Loving and Hating New York
Lesson 3 · 课后习题 + 参考答案汇编
II. Questions
A. Questions on the Content
1. What, according to the writer, do the ad campaigns celebrating the Big Apple and "I love New York" T-shirts show?
These signs show that New York is no longer the leading city in the United States.
2. In what fields can New York no longer be regarded as the leading American city?
New York no longer begets the styles and sets the trends. It is no longer a pacesetter.
3. What are its deficiencies as a pacesetter?
Other cities have buildings more inspired architecturally. The center of music and sports has also shifted to other cities. As a tourist attraction it is inferior to New Orleans, San Francisco, Washington or Disneyland. Finally, there are many better cities to live in than New York.
4. Why do many Europeans call New York their favorite city?
The Europeans call New York their favorite city because they like its cosmopolitan complexities, its surviving European standards and its alien mixtures. Perhaps some are reassured by the international names of jewelers, shoe stores and designer shops. But what most excites Europeans is the city's charged, nervous atmosphere, its vulgar dynamism.
5. Why did the writer go and live in New York?
The writer went to New York because he likes to live there and he could practice the kind of journalism he wanted in that city.
6. Why do many young people still go to New York?
The young people go to New York to test themselves and to avoid giving in to the most banal and marketable of their talents. In New York they also find the company of many other young people similarly fleeing from the constricting atmosphere of smaller cities.
7. In what respects is New York still regarded as the leading American city?
New York is still the banking and communications headquarters for America. The networks' news centres, the largest book publishers, the biggest magazines, the ad agencies are all here, appraising and ratifying the films, the plays, the music, the books that others have created.
8. Why is New York called an international metropolis?
It is in fact the first truly international metropolis because here one finds a much wider mixture of nationalities — Asians, Africans, Latins and all varieties of Europeans.
B. Questions on Structure and Style
1. What is the main theme of this article? Where is it specifically stated?
The main theme is stated by the title "Loving and Hating New York," or more specifically, by the first sentence of the last paragraph: "Loving and hating New York becomes a matter of alternating moods, often in the same day."
2. How is the article organized?
The first five paragraphs serve as a general introduction, pointing out the present status of New York. The first four describe how it is no longer a leading city and pacesetter. Para. 5 presents its status as a favorite city in the eyes of many Europeans, with its last sentence acting as a transition. Paras. 6–21 objectively and emotionally describe New York and the life and struggle of New Yorkers, explaining their love for the city in spite of its shortcomings. Para. 22 centers on the theme.
3. Comment on the diction of the writer. Pick out terms that you think are peculiarly American.
This article is full of American English terms, phrases and constructions, such as T-shirt, hassle, plush, holdout, comeback, putdown, measure up, expense-account, etc.
4. Does the writer really both love and hate New York? Cite examples.
The writer states that he both loves and hates New York, but the reader fails to see where or why he hates it. It is clear that Griffith loves New York and feels exhilarated living there. He may sometimes feel exasperated but this feeling is never strong enough to turn to hate. He shows his love with words such as energy, contention, striving, etc.
5. What is the topic sentence of Paragraph 8? How is the paragraph developed?
The topic sentence is the first sentence: "Nature's pleasures are much qualified in New York." The writer uses many examples to develop this paragraph and back up the topic sentence.
6. How does the writer describe the different aspects of New York by comparing the different attitudes of outsiders and New Yorkers?
By comparing their different attitudes or feelings of love and hate, the writer describes both positive and negative aspects. To New Yorkers, New York is a place of opportunity, energy, bracing competitiveness, etc. But outsiders find it oppressive and disgusting. Their different attitudes present a complete picture of New York.
III. Paraphrase
1. Nowadays New York is out of phase with American taste… (Para. 2)
Nowadays New York cannot understand nor follow the taste of the American people.
2. New York even prides itself on being a holdout from prevailing American trends… (Para. 2)
New York boasts that it is a city that resists the prevailing trends (styles, fashion) of America.
3. …sitcoms cloned and canned in Hollywood, and the Johnny Carson show live, preempt the airways from California… (Para. 3)
Situation comedies made in Hollywood and the actual performance of Johnny Carson now replace the scheduled radio and TV programs from California.
4. …it is making something of a comeback as a tourist attraction… (Para. 4)
New York is regaining somewhat its status as a city that attracts tourists.
5. To win in New York is to be uneasy… (Para. 6)
A person who wins in New York is constantly disturbed by fear and anxiety (because he is afraid of losing what he has won in the fierce competition).
6. Nature's pleasures are much qualified in New York. (Para. 8)
The chance to enjoy the pleasures of nature is very limited.
7. …the city's bright glow arrogantly obscures the heavens. (Para. 8)
At night the city of New York is aglow with lights and seems proudly and haughtily to darken the night sky.
