《纽约客》 精读 | 第一期 基辛格的史观

「《纽约客》精读 」选取The New Yorker杂志的片段，介绍文章背景、精讲单词、词组和句式。这是一个固定栏目，更新频率为每周两次。

第一期这个段落选自一篇书评。点评书目为Barry Gewen的The Inevitability of Tragedy，一本基辛格的传记。

“The young Kissinger was drawn less to the classic exponents of Realpoli­tik, such as Clausewitz and Bismarck, than to “philosophers of history” like Kant and anatomists of civilizational decay such as Arnold Toynbee and Oswald Spengler. From these think­ers, Kissinger cobbled together his own view of how history operated. It was not a story of liberal progress, or of class consciousness, or of cycles of birth, maturity, and decline; rather, it was “a series of meaningless incidents,” fleet­ingly given shape by the application of human will. As a young in­fantryman, Kissinger had learned that victors ran­sacked history for analo­gies to gild their triumphs, while the vanquished sought out the historical causes of their misfortune.”

Words

1. classic exponents of Realpolitik

· exponent n. 支持者（某种思想、理论）

a person who supports an idea or theory and tries to persuade people of its truth or benefits 

· Realpolitik n. 现实政治

来源德语，在内政外交中，把国家利益作为最高考量标准的政治思想

2. Kissinger cobbled together his own view of how history operated.

· cobble v. 组装、拼凑

roughly assemble or produce something from available parts or elements 

3. victors ransacked history for analogies to gild their triumphs

· ransack v.

ransack 广为人知的意思是：打劫(to plunder), 但在这里是另外一个意思：彻底    地搜寻，search (a place or receptacle) thoroughly, 常出现在ransack...for...中。

ransack history for analogies, 搜寻历史，找到类比

· gild v. 镀金

cover thinly with gold

Phrases

1. anatomists of civilizational decay

    文明衰落的剖析者

    anatomist 解剖学家

2. not a story of liberal progress, or of class consciousness, or of cycles of birth, maturity, and decline 

    这个故事无关自由的进步，或阶级意识，亦或诞生、成熟和衰败的循环往复

3. “a series of meaningless incidents,” fleet­ingly given shape by the application of human will

    一系列毫无意义的事件, 迅速地被人类意志所塑造。

    fleetingly, for a very short time, 快速地、迅速地

    given shape: 被赋予形状

    human will: 人类意志

Sentences

1. As a young in­fantryman, Kissinger had learned that victors ran­sacked history for analo­gies to gild their triumphs, while the vanquished sought out the historical causes of their misfortune.

译文：作为一名年轻的步兵，基辛格已经领悟到，胜利者会搜寻历史，找到类比，来为自己的胜利镀金，而失败者会寻找出自己不幸的历史原因。

这句话工整炼达，可以学习近反义词。前一半讲述胜利者的做法，后一半用连词while转折，说明失败者的境遇。

victors对应the vanquished

the victors and the vanquished 刚好是一组反义词, 形式和意思都能对应工整。vanquish v. 打败，vanquished 被打败的，the vanquished 被打败的

ransacked对应sought out

triumphs对应misfortune