《经济学人》（The Economist）是一份创办于1843年的英国杂志，主要关注政治和商业方面的新闻。它是英语专业学生课外阅读的必备刊物，更是考研英语命题小组最钟爱的题源，历年考研真题中几乎有一半的文章都选自《经济学人》。

Lessons in civics from comedians.Barack obama was bad for satirists, even if few seemed to mind. Moderate, upstanding and cool, the first black president gave close observers of human ridiculousness little to work with. Most gave up and welcomed him admiringly onto their shows.

译文： 从喜剧中获得的公民经验。讽刺作家很难拿巴拉克.奥巴马开刀，即使很少有人在乎这点。第一位黑人总统以温和、正直又潇洒的形象使得那些身边的滑稽糗事观察者少有可乘之机。于是他们大部分都放弃了，并且在自己的节目中用钦佩的眼光欢迎奥巴马的到来。 词汇： satirist ['sætərɪst] n. 讽刺作家；爱挖苦的人 moderate [ˈmɑdərɪt] adj. 稳健的，温和的；适度的vi. 变缓和，变弱 vt. 节制；减轻 upstanding [,ʌp'stændɪŋ] adj. 良好的；正直的；直立的；姿势笔直的 observer [əb'zɝvɚ] n. 观察者；观测者；遵守者 ridiculousness [rɪ'dɪkjələsnɪs] n. 荒谬，滑稽 admiring [əd'maɪrɪŋ] adj. 赞赏的，羡慕的

“I can’t believe you’re leaving before me,” Mr Obama, appearing on “The Daily Show” for the seventh time, told its outgoing host, Jon Stewart. It was not the relationship to power the acerbic Mr Stewart would have liked. Thankfully, Donald Trump is making satire great again.

译文： “我不敢相信您会比我先离开这里。”奥巴马第七次出现在“每日秀”的舞台上时对即将卸任的主持人乔恩.斯图尔特说。尖刻的斯图尔特不会喜欢被强迫出现这种关系。而值得庆幸的是，唐纳德.特朗普使得嘲讽再次复兴。 词汇： outgoing ['aʊt'goɪŋ] adj.开朗的；外出的；即将离职的；乐于助人的 n. 外出；流出；开支 acerbic [ə'sɝbɪk] adj. 尖刻的；酸的；辛辣的 satire ['sætaɪɚ] n. 讽刺；讽刺文学，讽刺作品 都学小课堂： 1.文中加粗部分所在句子的主干是Mr Obama told its outgoing host，加粗部分处于两个逗号之间，属于插入语，修饰句子主语Mr Obama。 2.make sth+形容词，表示“使变得，使成为”

The most conspicuous beneficiary, “Saturday Night Live” (SNL), a hitherto jaded platform for comedy skits on NBC, is seeing its best ratings in over 20 years. This is partly thanks to Alec Baldwin’s parody of the president as an irascible halfwit. But the chaos in the month-old administration has provided additional targets.

译文： 最明显的受益者，迄今为止已老生常谈的NBC搞笑平台的《周六夜现场》（SNL），20年来创最佳收视率。这在一定程度上归因于亚力克.鲍德温的拙劣模仿，他将总统模仿成一个易怒的笨蛋。（读者试译语句） 词汇： conspicuous [kən'spɪkjʊəs] adj. 显著的；显而易见的 beneficiary [,bɛnɪ'fɪʃɪɛri] n.受益人，受惠者；封臣 adj. 拥有封地的；受圣俸的 hitherto [,hɪðɚ'tu] adv. 迄今；至今 parody ['pærədi] n. 拙劣的模仿；诙谐的改编诗文 vt. 拙劣模仿 irascible [ɪ'ræsəbl] adj. 易怒的 chaos ['keɑs] n. 混沌，混乱 administration [əd,mɪnɪ'streʃən] n. 管理；行政；实施；行政机构 都学小课堂： 文中加粗语句，字数不多，欢迎大家把自己的译文和见解留在评论区，和大家一起交流交流哦~

On February 4th SNL unveiled a hilarious parody of Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, as a gum-chewing maniac. The belligerent Mr Spicer has since appeared cowed. There are a couple of lessons here for more sober political commentators. One is to abandon the complacency about Mr Trump that, until Mr Baldwin took over in October, had rendered SNL’s portrayal of him toothless and pointless. Another is to let the weirdness of this presidency speak for itself.

