考研英語閱讀材料匯編之文教類(1)

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閱讀是考研英語的重要題型之一，也是保障英語成績的關(guān)鍵題目。因此，考研學(xué)子們要充分重視英語閱讀，除了平時(shí)多多閱讀英語雜志、報(bào)紙外，還需要針對閱讀進(jìn)行專項(xiàng)訓(xùn)練。小編整理了關(guān)于考研英語閱讀題源的系列文章——考研英語閱讀材料匯編之文教類(1)，請參考!

Capital of Culture

Washington, DC has traditionally been an unbalanced city when it comes to the life of the mind. It has great national monuments, from the Smithsonian museums to the Library of Congress. But day-to-day cultural life can be thin. It attracts some of the country's best brains. But far too much of the city's intellectual life is devoted to the minutia of the political process. Dinner table conversation can all too easily turn to budget reconciliation or social security

This is changing. On October 1st the Shakespeare Theatre Company opened a 775-seat new theatre in the heart of downtown. Sidney Harman Hall not only provides a new stage for a theatre company that has hitherto had to make do with the 450-seat Lansburgh Theatre around the corner. It will also provide a platform for a large number of smaller arts companies such as the Washington Ballet, the Washington Bach Consort and the CityDance Ensemble.

The fact that so many of these outfits are queuing up to perform is testimony to Washington's cultural vitality. The recently-expanded Kennedy Centre is by some measures the busiest performing arts complex in America. But it still has a growing number of arts groups which are desperate for mid-sized space downtown. Michael Kahn, the theatre company's artistic director, jokes that, despite Washington's aversion to keeping secrets, it has made a pretty good job of keeping quiet about its artistic life. The Harman Centre should act as a whistleblower.

Washington still bows the knee to New York and Chicago when it comes to culture. But it has a good claim to be America's intellectual capital. It has the greatest collection of think-tanks on the planet, and it regularly sucks in a giant share of the country's best brains. Washington is second only to San Francisco for the proportion of residents 25 years and older with a bachelor's degree or higher.

Washington's intellectual life has been supercharged during the Bush years, despite the Decider's aversion to ideas. September 11th, 2001, put questions of global strategy at the centre of the national debate. Most of America's intellectual centres are firmly in the grip of the left-liberal establishment. For all their talk of "diversity" American universities are allergic to a diversity of ideas. Washington is one of the few cities where conservatives regularly do battle with liberals. It is also the centre of a fierce debate about the future direction of conservatism.

The danger for Washington is that this intellectual and cultural renaissance will leave the majority of the citizens untouched. The capital remains a city deeply divided between over-educated white itinerants and under-educated black locals. Still, the new Shakespeare theatre is part of job-generating downtown revival. Twenty years ago downtown was a desert of dilapidated buildings and bag people. Today it is bustling with life. If Washington is struggling to fix the world, at least it is making a reasonable job of fixing itself.

詞匯注解

重點(diǎn)單詞

monument /'m?njum?nt/

【中文釋義】n.紀(jì)念碑

【大綱全義】n.紀(jì)念碑，紀(jì)念館，遺跡，不朽的業(yè)績

devote /di'v?ut/

【中文釋義】v.投入于

【大綱全義】v.(to)，奉獻(xiàn)，致力，投入于

outfit /'autfit/

【中文釋義】n.機(jī)構(gòu)

【大綱全義】n.用具，機(jī)構(gòu)，全套裝配;全套服裝 v.配備，(得到)裝備

testimony /'testim?ni/

【文中釋義】n.證據(jù)

【大綱全義】n.證據(jù)，證詞;表明，說明

vitality /vai'tæliti/

【文中釋義】n.生命力，活力

【大綱全義】n.生命力，活力，生氣;體力

desperate /'desp?rit/

【文中釋義】adj.不顧一切的

【大綱全義】adj.不顧一切的，鋌而走險(xiǎn)的;絕望的，危急的

artistic /ɑ:'tistik /

【文中釋義】adj.藝術(shù)的

【大綱全義】adj.藝術(shù)(家)的，美術(shù)(家)的;善于藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作的

bow / bau/

【文中釋義】v.彎腰

【大綱全義】v./n.鞠躬，點(diǎn)頭;壓彎 n.弓(形);蝴蝶結(jié)

suck /s?k/

【文中釋義】v.吸收

【大綱全義】v./n.吸，舐;吸收(取)

