经济学者论坛（经济学人精读为什么学中文的外国人越来越少）

Fading SinophiliaFlying dragon,passing fashion，我来为大家科普一下关于经济学者论坛?以下内容希望对你有帮助!

经济学者论坛

Fading Sinophilia

Flying dragon,passing fashion

Why the study of Mandarin seems to be in decline

fade意思是“变淡，逐渐消失”

Sinophilia可以翻译为“中国热”；sino- 是个词缀，意思是“中国的”，具体用法可参见之前的文章 经济学人精读 | Trumpian TikTok；-philia 也是一个词缀，意思是“癖好”，它们连用可以表示对中国的热爱。

Mandarin 意思是“（中文）普通话”

decline 既可作动词又可作名词，表示“下降，减少”；be in decline 可以当做搭配，意思是“在走下坡路；在下降”。

题目可以理解为，中国还在腾飞，还在崛起，但是学习普通话的风尚，那种“普通话热”（流行学普通话的时代）已然过去。

“I love China,” declared Boris Johnson,then mayor of London, in 2013, exhorting British children, his own included, to study Mandarin. Seven years on, he is a lot less keen on China, and the vogue for studying Mandarin seems to be fading.

declare 意思是“宣称，表明”

exhort 意思是“规劝，敦促”

be keen on 是个搭配，意思是“喜爱，热衷于”，类似的还有 be fond of

vogue 意思是名词“流行，时髦”，常跟介词for搭配。

When Mr Johnson was declaring his Sinophilia, well-to-do parents saw Mandarin as a good investment in their children’s future. In 2015 Hatching Dragons, Britain’s first bilingual English-Mandarin nursery, opened its doors to 32 little linguists; it has since taught over 500 children, for around £1,881 a month per child.But Cennydd John, the nursery’s chief executive, laments that there is “almost no option” for children to continue their bilingual education once they leave at the age of five. Fewer than 3% of primary schools in England offer Mandarin.

well-to-do 意思是“有钱的，富有的”，近义词有rich，wealthy

bilingual 意思是“双语的；会两种语言的”；lingu- 是个词缀，意思是“语言”；前缀 bi- 表示“二；双”，所以bilingual自然就是“双语的”；前缀mono-表示“单，单一”，所以monolingual 意思是“单语的”；前缀 multi- 表示“多”，multilingual意思是“多语的，说多种语言的”。

nursery 意思是“幼儿园，托儿所”

linguist 意思是“通晓数国语言的人；语言学家”，用在这里指小盆友，幽默色彩自在其中。

lament 意思是“对……感到悲痛，痛惜，失望”

Many independent schools followed the fashion: 24% of them offer Mandarin,compared with 4.4% in state schools. But finding a school that offers Mandarin is no longer the priority it was for parents three years ago, says Ralph Lucas, editor in chief of The Good Schools Guide. Part of the reason is that “the perception of China as a place where you would want your child to make a career has taken a severe knock”. Learning Mandarin to a useful level is difficult, and China “doesn’t seem like the big golden opportunity it was before”. Recent events,such as the crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, further “take the gloss off” the idea of investing in a Chinese education.

independent school 字面意思是“独立的学校”，也就是“私立学校”，和 private school 同义。

state school 字面意思是“国有学校”，也就是“公立学校”，和 public school 同义。

priority 意思是“优先事项，最重要的事”；其形容词是 prior

perception 意思是“认识；观念，看法”；动词形式是 perceive

take a knock 是个词组，意思是“遭受挫折，受到打击”，在这里是说原先的那种对于中国的看法已遭受打击（不再存在了）。

crackdown 源于动词词组 crack down，意思是“镇压，严厉打击”，后面加介词on；这句话所谓的“对民主的镇压”是西方一些人的片面观点，是不正确的，大家明白就好，在这里我们只谈学习不谈政治。

gloss 意思是 “虚假的外表”，这里是说摘下虚假的外表，即“揭开伪装”。

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