此次赏析的内容是经济学人文章Obituary: George H.W.Bush，其中标题及正文1段由LizhuHuang完成，2-3段由花卷完成，4-5段由Ada完成，6-7段由陈玉梅完成，最后由花卷整合。
老布什的这篇讣告难度不低，我们组的成员阅读经济学人的时间不长，此次的任务对我们来说挑战很大，但我们诚意满满，看看这秘密麻麻的手写笔记
Ada更是带病坚持晨读，并完成了赏析难度最高的部分，质量也非常高。
这篇赏析文章能让你心情特别放松的看完一篇有难度、有高度、有谈资的经济学人文章，其中的亮点绝对值得一看，我敢打包票，看完你能立马记住并使用上一些表达。
文中还有一个彩蛋，是个很简单词，但那句话的意思很多人不一定理解对了，期待你发现并在留言区讨论。
最后，感谢现象级英语社群，让我们能有机会组成这个赏析小组。下面是赏析全文，请大家多多指教。
Doing his darnedest
网页版摘要：
George Herbert Walker Bush, 41st president of the United States, died on November 30th, aged 94纸质版摘要：
Obituary: George H.W. Bush died on November 30th
America’s 41st president, the last of his kind, was 94
标题赏析：
Doing one's darnedest: 全力以赴，to put forth the utmost amount of energy or effort toward some task or goal.
Eg: Money is a little tight at the moment, but I'll do my darndest to be there for your wedding.
P1:
①Wherever he went, as America’s president or before it, George Herbert Walker Bush usually carried a felt-tipped pen and a supply of notecards. ②On these he wrote letters. ③Some were thank-yous; others a clumsy, but courteous, attempt to get his views across to other people; yet others just a “good to see you” kind of thing. ④When the time came to write his presidential memoirs, to salve some of that desperate hurt after Bill Clinton thrashed him in 1992, he published instead 600-plus pages of correspondence. ⑤They ranged from doting letters to newborn grandchildren to his worries, as a young seaman in 1943, that his girlfriend Barbara, “so darn attractive”, would drop him while he was away; from his attempt to explain the Watergate scandal to his four young sons, to his mortified account of throwing up in 1992 on the Japanese prime minister, “the damnedest experience”. ⑥He admitted that some of the letters were nutty. ⑦But they were also of the moment. ⑧As he said, “It’s all about heartbeat.”
段落大意：
第一句以意像化的形式向读者展现了一个老布什的形象。无论走到哪里，作为美国总统和作为平民的时候，老布什总是随身带着一支签字笔和一沓记事卡，也引起了读者特别好奇，到底这些记事卡是干嘛的呢？
原来他是用来写信。有一些是感谢卡，有政治观点，也有一些只是简单的问候-"见到你很高兴“。
这一段还具体地写出这些信件的内容，可以看出Bush是非常有性情的人，有充满宠溺的给刚出生的孙子的信，也有当水手时，害怕他女朋友Barbara甩掉他的真实，也有试图向他四个儿子解释水门事件的。他承认有一些信看起来非常疯狂，但是他们都是当下的心情。
学点表达：
③Some were thank-yous; others a clumsy, but courteous, attempt to get his views across to other people;
-
clumsy but courteous 尴尬而不失礼貌的
clumsy这个词在别的场景下通常是指笨手笨脚的或者笨拙的，这里更接近于"得罪人的”，a clumsy action or statement is said or done carelessly or badly, and likely to upset someone
Eg: David made a clumsy attempt to comfort us
-
courteous有礼貌的, polite 的高级说法。 polite and showing respect for other people
Eg: The students are well-educated and courteous.
-
get his views across 把...讲清楚，在写作或者口语当中非常好用，是communicate的结果。succeed in communicating an idea or piece of information to someone, or to be communicated successfully
Eg: It took me ages to get my point across.
get your point across
④When the time came to write his presidential memoirs, to salve some of that desperate hurt after Bill Clinton thrashed him in 1992, he published instead 600-plus pages of correspondence.
1992年，克林顿在总统竞选中大败老布什。老布什在写总统回忆录的时候，出版了六百多页的通信稿。
salve 安慰(良心)；减轻(内疚感)，Heal or remedy (a disease, sin, sorrow, etc.)
常见的用法是 salve your conscience, you do it in order to feel less guilty.-
thrash轻松击败，以大比分战胜，If one player or team thrashes another in a game or contest, they defeat them easily or by a large score. (informal)
Eg: Brazil thrashed Italy 5–0.