译文： 2月4日，“周六夜现场”节目曝光了白宫新闻秘书斯宾塞滑稽地模仿一位嚼口香糖的疯子的事件。自此，干练好强的斯宾塞先生大为受挫。对于头脑尚清醒的政治评论员而言，可以从中学到很多。一个经验是可以让川普的自满显露无疑，鲍德温先生10月份接任前，一直将他在“周六夜现场”节目的形象塑造得无权无势并且无厘头。另一个经验则是凸显总统言论的滑稽无逻辑。 词汇： hilarious [hɪ'lɛrɪəs] adj. 欢闹的；非常滑稽的；喜不自禁的 press [prɛs] vt. 压；按；逼迫；紧抱 vi. 压；逼；重压 n. 压；按；新闻；出版社；印刷机 maniac ['menɪæk] n. 疯子，躁狂者 adj. 发狂的；狂热的；癫狂的 commentator ['kɑmən'tetɚ] n. 评论员，解说员；实况播音员；时事评论者 abandon [ə'bændən] n. 放任；狂热 vt. 遗弃；放弃 portrayal [pɔr'treəl] n. 描绘；画像，肖像

“America first, Australia sucks. Your reef is failing. Prepare to go to war,” the SNL Trump blustered down the phone to Australia’s president, Malcolm Turnbull, on February 4th. That, minus the threat of war, is pretty much what Mr Trump said to Mr Turnbull in a recent phone call. Other satirists are finding Mr Trump’s tendency to defy parody harder to handle.

译文： “美国至上，澳大利亚濒危。你们的矿产正在骤减，准备好迎接战争吧！”在2月4日的“周六夜现场”节目中，川普在电话里怒怼澳大利亚总统马尔科姆.特恩布尔。这段内容，除了战争威胁以外，基本就是近期川普先生和特恩布尔先生通话的主要内容。其他的讽刺作家发现川普先生的倾向难以滑稽模仿和掌握。 词汇： reef [rif] n. 暗礁；矿脉；收帆 vt. 收帆；缩帆 vi. 缩帆；收帆 defy ['difaɪ] vt. 藐视；公然反抗；挑衅；使落空 n. 挑战；对抗 handle ['hændl] n. 把手；手感；口实 vt. 处理；操作；运用；买卖；触摸 vi. 搬运；易于操纵

“It’s really tricky now as satire has become reality,” Trey Parker, co-creator of “South Park”, a satirical cartoon which presented the Trump-Clinton contest as the “giant douche or the turd sandwich”, has said. The Onion has the same problem.

译文： “现在讽刺已经变成现实的情况真的很棘手”, 南方公园”的联合创始人Trey Parker这么说到，他曾将特朗普 - 克林顿的竞选以一则“巨型灌肠或者三明治”的讽刺漫画展示出来。而洋葱网也有同样的问题。 词汇： tricky ['trɪkɪ] adj. 狡猾的；机警的 contest [kən'tɛst] vt. 争辩；质疑 vi. 竞争；争辩 n. 竞赛；争夺；争论 douche [duʃ] n. 灌洗器 vi. 冲洗 vt. 冲洗

One of the satirical online paper’s recent headlines, “Eric Trump Scolds Father That He Mustn’t Inquire About The Businesses, For He’s Sworn Not To Tell,” is a pretty faithful description of the firewall between the 45th president and his family firm. Indeed, many of the headlines generated by Mr Trump’s administration are deeply Onion-esque.

译文： 在洋葱网的最近头条中，“Eric Trump 责骂其父亲，即他不可打听企业事务，因为他宣誓了不过问，”这是对第45位总统和他的家族企业之间所存在的防火墙的一个相当靠谱的描述。事实上，特朗普政府颁布的许多标题都是“洋葱式”的。 词汇： headline ['hɛdlaɪn] n. 大标题；内容提要；栏外标题；头版头条新闻vt. 给……加标题；使成为注意中心；大力宣传 description [dɪ'skrɪpʃən] n. 描述，描写；类型；说明书 generate ['dʒɛnəret] vt. 使形成；发生；生殖；产生物理反应

Kellyanne Conway, a Trump spokeswoman, was briefly barred by CNN for using alternative facts—her references to a fictitious jihadist atrocity, which Ms Conway called the “Bowling Green Massacre”, were the last straw. Mr Trump’s wife, Melania, has sued a newspaper for reporting lurid untruths about her on the basis that this cost her the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” of making millions as “one of the most photographed women in the world”. No satirist could do better.

