Thai Education

1.Dismal instruction in the countryside has made it easier for city slickers from posh college to paint their political opponents as pliable bumpkins.

Dismal: bad and unsuccessful

a city slicker: is slicked by comparison with a person from the country

posh: elegant or luxurious

pliable : easily bend   bumpkin: awkward or simple person from the country

试翻：落后的乡镇教育使得村民不够开化，接受过精英教育的城里人很容易将他们洗脑，灌输自己的政治主张。

2. In June the government restarted a long-stalled plan to merge small schools, authorities say they hope to subsume more than 10,000 schools over four years.

stall: to stop making progress or developing

subsume: to include something into a particular group

政府6月重启了一项已搁置许久的合并计划，希望通过此举，能够在未来的四年内合并超过10000所学校。

杂谈：经济学人确实适合精读，有些用词虽不常用，但不得不令人拍手称赞。从语法上看也无可挑剔。3月先继续这种方式精读一篇到两篇。目标先熟悉句子结构和用词后，逐渐再看整体框架。 One at a time.