-
correspondence 往来书信，Letters的高级说法
Eg: He always replied to his correspondence
⑤They ranged from doting letters to newborn grandchildren to his worries; from his attempt to ..., to his mortified account of throwing up in 1992 on the Japanese prime minister, “the damnedest experience”.
-
doting 宠溺的，spoiling， a doting mother, husband, or friend, you mean that they show a lot of love for someone
Eg: His doting parents bought him his first racing bike at 13.
-
mortified， they feel extremely offended, ashamed, or embarrassed.
Eg: I was mortified to find that everyone else was wearing evening dress.
his mortified account of throwing up in 1992 on the Japanese prime minister
这里有个老布什的小囧事。就是在1992年1月8日，老布什在参加日本首相Kiichi Miyazawa的宴会时晕倒了，更囧的是在晕倒之前吐在了Miyazawa的大腿上。他称之为难以置信（darndest) 的经历,现在看来也是非常窘迫的。这件事后来成为了喜剧演员们的素材，当之无愧地当选为2007年USA Today 评选的“二十五个公众糗事"之一。
vomiting
⑥He admitted that some of the letters were nutty.
-
nutty 疯狂，是nut的形容词，very strange or foolish.
搬运一段晨读的对话
"You are in love with my cousin."
"That's nuts."
P2:
①In one letter he happened to mention a childhood rebuke from his mother: “Now, George, don’t walk ahead.” ②He took her words to heart, staying, for most of his political career, loyally behind and modestly to one side. ③As chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1974, he stuck by Richard Nixon until it became more urgent to save the party; at which point, he publicly asked him to resign. ④He felt afterwards as though someone had died. ⑤In his eight years as Ronald Reagan’s vice-president, though they had sparred bitterly in the 1980 primaries over Reagan’s “voodoo economics” and his callow Hollywood sparkle, he never criticised or upstaged him. ⑥During the Irancontra affair of the 1980s, though present at many salient meetings, he declared himself out of the loop, and it was hard to prove otherwise.
段落大意：
第一句话是过渡段，即承接了上一段老布什喜欢写信的事，又通过一封信引出了老布什性格上非常显著的一个特点——不做出头鸟，整段围绕这点展开。
他忠于并支持查德·尼克松，只到拯救共和党迫在眉睫，他才公开要求尼克松辞职。在那之后，他就像有人过世了一样那么难受。
他担任副总统并辅佐了罗纳德·里根的8年，虽然在1980年大选之初，他们有过争论，但他从来没有批评过里根总统或者抢他风头。在“伊朗门事件”期间，他虽然出席了很多重要会议，但他声称自己不在权利圈中。
学点表达：
①In one letter he happened to mention a childhood rebuke from his mother
a rebuke from sb. …作出的指责
招来指责的搭配为earn
例句：His opposition earned him bitter rebukes from secessionists.（Washington TimesDec 6, 2018）
②He took her words to heart, staying, for most of his political career, loyally behind and modestly to one side.
take sth. to heart 把...放在心上，走心了：
如果说某个人很敏感，对批评非常介意
Brian is a very sensitive kind of person and he takes criticism very much to heart.
在Goodbye Mr. Chips中校长的话对Chips产生了影响，是这样说的。
Ralston's straight words had, in some ways, had an effect.
③As chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1974, he stuck by Richard Nixon until it became more urgent to save the party
Republican National Committee 共和党全国委员会
美国两大党派：共和党 vs 民主党
stick原义是粘贴，这里的stick by 是支持、忠于
She'd stuck by Bob through thick and thin.
她和鲍勃患难与共。
类似的表达还有be loyal to、adhere、stand by ，口语中常用的表达是back sb. up
你需要他人的支持可以这样说，Very difficult to do , unless other people are going to back you up .
④He felt afterwards as though someone had died.
afterwards 在某个事情或者时间点之后
James was taken to hospital but died soon afterwards
詹姆斯被送往医院，但随后不久就死了。
A Man Spent An Entire Year Walking Across China -- This Is What He Looked Like Afterwards.
⑤he never criticised or upstaged him.
upstaged原义是在舞台后部，朝舞台后面的意思，这里是使人难堪，抢某人风头。
Eg:
He had a younger brother who always publicly upstaged him.
他有一个弟弟，总是公然抢他的风头。
看到这个词时有个疑问，在舞台后部为什么不用backstage，在网上找到一张图片
从图上看，舞台的后半部分是不是就是上面？？是不是瞬间记住了这个词？？而backstage是后台的意思。
⑥During the Irancontra affair of the 1980s, though present at many salient meetings, he declared himself out of the loop
be in the loop/ out of the loop 圈内人、圈外人，在圈外而无法获取信息
Eg:
I've been out of the loop since I changed jobs. I didn't realize Wendy and Bob had got engaged.