8. But the purity of a bohemian dedication can be exaggerated. (Para. 10)
But a pure and wholehearted devotion to a Bohemian life style can be exaggerated.
9. In both these roles it ratifies more than it creates. (Para. 11)
In both these roles of banking and communications headquarters, New York starts or originates very few things but gives its stamp of approval to many things created by people in other parts of the country.
10. The television generation grew up in the insistent presence of hype… (Para. 13)
The television generation was constantly and strongly influenced by extravagant promotional advertising.
11. …those who are writing ambitious novels sustain themselves on the magazines. (Para. 13)
Authors writing long serious novels earn their living in the meantime by also writing articles for popular magazines.
12. Broadway, which seemed to be succumbing to the tawdriness of its environment, is astir again. (Para. 15)
Broadway, which seemed unable to resist the cheap, gaudy shows put on in the surrounding areas, is once again busy and active.
13. The defeated are not hidden away somewhere else on the wrong side of town. (Para. 18)
Those who failed in the struggle of life, the down-and-outs, are not hidden away in slums or ghettoes where other people can't see them.
14. The place constantly exasperates, at times exhilarates. (Para. 22)
New York constantly irritates and annoys very much but at times it also invigorates and stimulates.
IV. Practice with Words and Expressions
A. Look up the dictionary and explain the meaning of the italicized words and phrases.
1. …New York even prides itself on being a holdout… (Para. 2)
holdout: (Americanism) a place that holds out; hold out = continue resistance; stand firm; not yield
2. …the Johnny Carson show live… (Para. 3)
live: transmitted during the actual performance（现场直播的）
3. …the city's charged, nervous atmosphere… (Para. 5)
charged: tense; intense（紧张的，激烈的）
4. …it is also about mockery, the put-down… (Para. 6)
put-down: (American slang) a belittling remark or crushing retort（贬低的话，反驳）
5. I wasn't even sure how I'd measure up against others… (Para. 9)
measure up: (Americanism) prove to be competent or qualified（与…较量，达到标准）
6. …devising the catchy jingles… (Para. 12)
jingles: a verse that jingles; jingling arrangement of words or syllables（押韵广告词）
7. …in Manhattan's expense-account French restaurants. (Para. 12)
expense-account: (Americanism) an arrangement whereby certain expenses of an employee in connection with his work are paid for by his employer（公费报销的）
8. …those whose paintings don't sell do illustrations… (Para. 13)
illustrations: a picture, design, diagram used to decorate or explain something（插图，插画）
9. …those who can't get acting jobs do commercials… (Para. 13)
commercials: (radio and TV) a paid advertisement（广告片）
10. This distancing, this uncaring in ordinary encounters… (Para. 14)
distancing: be reserved or cool toward; treat aloofly（疏远，保持距离）
11. …avenues of high-rise luxury in New York… (Para. 21)
high-rise: (Americanism) designating or of a tall apartment house, office building of many stories（高层的）
12. …never far from poverty and mean streets. (Para. 21)
mean: poor in appearance; shabby（简陋的，破旧的）
B. Explain what the following proper names symbolize.
1. Hollywood
U.S. motion picture industry or its life, world, etc.（美国电影工业）
2. Tin Pan Alley
The publishers, writers, and promoters of popular music; center of popular music（流行音乐界）
3. Madison Avenue
The advertising industry, its practices, influence, etc.（广告业）
4. Fifth Avenue
Fashionable shopping center（时尚购物中心）
5. Broadway
The New York commercial theatre or entertainment industry（纽约商业戏剧/娱乐业）
6. Greenwich Village
Center for artists, writers, etc., in New York（纽约艺术家/作家聚集地）
7. Disneyland
A place or condition of unreality, fantasy, incongruity, etc.（梦幻/不切实际之地）
8. Wall Street
The U.S. money market or the U.S. financiers and their power, influence, policies, etc.（美国金融界）
C. Point out what figure of speech is used in each of the following sentences.
1. …while sitcoms cloned and canned in Hollywood, and the Johnny Carson show live, preempt the airways from California… (Para. 3)
Alliteration（头韵）: cloned and canned; Metaphor（隐喻）
2. Tin Pan Alley has moved to Nashville and Hollywood. (Para. 3)
Metonymy（借代）: Tin Pan Alley 代指流行音乐界
3. New York was never Mecca to me. (Para. 7)
Metaphor（隐喻）: Mecca 比喻向往的圣地; 也可视为 Metonymy（借代）
4. Nature constantly yields to man in New York: witness those fragile sidewalk trees gamely struggling against encroaching cement and petrol fumes. (Para. 8)
Personification（拟人）: 行道树被赋予"不屈不挠地奋斗"的人格化特征
5. So much of well-to-do America now lives antiseptically in enclaves, tranquil and luxurious, that shut out the world. (Para. 16)
Metaphor（隐喻）: antiseptically 比喻与世隔绝的生活方式; Synecdoche（提喻）: America 代指 Americans
6. The defeated are not hidden away somewhere else on the wrong side of town. (Para. 18)
Euphemism（委婉语）: "the defeated" 委婉指代失败者/穷人; "the wrong side of town" 委婉指贫民区
7. Characteristically, the city swallows up the United Nations and refuses to take it seriously, regarding it as an unworkable mixture of the idealistic, the impractical, and the hypocritical. (Para. 20)
