2015考研英语：阅读热点之数字革命

《经济学人》是考研[微博]英语文章的同源期刊，本周《经济学人》的特别报道是关于数字革命对世界产生的影响，是一个值得深思的全球热点问题，考生应引起高度重视。下面KK教授带你来一起学习这篇文章。在学习知识的同时，你就会知道为什么考研英语命题老师会如此青睐这本杂志，为什么这本杂志会被世界广泛关注。

The first two industrial revolutions inflicted plenty of pain but ultimately benefited everyone. The digital one may prove far more divisive.MOST PEOPLE ARE discomfited by radical change, and often for good reason.Whether the digital revolution will bring mass job creation to make up for its mass job destruction remains to be seen。

【词汇突破】inflict 使…遭受…

Divisive 争议

discomfit = upset 使…不安，难堪；

radical change 巨大的改变

【参考译文】前两次工业革命曾带来了巨大的痛苦，但是最终使大家都受益了。这次的数字革命可能是最有争议的了。大多数人对巨大的改变会感到不安，而且常常有正当的理由。数字革命是否能创造出大量的工作机会来弥补其即将毁掉的工作还不得而知。

The beneficial effects of this rise in computing power have been slow to come through。

【同义替换】The beneficial effects of this rise in computing power=

The beneficial effects of the digital revolution

【参考译文】数字化革命带来的好处来的比较缓慢。

Exceptional growth, in other words, looks negligible until it suddenly becomes unmanageable.The digital revolution is opening up a great divide between a skilled and wealthy few and the rest of society.In both the rich and the emerging world, technology is creating opportunity for those previously held back by financial or geographical constraints; yet new work for those with modest skill levels is scarce compared with the prosperity created by earlier technological revolutions。

【词汇突破】Exceptional growth 巨大的增长

Negligible 可忽略的；

in other words 换句话讲

rich and the emerging world： 发达国家和新兴国家

prosperity = bonanza

【参考译文】换句话讲，巨大的增长在变得不可管理之前，看起来都是可忽略的。数字革命使得有技术的人以及少数的富人与社会中的其他人之间的产生了巨大的鸿沟。不管是在发达国家还是在新兴国家，技术为那些之前被财务和地域因素限制而受到阻碍的人创造了机会；但是那些没什么技能的人所能获得的机会，与前两次技术革命所创造的繁荣时期相比就很稀缺了。

All this is sorely testing governments, beset by new demands for intervention, regulation and support. If they get their response right, they will be able to channel technological change in ways that broadly benefit society. If they get it wrong, they could be under attack from both angry underemployed workers and resentful rich taxpayers。

【词汇突破】beset困扰，使苦恼，威胁

最后一段就留给各位考生来翻译吧，希望考生能认真消化吸收这篇文章的重点突破词汇，同时善用文中精彩的表述方法，把它当做语料来了解最新的前沿资讯。最后的考研即将到来，从备考初期一步一步到今天，考生们不说波澜壮阔但至少可以有回忆而且愿意去回忆这段奋斗的岁月。