看到loop，很容易就联想到朋友圈，去查了查，英文版的微信上这个功能命名是moments，和老布什写信记录moment倒是很契合，我们每一篇文章赏析、每一次复盘、每一次打卡，也是为那个moment留下了一点记录。
P3:
①The vision thing
②People often supposed him out of the loop in other ways, too: a boy born to privilege, called “Poppy” by his parents, a product of Phillips Academy and Phi Beta Kappa at Yale, who was (falsely) rumoured in the 1992 campaign never to have passed a quart of milk through a supermarket scanner. ③He was a Yankee aristocrat who could have followed his Daddy on to Wall Street but instead became a Texas oil man (the only Texan, growled Speaker Jim Wright, who ate lobster with his chilli), and went on to represent the toniest bit of Houston in Congress.④ All this, as well as the tennis-playing summers in Kennebunkport, seemed to set him firmly apart from the average Joe, though he let it be known as president that his favourite food was pork rinds, and banned from the White House the broccoli his mother had made him eat.
段落大意：
The vision thing ，没有政治远见是跟随老布什一生的标签，详见George H.W. Bush and “the vision thing”
1987年《时代》杂志刊登了一篇“Where Is the Real George Bush?”
使"The vision thing" 成为一个臭名昭著的引语，任何政治家或者公众人物没有远见都可以这样描述。
“the vision thing” went on to become a metonym, i.e., a shorthand figure of speech. It is now used as a description “for any politician’s failure to incorporate a greater vision in a campaign, and has often been applied in the media to other politicians or public figures.”
后面的段落围绕这个点展开。
第三段第一句又是过渡，用了上一段同样的一个表达out of the loop，特别形象的总结了老布什与常人不同的一生。如果让我在这两段中选最喜欢的句子，那就是这两段的第一句，神来之笔。
在其他方面，他也不是我等凡人这个圈子里的：含着金钥匙出生，被父母唤作Poppy（父母用外公的名字George Herbert Walker为他取名），读的都是名校，1992年总统竞选时曾有谣传，他从来没去超市买过牛奶。他本可以跟着爸爸去华尔街，他却去德克萨斯州搞石油，休斯顿最时尚的国会议员。夏天在肯纳邦克波特镇打网球，最喜欢的食物时炸猪皮，入住白宫后就再也不用被妈妈逼着吃西兰花了，所有这些，让他与众不同。
学点表达：
③He went on to represent the toniest bit of Houston in Congress
go on to represent the toniest bit of
bit of 一组事物中的一个
Eg:
Not one single bit of work has been started towards the repair of this road.
这条路的修缮工作一丁点儿都还没开始。
④ All this, as well as the tennis-playing summers in Kennebunkport, seemed to set him firmly apart from the average Joe
- average Joe 普通人，跟中文中的张三李四是不是很像？类似的表达还有man in the street、Mr. Nobody
average Joe 一般指男性，女性对应average Jane、plain Jane
Eg:
Daniel： Betty seems to be a plain Jane.
（Betty 看起來似乎是个普通的女生。）
Justin： I don’t think so. I think she’s really charming, and she’s always been very friendly to others.
（我不这么认为。我觉得她真的很迷人，而且她一直对人很友善。）
- ban from 禁止…
He has been banned from driving for a year. 他被禁止开车一年
P4：
①With the label “preppy” came the tag “wimp”, which infuriated him far more. ②He had had a brave war, enlisting at 18 and completing one mission with his aircraft on fire. ③Later he did not hesitate to send 27,000 troops to dislodge Manuel Noriega from Panama, or to launch a ground war against Saddam Hussein in 1991—declaring victory and pulling out in 100 hours, which pushed his approval ratings to 89%. ④He was not above nasty attack ads in the 1988 campaign, excoriating Michael Dukakis for giving furlough to a black rapist. ⑤But Nixon, who hated Ivy Leaguers, seemed to think him soft; Reagan said he lacked spunk; and his talk of “Big Mo” and “kicking ass” on the campaign trail often ended in retreat. ⑥In 1990 a dust-up with Congress forced him to capitulate on his steely election pledge of “No new taxes”. ⑦This, as well as the brief recession of 1990-91, cost him the 1992 election, though even as voters went to the polls the figures for growth were ticking upwards, ushering in almost a decade of prosperity.
