久久亚洲国产成人影院-久久亚洲国产的中文-久久亚洲国产高清-久久亚洲国产精品-亚洲图片偷拍自拍-亚洲图色视频

您現在的位置: Language Tips> Columnist> Zhang Xin  
 





 
Read between the lines
[ 2007-09-07 14:37 ]

Scanning Salon.com, I came across a good example for explaining the idiom "read between the lines", which has been a topic I want to address for some time.

First, definition. To read between the lines is to guess someone's real feelings and meanings from something they actually write.

Political observers understand this perfectly. If, say, a politician is reported to have resigned because of "personal" reasons, you can often be sure that the said politician has just been removed from power, and perhaps brutally. He's the loser of the latest round of power struggle. In other words, the reasons are anything but "personal". Similarly, if someone has done the same for "health" problems, you can be certain they are NOT ill. He has no physical ailment but may develop one later – "health" problems may catch up with him soon if he can't successfully deal with the depression he suffers from being sacked.

Likewise, when a government spokesman says that the leadership is one of "unity and harmony", you can infer pretty safely that the leaders can't stand each other.

In diplomatic writing, we often see meetings between heads of governments described as "frank", "cordial" and so forth. Cordial means that the leaders are exchanging pleasantries only – telling each other what they want to hear. If the discussion is described as "frank", on the other hand, that means the leaders hate each other and are making sure the other person knows it. The Economist magazine, for example, routinely describes "frank discussion" as "a diplomat's word for a fallout," or fierce quarrels short of "trading blows" and "dispatching gunboats", also Economist terminologies. Next, the very "diplomat" may be expelled for involving in "activities deemed incompatible with his status", which is euphemism, usually for spying.

That's exaggerating it, I know. But, with media increasingly owned and controlled by fewer people and fewer interest groups, isn't it better to err on the side of caution? You'd better stay aware and alert of these things so as not to be taken for a ride. The public needs a healthy cynicism regarding TV, newspapers as well as anything from cyberspace. After all, propaganda does two things, usually simultaneously – it propagates some facts and ideas while it goes out of its way to hide others.

Anyways, the latest example I have concerns a Financial Times report about China. It is alarmingly titled "Chinese military hacked into Pentagon".

"Sounds like the 'China threat' is very much alive!", writes Andrew Leonard in his How The World Works column. Leonard read in between the lines of the FT report on Tuesday and saw the other side of the story, as is evidenced by the way he titles his article – "U.S. military routinely hacks into Chinese networks".

That's exactly what he read in between the lines of the FT report. Leonard says:

 How the World Works doesn't doubt that the dance between the world's preeminent superpower, the U.S., and the No. 1 contender for the throne, China, could someday turn into an ugly showdown. But the Financial Times' choice for a headline, "Chinese military hacked into Pentagon," could be accused of rhetorical alarmism, and not just because most of the information accessed during the attack appears to have been unclassified.

Later in the same article:

The PLA regularly probes U.S. military networks – and the Pentagon is widely assumed to scan Chinese networks – but U.S. officials said the penetration in June raised concerns to a new level because of fears that China had shown it could disrupt systems at critical times.

Scan? Scan? What does that mean?Is it the same as "probe"? Or could one even say, "The Pentagon is widely assumed to regularly hack into Chinese networks"?

And:

        An editorial in the Financial Times running along with its "scoop" even observes:

Yet it is probably also right to assume that the U.S. and other western governments are busy infiltrating the computer systems of foreign governments. It is therefore disingenuous to complain too vigorously when those same foreign governments become good at doing it back.

Infiltrating? Isn’t that the same as "hacking"? Or, to be semiotically precise, "cracking"?

Yes, it's a fine world for the West to "infiltrate" Chinese systems because they're just "scanning". The world becomes dangerous (to the present international powers that be, that is) if countries like China begin to be "doing it back". Then the "scanning" becomes "hacking".

The real danger is a world to be run by a single voice. And the biggest danger is if you can't read between the lines.

 

About the author:
 

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: [email protected], or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

 
 
相關文章 Related Stories
 
         
 
 
 
 
 
         

 

 

 
 

48小時內最熱門

     
  吵架英語三十句
  尼日利亞議長叫停銀行“美女營銷”
  英語和漢語之間的詞匯空缺
  全國開展“無車日”活動
  五個手指怎么說

本頻道最新推薦

     
  Hocus pocus?
  英語和漢語之間的詞匯空缺
  Greener pasture?
  “江南”怎么譯
  Climate - a problem for all nations

論壇熱貼

     
   "電視選秀"怎么翻譯?
  how to translate "造星"
  how to translate "特供豬"?
  參加BBC在線競賽 獲免費倫敦游機會!
  how to say "代言"
  “試婚”怎么說






主站蜘蛛池模板: 久久99久久精品国产只有 | 波多野结衣中文在线播放 | 亚洲欧美在线播放 | 国产伦精品一区二区三区精品 | 亚洲人成人毛片无遮挡 | 亚洲视频黄 | 美国一级毛片片aa久久综合 | 欧美大胆一级视频 | 日本农村寡妇一级毛片 | 亚洲一级片免费看 | 国产精品成人久久久久 | 亚洲精品国产一区二区三区四区 | 在线观看国产精品日本不卡网 | 欧美精品在线一区二区三区 | 一色屋色费精品视频在线观看 | 欧美野外性k8播放性迷宫 | 欧美另类专区 | 欧美大胆a | 亚洲情a成黄在线观看 | 免费观看一级成人毛片软件 | 2020国产精品| 亚洲国产精品激情在线观看 | 泰国一级毛片aaa下面毛多 | 性欧美巨大 | 亚洲九九色 | 成人免费小视频 | 91撸视频 | 国产欧美一区二区三区观看 | 一级欧美一级日韩 | 经典香港a毛片免费观看 | 亚洲一区二区三区高清视频 | 日本天堂网 | 欧美一级毛片高清视频 | 日韩精品一区二区三区毛片 | 久草免费看 | 欧美日韩精品国产一区二区 | 国产成人精品午夜在线播放 | 国产精品三级在线观看 | 美女张开腿让我 | 日本在线观看一级高清片 | 国产精品一在线观看 |