Personification（拟人）: 城市被赋予"吞噬"和"拒绝认真对待"等人的行为
V. Translation
A. Translate the following sentences into Chinese.
1. Those ad campaigns celebrating the Big Apple, those T-shirts with a heart design proclaiming "I love New York," are signs, pathetic in their desperation, of how the mighty has fallen. (Para. 1)
那些颂扬"大苹果"的广告宣传，那些印着心形图案、标榜"我爱纽约"的T恤衫，都是在孤注一掷、令人感到可悲地表明这个昔日大都会已经今非昔比。
2. Nowadays New York is out of phase with American taste as often as it is out of step with American politics. (Para. 2)
如今，纽约与美国人的审美趣味格格不入的程度，丝毫不亚于它与美国政治的脱节。
3. A dozen other cities have buildings more inspired architecturally than any built in New York City in the past twenty years. (Para. 3)
有十多个其他城市的建筑在设计灵感上超过了纽约过去二十年建造的任何建筑。
4. New York was never a good convention city—being regarded as unfriendly, unsafe, overcrowded, and expensive—but it is making something of a comeback as a tourist attraction. (Para. 4)
纽约从来都不是一个适合开会的城市——人们觉得它不友好、不安全、拥挤、昂贵——但作为旅游景点它正在某种程度上恢复元气。
5. They take more readily than do most Americans to its cosmopolitan complexities, its surviving, aloof, European standards, its alien mixtures. (Para. 5)
他们比大多数美国人更容易接受纽约的国际化复杂性、它那遗存至今的高傲的欧洲标准，以及它的异域混合体。
6. But all in all, I can't think of many places in the world I'd rather live. (Para. 7)
但总的来说，我想不出世界上有多少地方是我更愿意住的。
7. It has become less a tranquil park than an untidy carnival. (Para. 8)
它已经不再是一个宁静的公园，倒更像是一个杂乱无章的嘉年华。
8. A testing of oneself, a fear of giving in to the most banal and marketable of one's talents, still draws many of the young to New York. (Para. 10)
自我检验的愿望、对屈服于自身最平庸而最有市场的才能的恐惧，仍然吸引着许多年轻人来到纽约。
9. In time the newcomers find or form their own worlds; Manhattan is many such worlds, huddled together but rarely interacting. (Para. 14)
久而久之，新来者找到或形成自己的小世界；曼哈顿就是由许多这样的小世界组成的，它们紧挨在一起，却很少互动。
10. The newcomers are never fully absorbed, but are added precariously to the undigested many. (Para. 19)
新来者从未被完全吸收同化，只是不稳定地被添加到那尚未消化的众多人群之中。
B. Translate Paragraphs 20–22 into Chinese.
20. 纽约太大了，任何一个群体都无法主宰它——无论是盎格鲁-撒克逊白人新教徒、犹太人、黑人，还是各种血统的天主教徒——爱尔兰人、意大利人、西班牙裔。所有的群体都有自己的小领地，都有足够的规模使人不得不重视它们，都善于强硬地维护自己的权益，但没有一个群体强大到足以压制其他群体。有意思的是，这座城市将联合国吞入其中，却拒绝认真对待它，视其为理想主义、不切实际和虚伪的不可行的混合体。但纽约人自身正在学习如何在种族多样性中共同生活——这是进入未来的必要历练。
21. 多样性为这个城市增添了无穷的色彩，漫步其间，赏其美景，嗅其芬芳，潜移默化学得其中的真谛。这里有众多各式各样的就餐和购物的场所，虽然它们中最成功的似乎是那些为招引游客而融合了各民族特色的地方，但是它们也都有真正的根基。美国其他的城市虽然也有各种被小心翼翼保护起来的民族地盘，但是，我想那里未必会有如此不和谐的民族大杂烩。同样地，在纽约，奢华的高楼大厦构成的大街从来都是与穷街陋巷比邻而存。赞美纽约的艺术和音乐财富的同时，就不得不一道赞美纽约的忧伤和刚毅精神。像这样的结合是不稳定的；它会引起摩擦，或是一种令人不安的忍耐，而这种忍耐有时会发展成为一种真正的容忍。
22. 人们对于纽约的情绪常在爱与恨之间徘徊交替。这种爱恨变化通常发生在同一天。这个地方发生的事情经常让人恼羞成怒，但也不时令人精神振奋。对我而言，它是一个我生命中无可回避的城市。住在这儿，人们就有信心坚强地面对生活。