段落大意：
①与“传统保守”相随的是“懦弱无能”，老布什对这标签非常愤怒。②③毕竟他也曾有“英勇无畏”的事迹，也有强硬的一面（如入侵巴拿马，击败伊拉克），④在竞选中利用Willie Horton事件攻击对手。⑤但是还是摆脱不了别人对他软弱的评价，⑥⑦比如对国会的妥协违背了竞选时的“不加税”承诺，这也导致了他连任的失败。
学点表达：
①With the label “preppy” came the tag “wimp”, ...
1. preppy：Preppy are young people, esp. in America, who have often been to an expensive private school and who are conventional and conservative in their attitudes, behavior, and style of dress. 开头没有用任何形容词，只用一个固有的标签词preppy就把老布什的家庭教育背景、性格特点描绘出来了。
2. with...came...： 与……相随而来的是…… 原句是一个倒装句变成 with the label "preppy", the tag "wimp" came, ...就更好理解了，因此也要注意动词came的单复数是由主语“wimp”决定的。
引用一句我最爱的维多利亚时期的段子手Oscar Wilde的话： "With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone." 哈哈~
补充Eric老师在群里提到的蜘蛛侠里Uncle Ben对Peter说的话：
③Later he did not hesitate to send 27,000 troops to dislodge Manuel Noriega from Panama, or to launch a ground war against Saddam Hussein in 1991—declaring victory and pulling out in 100 hours, which pushed his approval ratings to 89%.
毫不犹豫做某事 not hesitate to do sth.
此句出现破折号“—”代替逗号的情况，英语中逗号使用上和前文如果功能重复为避免给读着带来歧义或断句麻烦都用破折号代替，如果是有已有逗号并列，避免重复就用分号代替更大范围的并列（To separate groups that contain commas）如：
Every Saturday my brother gathers up his things—goggles, shower cap, and snorkel; bubble bath, soap, and shampoo; tapes, stereo, and rubber duck—and heads for the tub.
第五句中的分号也属这种用法：But Nixon, who hated Ivy Leaguers, seemed to think him soft; Reagan said he lacked spunk; and his talk of “Big Mo” and “kicking ass” on the campaign trail often ended in retreat.
④He was not above nasty attack ads in the 1988 campaign, ...
not be above (doing) something：这个点我们小组经过讨论和论证一致觉得该句是指老布什也利用恶意广告去攻击竞争对手，进一步说明他不是表面上的那么软弱。
not be above sth. 表示not be too proud/good/honest to do sth. 简单翻译就是不以为耻。
Eg: I am not above asking questions. 我不以提问为耻。
⑤his talk of “Big Mo” and “kicking ass” on the campaign trail often ended in retreat.
1. 提炼句型：sb's talk of... often ended in... 这里end做不及物动词，很好用哟~
His talk of "marring her" and "not beating her any more" often ended in empty/broken promises.
The incident could have ended in tragedy.
2. on campaign/championship/winning/comeback trail 该表达主要用于新闻报道指 在……路线/道路上
⑦This, as well as the brief recession of 1990-91, cost him the 1992 election, though even as voters went to the polls the figures for growth were ticking upwards, ushering in almost a decade of prosperity.
1. cost sb. sth.除了表示花费以外，还可以表示“使丧/损失”。
The increase of taxes will hurt small business and cost many thousands of jobs.
Writing the book cost him his eyesight and his marriage.
2. usher in (formal): usher指引座迎宾员，作动词短语也就有了引领开启之意
a discovery that ushered in a period of change(=that marked the beginning of a period of change)
川普每周电视讲话里也有用到这表达：All of this will usher in a new era of prosperity in America--and bring wealth, hope, and opportunity to those communities that need it the most.
解构段落：
从段落发展来看，本段也是用于论证的好例子：开篇第一句就强调了“wimp”这个标签，统领全段的主旨。后面紧跟着②③④句反驳，这里尤其注意到三句的时态过渡很好的起了衔接作用，由had had到later did再到was not above（语气上很像让步句，对第一句的“wimp”标签反驳得毫无力量）为的是突出第⑤句的But进一步强化老布什的“wimp”标签。
从句型使用上，作者偏爱用松散句（Loose construction）中心意思放在句首，修饰语放在句尾。自然、流畅、易懂，读者能快速抓住主要信息。符合讣告文体的特点。
P5：
①What he lacked, as he more or less admitted, was “the vision thing”. ②Ideologically, he was flexible: moderate sometimes (indeed, in one Texas race, left of the Democrat), while at others he would traipse round pandering to conservatives, as George Will cruelly put it, with a thin tinny “arf”, like a lap-dog. ③On domestic policy, as president, he inclined to the hard right (prayer in schools, gun rights, anti-abortion), while also loosening immigration policy and expanding the rights of the disabled. ④Wearing his mild Episcopalian hat, he mentioned a thousand points of light, a kinder, gentler America, and a new breeze blowing away the leaves of an old tree. ⑤It was all as vague as it was all deeply hoped for.