allergic/?'l?:d?ik/

【文中釋義】adj.過敏的

【大綱全義】adj.過敏的，患過敏癥的;強(qiáng)烈反感的;極討厭的

renaissance /r?'neis?ns/

【文中釋義】n.文藝復(fù)興

【大綱全義】n. [the R-]文藝復(fù)興(時(shí)期);新生，復(fù)興

bustling /'b?sli?/

【文中釋義】adj. 忙亂的

【文中釋義】adj. 熙熙攘攘的，忙亂的

超綱單詞

unbalanced adj.不平衡的 minutia n. 細(xì)枝末節(jié)，細(xì)節(jié)

reconciliation n調(diào)和 hitherto adv.到目前為止

aversion n.反惡 supercharge v.增加負(fù)荷

left-liberal n.左冀自由派，激進(jìn)派 conservatism n.保守主義

itinerant n.巡回者 dilapidated adj.荒廢的

重點(diǎn)段落譯文

當(dāng)談到精神生活時(shí)，華盛頓哥倫比亞特區(qū)從傳統(tǒng)上來講一直是一個(gè)發(fā)展不穩(wěn)定的城市。從史密森尼博物館到美國國會圖書館，它擁有很多意義非凡的民族紀(jì)念碑。但是日常文化生活卻相對匱乏。這個(gè)城市吸引了國家的一些最優(yōu)秀的人才，但這里的市民卻津津樂道于政治上的細(xì)枝末節(jié)，餐桌上的閑聊都能很容易地轉(zhuǎn)到財(cái)政預(yù)算案和解和社會保障上。

這種情況正在發(fā)生改變。10月1日，莎士比亞戲劇公司在市中心新建了一座775個(gè)座位的新劇院。過去，一些戲劇公司不得不屈就在僅有450個(gè)座位的蘭斯保羅劇院，悉尼哈曼大劇院的建成不僅為他們提供了一個(gè)嶄新的舞臺，還為許多小型的藝術(shù)公司提供了表演平臺，如華盛頓芭蕾舞團(tuán)、華盛頓巴赫合奏團(tuán)以及城市舞蹈團(tuán)。

這么多機(jī)構(gòu)爭相演出的事實(shí)正式華盛頓地區(qū)文化生命力的有力證明。從很大程度上來講，最近擴(kuò)張過的肯尼迪藝術(shù)中心是美國最繁忙的綜合藝術(shù)演出場所。但仍有越來越多的藝術(shù)團(tuán)極力想躋身鬧市，占一席之地。肯尼迪戲劇公司的藝術(shù)主管邁克爾·卡恩開玩笑說：雖然華盛頓人不善保守秘密，但他們對藝術(shù)生活卻只字不提。哈曼藝術(shù)中心則應(yīng)該擔(dān)當(dāng)告密者的角色。

在文化方面，華盛頓仍不如紐約和芝加哥，但是它卻有足夠的資格成為美國的智力之都。它擁有全國最優(yōu)秀的智囊團(tuán)，而且它還不斷地吸引大量國家最優(yōu)秀的人才。在25歲和25歲以上擁有學(xué)士或更高學(xué)歷居民的比例方面，華盛頓僅次于舊金山。

盡管執(zhí)政者厭惡有太多想法的人，但在布什執(zhí)政期間，華盛頓的卓越才智卻已經(jīng)超負(fù)荷了。2011年9月11日，全國辯論中心提出了有關(guān)全球戰(zhàn)略的一些問題。美國大多數(shù)智能團(tuán)都大力支持組建左翼自由派，因?yàn)樗麄兊乃嘘P(guān)于“多樣化”的談?wù)撘约岸鄻踊季S都會遭到美國高校的反對。在少數(shù)城市，保守派經(jīng)常和自由主義者展開爭論，華盛頓就是其中之一。它也是關(guān)于保守派未來發(fā)展方向激烈辯論的中心所在地。

華盛頓的困難在于這次智力和文化復(fù)興并沒有深入到大多數(shù)的市民之中。這座城市仍然是一座在受過充分教育的外來白種人和受教育不足的本地黑人之間存在這明顯差異的城市。還有，新的莎士比亞歌劇院為城區(qū)經(jīng)濟(jì)的復(fù)蘇提供了部分的工作崗位。20年前，市中心還是一座廢墟，到處到時(shí)荒廢的建筑物和無家可歸的人。今天卻是一派熙來攘往、欣欣向榮的景象。如果華盛頓想竭力穩(wěn)定世界，那么它至少應(yīng)該先制定一個(gè)合理的措施保持自身穩(wěn)定。

希望各位考生能夠每天堅(jiān)持閱讀，提高詞匯量和語感能力，為以后的系統(tǒng)復(fù)習(xí)打下堅(jiān)實(shí)的基礎(chǔ)。最后提醒大家，夏季來臨，復(fù)習(xí)備考需注意防暑降溫。預(yù)祝考研成功!

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