译文： 特朗普发言人凯莉安.康威被美国有线电视新闻网禁止过发布非真实性的报道--文章中提到了一个虚构的“圣战暴行”，康威称“博林格林大屠杀”是最后一根稻草。特朗普的妻子梅拉尼亚（Melania）也起诉过一家报道了她一些不实信息的报纸，这篇报道使她成为了 “世界上最受关注的妇女之一”。没有讽刺家能做的更好的了。 词汇： bar [bɑr] n. 条，棒；酒吧；障碍；法庭 vt. 禁止；阻拦 prep. 除……外 alternative [ɔl'tɝnətɪv] adj. 供选择的；选择性的；交替的n. 二中择一；供替代的选择 fictitious [fɪk'tɪʃəs] adj. 虚构的；假想的；编造的；假装的 jihadist [dʒɪˈhɑːdɪst] n. 圣战主义者 straw [strɔ] n. 稻草；吸管；一文不值的东西 adj. 稻草的；无价值的 sue [su] vt. 控告；请求 vi. 控告；提出请求 lurid ['lʊrɪd] adj. 可怕的，耸人听闻的；火烧似的；苍白的；血红的；华丽而庸俗的

SNL’s response, in sending up Mr Spicer, is to shift the focus onto one of the relatively normal players in Trump world, to show how pervasively strange it is. At first glance, none of this should bother Mr Trump. SNL’s weekly audience of 10m represents less than half his Twitter following and is dominated by left-leaning millennials who would sooner work in an abattoir than vote Trump.

译文： 美国综艺节目《周六夜现场》回应斯派塞先生时，是把焦点转移到特朗普团队中这个相对正常的工作人员之一，以突出如此奇怪的现象。乍一看，这些不应给川普先生带来任何困扰。《周六夜现场》每周1000万名观众人数还不到其推特粉丝的一半，而且他们深受那些宁愿到角斗场工作都不愿投票给川普的左派人物的影响。 词汇： focus ['fokəs] n. 焦点；中心；清晰；焦距 vt. 使集中；使聚焦 vi. 集中；聚焦；调节焦距 bother ['bɑðɚ] vt. 烦扰，打扰；使……不安；使……恼怒 vi. 操心，麻烦；烦恼 n. 麻烦；烦恼 audience ['ɔdɪəns] n. 观众；听众；读者；接见 dominate ['dɑmɪnet] vt. 控制；支配；占优势；在……中占主要地位 vi. 占优势；处于支配地位 millennial [mɪ'lenɪrl] adj. 一千年的；千禧年的 abattoir ['æbətwɑː] n. 屠宰场；角斗场 都学小课堂： at first glance表示：乍一看，初看；第一眼就……同义词有at first sight

Yet Mr Trump, who unlike his core voters devours the mainstream media and loves to hobnob with the celebrities who appear on shows like SNL, minds the lampooning a lot. “Not funny, cast is terrible, always a complete hit job. Really bad television!” he tweeted last month. SNL’s response was to start planning ways to take Mr Baldwin’s impression, which the actor has described as a civic duty, to a wider audience.

译文： 然而特朗普先生却不像他的核心支持者一样喜欢紧盯主流媒体，还喜欢看着像《周六夜现场》这样的节目喝上两杯。他对那些讽刺表演十分在意。“一点都不好玩，演员十分糟糕，总在完全的讽刺。十分糟糕的电视节目！”他上个月发推特说道。《周六夜现场》回应称他们开始规划让鲍德温先生让更多观众熟知，而鲍德温称这是公民义务。 词汇： devour [dɪ'vaʊɚ] v. 吞食；毁灭 hobnob ['hɑbnɑb] vi. 交谈；共饮；过从甚密；亲切交谈 n. 交谈；共饮 civic ['sɪvɪk] adj. 市的；公民的，市民的