段落大意：
①继续分析老布什的弱点：不善于画饼鼓动人心。②老布什的政治思想倾向。③内政政策。④⑤政治抱负的美好愿景，也只能是愿景。
学点表达：
①“the vision thing” — the expectation that a leader should package his policies in a few stirring phrases.
②as sb. put it, ...
解构段落：
全段第一句就提出老布什缺乏政治上的号召煽动能力—"the vision thing"（我把它理解为政治上的愿景，一种画饼能力）。紧接着用两个长句分别概述了他的政治倾向和内政政策，然后第四句总结了他的政治愿景，最后一句呼应第一句——这样的愿景也是模糊不具备它所期待的能力。首尾呼应形成一个完整的闭合。
全段用了很多doing的结构表修饰，读来非常有韵律和画面感。
P6:
①His forte, and first love, was foreign policy. ②He had been ambassador to the UN for Nixon, an envoy to China for Gerald Ford (he and Barbara riding round delightedly on bicycles) and head of the CIA, besides, as vice-president, a follower-of-the-hearse at dozens of state funerals. ③Instinctively, he thought in terms of global power games; fortuitously, his time as president coincided with the end of the cold war, a heady and fascinating moment. ④With Mikhail Gorbachev he struck up an easy working friendship, and in 1991, in the wake of the Gulf war, he even had a moment of comprehensive vision: a new world order, based not on force but on the rule of law, which America would strongly lead.
段落大意：
他的专长和最爱是外交政策。他曾经是尼克松统治时期的联合国大使，杰拉尔德统治.福特统治时期的美国驻北京大使（他和妻子芭芭拉曾在中国愉快的骑车）
也曾是美国中情局局长，且在担任副总统期间频繁出现在国葬现场，被戏称为“灵车追随者”。本能的，他考虑事情都是从全球权利游戏基础出发，幸运的是他当总统时恰好遇到冷战结束，是民众焕发活力的时刻。随着他与戈尔巴乔夫（前苏联领导人）建立了轻松工作友谊，及随之而来的1991年的海湾战争，他曾经一度有一个整体构想：构建一个新的世界秩序，不是基于强权而是基于美国领导的一套强有力的法治规则。
这一段是老布什政治生涯的一个缩影，关于布什副总统期间频繁出现在国葬上，在英语百科上有这样的描述：
The Bushes attended a large number of public and ceremonial events in their positions, including many state funerals, which became a common joke for comedians. Mrs. Bush found the funerals largely beneficial, saying, "George met with many current or future heads of state at the funerals he attended, enabling him to forge personal relationships that were important to President Reagan."
葬礼成了交际的场合，刷新了认知。
学点表达：
① His forte, and first love, was foreign policy.
forte: be sb's forte 是某人的专长,to be something that you do well or are skilled at
可用于替代“advantage"
Eg: 作为作家，她的专长是写喜剧：As a writer, her forte is comedy.
④With Mikhail Gorbachev he struck up an easy working friendship, and in 1991, in the wake of the Gulf war...
in the wake of,(尤指不好的事)紧随某事而来，为某事的后果。if something,especially something bad,happens in the wake of an event, it happens afterwards an usually as a result of it.
Eg: 旱灾之后，饥荒紧随而来。Famine followed in the wake of the drought。
P7:
①Such grandiloquence, like eloquence, was rare in him. ②He was schooled in modesty, fond of the small behind-the-scenes gesture rather than the large public show.③He belonged to a generation that had no patience for today’s blowhards who, putting self before nation, always push themselves forward. ④But when the times and events demanded he could, perhaps to his own surprise, find the right words and walk confidently ahead.
段落大意：
夸夸其谈、雄辩很少在他身上出现，他是受过谦逊教育的人，更喜欢在幕后操纵而不喜欢在公众面前作秀。他是属于对当今哪些自吹自擂的人没有耐心的一代，这些人将自己放在国家前面，总喜欢出风头。但是当时间和事情一旦确定下来，即使他自己也很意外，他也会找到正确的理由并坚决执行。
学点表达：
②He was schooled in modesty, fond of the small behind-the-scenes gesture rather than the large public show.
在这句话中small behind-the-scenes gesture和large public show的对比，更形象显示出老布什给人的谦逊、低调的印象，喜欢幕后不喜欢前台。老布什一直在听妈妈的话：”Now, George, don't walk ahead."
③push themselves forward: to try to make other people notice you 表现自己，出风头，可以与前面的upstage联想记忆。