Te xt A
Amer ican Men Don ’t Cr y
美国男人不哭
Study of the Text
1.Cry is a“weakness”characteristic of the female, and no American male wants to be identified with anything in the least weak or feminine.
哭是女性软弱的特点, 因而没有美国男性愿被视为软弱或有女人气。
1 )characteristic of the female 具有女性特征的。characteristic 为形容词, 同of 搭配characteristic of 意为“ 具有.. 的特点(征), 是..的特征”。这个形容词短语作定语修饰前面的中心词weakness。
2 )identify.with., 同..有关；认为.., 与..一致；The alleged criminal wa s identified with the murder. = The alleged criminal was associated with the murder. 这个犯罪嫌疑人同这桩谋杀案有牵连。
The democrat refused to identify himself with the Republican Party.
这位民主党人不承认同共和党有关系。
The adopted son identifies himself with the members of the family.
这位收养的儿子视自己为这个家庭中的成员。
3 )in the least = in the least degree(or extent)一点, 丝毫。常同否定结构连用, 作状语。
It doesn’t matter in the lea st. 一点也没有关系。
I don’t understand in the lea st what this author is trying to say.
我丝毫也不明白这位作家在说些什么。
4 )weak and feminine 软弱和女人气的。这是两个并列形容词作定语修饰anything。
形容词作定语一般置于被其修饰的中心词前, 但如果中心词是由some, any, no 等构成的合成词: something, somebody, someone；anything, anybody, nothing, nobody 等时, 形容词作定语要放在这些合成词的后面, 作后置定语。例如:
Have you read a nything interesting lately？
你最近阅读了有趣的东西没有？
There is somebody else at the door. 另外有人在敲门。
Nobody else offered to help. 没有其他人愿意协助。
2.No one likes a crybaby and we disapprove of crying even in children, discouraging it in them as early as possible. 没有人喜欢爱哭的孩子, 即使是孩子, 哭泣也是不可取的。人们应尽可能早地劝阻孩子哭泣。
1 )disapprove of (doing)sth. 不赞成I’m sorry I must disapprove (of)your action.
我很抱歉不能赞同你的行动。
Does he disa pprove of lipstick？他反对使用口红吗？
My parents disa pprove of my quitting school. 我父母反对我辍学。
反义词为approve。approve of sb. (or sth. )赞成(同意)(某事或某人)。
Her father will never a pprove of her marriage to you.
她父亲永不同意她和你结婚。
I cannot support a policy of which I ha ve never a pproved.
我不能支持一项我们从未赞成的政策。(of 提到关系代词which 前面, 同approve 发生关系)。
2 )discourage it in them = discourage the children from crying.
劝阻他们哭泣。
discourage sb. from doing sth. 劝阻；阻碍；使认为某事不值得做。例如:
We tried to discourage him from climbing the mountain without a guide. 我们设法劝他无向导不要爬山。
The wet weather discouraged people from going to the sports meeting.
雨天阻碍人们去看运动会。
3.In a land so devoted to the pursuit of happiness as ours, crying really is rather un-American. 在我们这样一个人人追求幸福快乐的国度里, 哭的确不是美国人的风格。
1 ).so.as. = .as.as.同..一样, 正如..；so.as.中的so 和as.as.中的前一个as 都是副词, 其后跟的是形容词或副词, 第二个as 为连接词, 引导比较分句, 其结构为: as (so)+ 形容词(或副词)+ as. 是比较结构的基本形式之一。as 引导的比较分句中省略了第一句中的相同成分, 在一般情况下, 几乎总要有所省略: 例如: John is as bright a s Bob (is).约翰同鲍勃一样聪明。John behaves a s politely a s Bob (does ).约翰同鲍勃一样有礼貌。
John is not a s / so stupid a s Bob (is).约翰不如鲍勃聪明。
2 )devote oneself to sth. 致力于..；献身于..
这一结构常用成: be devoted to sth. 义同上结构。例如:
He devoted his life to the mission work in Africa.
他将他的一生奉献于非洲的传教工作。
This magazine is devoted to science, and its pages are filled with articles about science. 这个杂志专载科学文章。
She is devoted to her children (loves them so much that she gives herself up to their welfare. )她挚爱她的子女(含有如此爱他们以至可以为他们的幸福而牺牲她自己)。
在文中devoted 已是形容词化的-ed 分词了。即devoted 是形容词。例如:
a devoted friend 忠实的朋友；a devoted husband 忠实的丈夫；the queen’s devoted subjects 女王的忠实臣民。
4.So goes the American belief with regard to crying.
