时间:2018-12-08 作者:英语课 分类:背诵为王第四册


英语课

Lesson50 On the Origin of Middle Class

The rise of the merchant class was intimately linked with the growth oftowns and trade; that is to say that they were linked with the most dynamicelement in medieval European civilization and one hostile to its feudalsetting. It was an element which not only produced new wealth but newinstitutions. Feudal 1 institutions did not work easily in a society oftradesmen and craftsmen 2 for which they had no adequate theoretical place.

Yet feudal lords sought the support of towns against kings and kings soughtthe support of townsmen and their wealth against overmighty subjects. Theygave towns charters and privileges. The walls which surrounded the medievalcity were often the symbol and guarantee of its immunity 3. #The air of a townmakes you free# said a German proverb. The communes and within them theguilds were associations of free men for a long time isolated 5 in a worldunfree. The burgher - the bourgeois 6, the dweller 7 in bourg or borough 8 - was aman who stood up for himself in a universe of dependence 9.This salientcharacteristic of the new middle class is echoed today by the former BritishPrime Minister, Margaret Thatcher 10, when she refers to the danger posed by a"nanny state" in its propensity 11 to encourage dependency among thepopulation.


medieval 中世纪的

feudal 封建制度的

overmighty 有势力过于强大的

guild 4 (中世纪的)行会

burgher 公民;市民

bourgeois 资产阶级

bourg 市镇

borough 自治的市镇

salient 突出的

nanny state 保姆国家

propensity 倾向


论中产阶级的起源

商人阶层的出现与市镇和贸易的发展紧密相关;也就是说他们与中世纪欧洲文明中最有活力的因素和反对其所处的封建环境的因素有关联。这种因素不仅产生新的财富,而且产生新的制度。封建制度在一个商人和手工业社会中很难发挥作用,因为它们在理论上就没有合适的位置。然而封建领主寻求市镇的支持来反对国王,国王则寻求市民和他们的财富的支持以对抗这些势力强大的臣民。他们给予市镇特许状和特权。环绕中世纪城市的城墙通常是市镇豁免权的象征和保证。一条德国谚语说“市镇里的空气让你自由”

市镇和自治体里的行会是长时期孤立于一个不自由的世界里的自由人的协会组织。商人&&资产阶级,自治城镇的居民是在一个无独立的世界里捍卫自己利益的人。

时至今日,前英国首相玛格丽特撒切尔在提到“保姆国家”倾向于鼓励人们的依赖性而带来的危险时,重新提到了这一新中产阶级的突出特征。



1 feudal
adj.封建的,封地的,领地的
  • Feudal rulers ruled over the country several thousand years.封建统治者统治这个国家几千年。
  • The feudal system lasted for two thousand years in China.封建制度在中国延续了两千年之久。
2 craftsmen
n. 技工
  • rugs handmade by local craftsmen 由当地工艺师手工制作的小地毯
  • The craftsmen have ensured faithful reproduction of the original painting. 工匠保证要复制一幅最接近原作的画。
3 immunity
n.优惠;免除;豁免,豁免权
  • The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
  • He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。
4 guild
n.行会,同业公会,协会
  • He used to be a member of the Writers' Guild of America.他曾是美国作家协会的一员。
  • You had better incorporate the firm into your guild.你最好把这个公司并入你的行业协会。
5 isolated
adj.与世隔绝的
  • His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
  • Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。
6 bourgeois
adj./n.追求物质享受的(人);中产阶级分子
  • He's accusing them of having a bourgeois and limited vision.他指责他们像中产阶级一样目光狭隘。
  • The French Revolution was inspired by the bourgeois.法国革命受到中产阶级的鼓励。
7 dweller
n.居住者,住客
  • Both city and town dweller should pay tax.城镇居民都需要纳税。
  • The city dweller never experiences anxieties of this sort.城市居民从未经历过这种担忧。
8 borough
n.享有自治权的市镇;(英)自治市镇
  • He was slated for borough president.他被提名做自治区主席。
  • That's what happened to Harry Barritt of London's Bromley borough.住在伦敦的布罗姆利自治市的哈里.巴里特就经历了此事。
9 dependence
n.依靠,依赖;信任,信赖;隶属
  • Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
  • He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。
10 thatcher
n.茅屋匠
  • Tom Sawyer was in the skiff that bore Judge Thatcher. 汤姆 - 索亚和撒切尔法官同乘一条小艇。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
  • Mrs. Thatcher was almost crazed; and Aunt Polly, also. 撒切尔夫人几乎神经失常,还有波莉姨妈也是。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险
11 propensity
n.倾向;习性
  • He has a propensity for drinking too much alcohol.他有酗酒的倾向。
  • She hasn't reckoned on his propensity for violence.她不曾料到他有暴力倾向。
学英语单词
advance-decline line
agrosol
al-khaimahs
allowable inverse voltage
amortised
amphotonia
Anas discors
atriphos
average gross money wages
bachelor stage
bandanna
biochromes
bridged carbocations
cementation precipitating tank
chinese language word segmentation specification
Clinge
corrected value of air humidity
correlation spectrometer
cow hair
cylindrical lining
department of civil engineering
distillation function
electron cyclotron resonance heating
environmental pathology
erebuss
experimenting
ezeer
field-land
flat abrasion
flitch dam
forceps hand
fore back spring
Fraxinus sargentiana
gas-ejection attitude control system
glycoprotein secretory cell
Good spell
grinder mixer
hard furuncle
illustrative matter
in-order-to motive
incompatible salts
interactive multimedia works
interrogation board
intestinal adenocarcinoma
Iris dichotoma Pall.
JMMC
jock-trot
Keynesian effect theory
laureano
lever type brush holder
Little Cypress Creek
locator field
low-built chassis
manufacturing population
mechanically con trolled brake
megaloplankton
metamict mineral
methenyl chloride
meved
micro unit learning module (muld)
microscopic constitution
misbehaviors
modification (naegeli 1884)
modpacks
multyn
neon light
non-trivial valuation
noz
oordoo
oversupplying
Pedicularis tsangchanensis
peroxide vulcanizing agent
pooled-time
porous iron-copper parts
primula polyanthas
profit per ton flour
proposed recommendation
protozygote
purple vitiligo
resistance to expansion and contraction
right-left traverse of the arm
roasted barley flour
rotor power coefficient
sedona
slamdunk approaches
spoliling attack
spondylodynia
steady state analysis
steelshod
sting to
sunaccounts
superkid
supported layer
tertiary coolant circuit
toxic limit medium dose
transcendental field extension
triaxon
trypsilin
turn someone's battery against himself
wilderness program
Ziehen-Oppenheim
zostera