2015年考研英语阅读文章练习之历史学类（1）

　　Various accounts have traced the “Big Apple” expression to Depression-Era sidewalk apple vendors， a Harlem night club and a popular 1930s dance known as the “Big Apple.” One fanciful version even links the name with a notorious 19th-century procuress!

　　In fact， it was the jazz musicians of the 1930s and ‘40s who put the phrase into more or less general circulation. If a jazzman circa 1940 told you he had a gig in the “Big Apple，” you knew he had an engagement to play in the most coveted venue of all， Manhattan， where the audience was the biggest， hippest， and most appreciative in the country.

　　The older generation of jazzmen specifically credit Fletcher Henderson， one of the greatest of the early BigBand leaders and arrangers， with popularizing it， but such things are probably impossible to document. Be that as it may， the ultimate source actually was not the jazz world but the racetrack.

　　As Damon Runyon (among many others) cheerfully pointed out， New York in those days offered a betting man a lot of places to go broke. There were no fewer than four major tracks nearby， and it required no fewer than three racing journals to cover such a lively scene—The Daily Racing Form (which still survives on newsstands today) and The Running Horse and The New York Morning Telegraph (which do not)—and the ultimate credit for marrying New York to its durable catchphrase goes to columnist John J. FitzGerald who wrote for the Telegraph for over 20 years.

　　Despite its turf-related origins， by the 1930s and ‘40s， the phrase had become firmly linked to the city’s jazzscene. “Big Apple” was the name both of a popular night club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem and a jitterbug-style group dance that originated in the South， became a huge phenomenon at Harlem‘s great Savoy Ballroom and rapidly spread across the country. (Neat cultural footnote： the great African-American cinema pioneer Oscar Micheaux liked to use the Big Apple as a venue for occasional screenings of his latest feature film or documentary.)

　　A film short called The Big Apple came out in 1938， with an all-Black cast featuring Herbert “Whitey” White‘s Lindy Hoppers， Harlem’s top ballroom dancers in the Swing Era. In a book published the same year， bandleader Cab Calloway used the phrase “Big Apple” to mean “the big town， the main stem， Harlem.” Anyonewho loved the city would have readily agreed with Jack FitzGerald： “There‘s only one Big Apple. That’s New York.”

　　The term had grown stale and was in fact generally forgotten by the 1970s. Then Charles Gillett， head of the New York Convention & Visitors Bureau， got the idea of reviving it. The agency was desperately trying to attract tourists to the town. Mayor John Lindsay had dubbed “Fun City，” but which had become better-known for its blackouts， strikes， street crime and occasional riots. What could be a more wholesome symbol of renewal than a plump red apple?

　　The city‘s industrial-strength campaign was launched toward the end of the Lindsay administration in 1971， complete with a cheerful Big Apple logo in innumerable forms (lapel pins， buttons， bumper stickers， refrigerator magnets， shopping bags， ashtrays， ties， tie tacks， “Big Apple” T-shirts， etc.)。

　　Apparently Gillett was on to something， because at this writing， over 35 years later， the campaign he launched—it won him a Tourism Achievement award in 1994， by the way—is still going strong.

　　1. Read the first paragraph and then choose the correct one.

　　[A] “Big Apple” is a name of New York.

　　[B] There are many reasons for the name “Big Apple”……

　　[C] People are likely to call New York City “Big Apple”

　　[D] The name “Big Apple” is a name of New York City in the history.

　　2. According to the author， what‘s the reason for the name “Big Apple”?

　　[A] He thought that the name “Big Apple” could not be traced as many people‘s saying.

　　[B] He thought that the name “Big Apple” was something about jazz musicians.

　　[C] He thought that initially the name “Big Apple”was a name for Manhattan， not for New York City.

　　[D] He thought that the name “Big Apple” was named by jazz musicians.

　　3. According to Cab Calloway‘s book， what’s the meaning of the phrase “Big Apple”?

　　[A] A name of club in his book.

　　[B] A name of drama mentioned in his book.

　　[C] It meant the big town， the main stem， Harlem.

　　[D] It was just a name and had no means.

　　4.How did they revive the name “Big Apple” by the 1970s?