对哭的美国式的信条就这样传开了。
1 )副词so 在这里的意思是“ 这样地”, 作方式状语, 置于句首, 有时引起局部倒装, 如果主语较长, 也可全部倒装, 当然, 也可以不倒装。例如:
So began the relation between the two countries.
两国的关系就这样开始了。
2 )with regard to = in regard to (of).关于.., 对于..
No solution has been found with rega rd to this quarrel between two countries. 还没有办法解决两国的纷争。
In rega rd of this matter the chairman didn’t dwell too much upon it.
就这个问题主席并没有详细讲述。
5 .“A little man”, we impress on our male children.“ never cries”.
我们让男孩子铭记在心“ 小男子汉从来不哭”。
impress vt. 给予强烈影响；使受深刻印象；使铭记。常用结构
impress sb. with sth. 或impress sth. on sb. 使..铭记..；给..印象。
句中动词impress 的宾语为引号中的成分“ A little man never cries”。
His words a re strongly impressed on my memory.
他的话使我铭记心头。
The book didn’t impress me at all. 这书丝毫没有感动我的地方。
I impressed him with the importance of his work. 我使他注意他的工作的重要性。
= I impressed on him the importance of his work.
6.And so the“ little men”controls his desire to cry and goes on doing so until he is unable to cry even when he wants to. 于是, 当他想哭的时候,“ 小男子汉”的观念就约束着他不哭, 久而久之, 终于到了他欲哭而不能的地步。
1 )to cry 是不定式, 修饰前面的desire 前面已提及不定式作定语的两种类型(被修饰的名词或名词词组是不定式的逻辑主语；被修饰的名词或名词词组是不定式的逻辑宾语)。而to cry 作定语修饰名词desire 同上两种类型不同。在这里被修饰的名词词组his desire 属于不定式to cry 的同位结构。例如: The boy had an impulse to jump over the fence.
那男孩情不自禁地想跳过那栅栏。
(to jump over the fence 和an impulse 属同位结构)
She made an effort to collect herself. 她努力使自己思想集中。
(to collect herself 和an effort 属同位结构)。
I have no wish to qua rrel with you. 我不想和你吵架。
(to quarrel with you 和wish 属同位结构)
He hit back the urge to tell a lie. 他抑制住说谎的强烈愿望。
(to tell a lie 和the urge 属同位结构)
用作名词(词组)修饰语的不定式结构, 一般都可以转换为定语从句(针对前面两种类型)和同位语从句(针对属同位结构的不定式结构)。例如:
The thing to do is what everyone else is doing.
你要做的事就是别人正在做的事情。
= The thing that you should do is what everyone else is doing. (定语从句)
There was a suggestion to drop Brown from the team.
有人建议将布朗开除出队。
= There was a suggestion that Brown be dropped from the team. (同位语从句)。
2 )辨异: go on doing, go on to do, 这两个短语, 汉语都有“ 继续”
的意思。go on doing 继续。后跟的是现在分词, 表示继续做一直在做的事情。
Don’t interrupt him, and let him go on rea ding.
不要打断他, 让他继续读。(一直在读)
I hope it won’t go on ra ining all day.
我希望不会整天下雨。(一直在下雨)
go on to do 继续。后跟的是不定式, 表示变换改做另一件事。
例如:
I shall now go on to dea l with the gerund.
现在我要接着讲动名词。(改换讲动名词)
The teacher went on to speak about the new words.
老师接着讲生词。(这以前不是讲的生词)
7.Because crying is a natural function of the human organism which is designed to restore the emotionally disequilibrated person to a state of equilibrium. 因为哭是人自然的生理功能, 哭就是为了让感情失去平衡的人重新获得平衡。
1 )which is designed.to a state of equilibrium 是修饰前面名词结构
natural function 的定语从句。
2 )restore.to.使..复归到..；使..恢复..
He wa s restored to his sight. 他恢复了视力。
They restored the building to its original form.
他们把建筑修复成原样。
The new government restored the one-child policy to its original form.
新政府恢复了独生子女政策。
8.Any interference with homeostasis is likely to be damaging to the organism. 对体内平衡的任何干扰都可能对身体造成伤害。
interfere vi. 干涉；妨碍(害), 常同in 或with 搭配；interfere in 介入；干预(涉)。
例如: Please don’t interfere in my business. 请不要干涉我的事。
interfere with 妨碍(害)；打扰。
例如:
Don’t inter fere with this machine. 不要乱弄这台机器。
Do you ever allow pleasure to inter fere with duty？
你曾为了玩乐而妨碍了你的职责吗？
interference 是interfere 的名词形式, 同with 搭配, 即interference with 妨碍, 干扰。例如:
Inter ference with your children’s business is not wise.