您現(xiàn)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: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

     
     
    相關(guān)文章 Related Stories
     
             
     
     
     
     
     
             

     

     

     
     

    48小時(shí)內(nèi)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(dòng)
      五個(gè)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(fèi)倫敦游機(jī)會(huì)!
      how to say "代言"
      “試婚”怎么說






    日韩三级中文字幕| 无码人妻精品一区二区三区东京热| 亚洲av永久无码精品秋霞电影影院 | 亚洲AV无码资源在线观看| 人妻无码αv中文字幕久久琪琪布| 无码国模国产在线无码精品国产自在久国产 | 人妻少妇看A偷人无码精品| 亚洲熟妇无码乱子AV电影| 精品久久久久久中文字幕人妻最新 | 中文人妻无码一区二区三区| 国产∨亚洲V天堂无码久久久| 免费看成人AA片无码视频羞羞网 | 欧美日韩中文字幕久久久不卡| 99无码人妻一区二区三区免费| 亚洲日韩国产AV无码无码精品| 最近新中文字幕大全高清| 亚洲欧美综合在线中文| 久久久久无码中| 人妻无码一区二区不卡无码av| 久久精品中文无码资源站| 久久中文字幕一区二区| 在线天堂中文WWW官网| 日韩精品无码久久一区二区三| 精品无码AV无码免费专区| 无码专区—VA亚洲V天堂| 曰韩人妻无码一区二区三区综合部| 中文字幕精品久久久久人妻| 在线中文字幕播放| 中文字幕一区二区三区5566| √天堂中文www官网| 波多野结衣中文字幕免费视频 | 日韩欧美中文字幕一字不卡| 欧美视频中文字幕| 中文字幕第3页| 中文字幕在线免费| 久久久久久久久久久久中文字幕| 日本aⅴ精品中文字幕| 日本一区二区三区精品中文字幕 | 99久久精品无码一区二区毛片 | 中文字幕无码精品亚洲资源网久久| 无码夫の前で人妻を侵犯|