每周一段 42 | 德州：美国的未来

大家好！这周的“每周一段”还是选自 6 月 22 日《经济学人》Special report 板块的 State of the nation 一文（https://www.economist.com/special-report/2019/06/22/texas-seems-better-placed-to-adapt-than-california），文章分析了德州和加州哪个州更能代表美国的未来，结论是加州。

文本

Third, they must be mindful of the gap between the haves and the have-nots and deal with the inequality of income and opportunity that exist in both states. Although it has become more expensive to live in Texas in the past decade, it is still much more affordable than California. The Golden State’s economy used to be a rising tide lifting all sorts of boats, says Joel Kotkin of Chapman University. “Now it’s a rising tide lifting a few yachts.” Both states will also have to confront the gap in services and opportunity between their declining rural and growing urban communities.

译文：

第三，他们必须要注意贫富差距，并处理两个州共同存在的收入和机会不平等问题。尽管在过去的十年里，德州的生活成本已经变得更高了，但它仍然比加州的生活成本要低得多。查普曼大学的 Joel Kotkin 说，加州的经济曾经是上涨的潮水，可以举起各种各样的船只。“现在上涨的潮水只能举起几艘游艇。” 两个州也将不得不面对他们日益衰落的农村地区和日益增长的城市之间在服务和机会方面的差距。

段落赏析

全文共 14 段，选段为第 7 段。这段中写了德州和加州共同面临的贫富差距问题，其中着重写了加州问题的严重性。我们着重赏析下面几处：

1）当我们想表达“留意某个事物”的时候，除了“pay attention to”之外，还可以用 be mindful of, 这个表达偏正式，可以在写作中使用。“每日一词”中也出现过“mindful”，可以顺便复习一下。

2）我们在表达“贫富差距”时，除了用“the gap between the rich and the poor”外，还可以使用“ the gap between the haves and the have-nots”。the haves 和 the have-nots 分别表示富人和穷人，非常形象。不过注意这两个词一般多用在口语中。

3）好的引言能够让文章增色不少。《经济学人》记者选用了非常形象的 quote，其中将加州的经济比作了上涨的潮水，贫富差距很小的时候说“lifting all sorts of boats”，而当贫富差距变大时就变成了“lifting a few yachts”，这组比喻非常形象，令人印象深刻。

句子学习

我们主要通过“背诵”的方式来学习这段话。下面两句话适用于很多国家和地区：

a) Third, they must be mindful of the gap between the haves and the have-nots and deal with the inequality of income and opportunity that exist in both states.

b) Both states will also have to confront the gap in services and opportunity between their declining rural and growing urban communities.