段的精讀，可以使你對邏輯更敏感，在閱讀中能越來越得心應手。同時，如果你能將這樣的論證方法應用到寫作上，可以使你的文章加分哦！

5、猜詞

在閱讀的過程中，猜詞是特別重要的。長閱讀生詞很多，掌握所有單詞的意思顯然是不可能的，這就需要我們根據整篇文章的邏輯和結構來進行猜詞。

我們來舉個慄子吧：

The explosion of available goods has only made time feel more crunched, as the struggle to choose what to buy or watch or eat or do raises the opportunity cost of leisure (ie, choosing one thing comes at the expense of choosing another) and contributes to feelings of stress.

根據全文的中心和邏輯，這樣你就可以肯定的知道，這裡肯定是說時間少，就算不知道crunch是壓碎的意思，你也知道這個中心句肯定是要說時間少了！

通過以上五個部分，我們就可以好好的讀一篇經濟學人的高大上文章了，多讀原版內容好處多多，不過前提還是詞彙量足夠大部分看得懂哦！

本文來源自TFT小組（cmu_doers）。

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