　　[A] By announced a new slogan.

　　[B] By announce that a plump red apple is a symbol of health.

　　[C] By put an end to New York‘s occasional riots.

　　[D] By put an end to New York‘s street crimes.

　　5.What‘s the industrial-strength campaign’s effect which was launched toward the end of the Lindsay dministration in 1971?

　　[A] It led to a trend of widely used of the phrase “Big Apple”。

　　[B] It made the phrase “Big Apple” have new meanings.

　　[C] The campaign is good for the reviving of the name “Big City”。

　　[D] The campaign lead to the name‘s widely use which was good for its reviving.

　　[疑难长句翻译与注解]

　　1. Various accounts have traced…a popular 1930s dance known as the “Big Apple.”

　　[译文]关于大苹果这个称谓可以追述到很多来源，如有的说是大萧条时期人行道旁的苹果摊卖主，有的归因于黑人住宅区夜总会，以及在二十世纪三十年代流行的一种叫大苹果的舞蹈。

　　[注解]“Big Apple”是对纽约市的一种约定俗成的称呼，本文就是探讨该名字的由来。句中没有连词，只是用句式的逻辑表达了出来，我们在翻译的时候要把连词添上。

　　2. “which still survives on newsstands today”

　　[译文] 这份刊物现在还在发行。

　　[注解] 不能翻译成“今天依然活在报摊上”。应该意译。意思是说这份刊物现在还在发行，仍然存在。

　　3. The city‘s industrial-strength campaign… the end of the Lindsay administration in 1971.

　　[译文]城市的加强工业运动开始于1971年Lindsay 政府的任期将满之前。

　　[注解] “toward the end of the Lindsay administration in 1971”。的意思就是在 1971 年，Lindsay 政府任期将满之前。这里 toward the end 是 just before a particular time.

　　4.The older generation of jazzmen specifically … are probably impossible to document.

　　[译文]老一辈的爵士乐家们热衷于将其归功于早期大乐队最伟大的领导者之一的 Fletcher Henderson， 他们认为是他使“大苹果”这个名字流行起来的，但却不大可能有东西证明这种事的存在。

　　[注解] jazzmen 在这里指爵士乐家，credit 除了有信任之意思外，还可以指“把……归功于……”。本句中credit 的意思就是后者。

　　5. The term had grown stale and was in fact generally forgotten by the 1970s.

　　[译文] 这种称谓逐渐变得了无新意，并于 20 世纪 70 年代被人们基本遗忘。

　　[注解] “The term”指代上文中提到的的大苹果的称谓。“stale”指“陈旧的、不新鲜的”，在这里译为了无新意。

　　参考答案：

　　1.[B]段意归纳题。本题的干扰项在 C 项。纽约市被称为大苹果是我们的常识，所以很多考生会选择这个选项。但陷阱往往就在这里。我们把这种陷阱称为“真理式陷阱”。该类干扰项的共同特点在于，孤立的看，这个选项挑不出任何毛病，而且往往能使我们联想起我们日常生活中的常识。但有至关重要的是该类选项在目标段落中没有被谈到，所以需要被排除。

　　2.[B]选项中 A 项讲的是上一段说的内容，因此不能选。C 项说大苹果最初是曼哈顿名字这点说的不正确。文中提到曼哈顿只是说它与我们的命名有关，但没说这名字给了曼哈顿了。D 项说作者认为大苹果这个名字是爵士乐音乐家给起的，也不正确。这个名字虽然与爵士乐家有关，但不是由爵士乐家们专门为纽约市取的名字。

　　3.[C]细节题。细读文章第六段即可找到答案。此类题只要准确定位到原文就可以顺利排除干扰项。

　　4.[B]C 和 D 项干扰意图明显，可以很容易被排除。A 项虽然没有错，但相对而言，B 项说得更具体些。

　　5.[D]该题的迷惑性在于如何区分几个相近选项。B 项是可以首先排除的。接下来看 A、C.从一定意义上说，A、C 都有道理。但根据选择最佳方案法，我们发现，D 项说得最全面。所以，这里把 A、C 排除而选择 D.