(2) Steve Rosenberg, The BBC's first Man in Moscow. BBC, Oct 20, 2013
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24536359
Note:
(a) "If Blighty and the Bolsheviks were suddenly best buddies, perhaps now was the moment to have a BBC correspondent based full-time in Moscow? So they sounded out the Soviets. And the answer came back: 'Nyet!'"
(i) Blighty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blighty
(ii) nyet
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nyet
(Russian for "no")
is pronounced exactly like its spelling.
(German for "no" is "nein.")
(b) "A memo from the Assistant Controller of News written at the time reads: 'The DG and editor-in-chief went to see the Soviet ambassador the other day and got no change at all. The Ambassador was extremely chilly. DG was left with the impression that nothing is likely to come of it.' Mind you, it wasn't only Stalin who poured cold water on the idea."
(i) There are quite a few "controllers" and "directors" in BBC. See Senior Staff Biographies. BBC, undated.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc ... ucture/biographies/
However, there is only one "DG." Director-General of the BBC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director-General_of_the_BBC
(ii) mind you: "a phrase introducing something that should be taken into consideration"
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs (2002)
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/mind+you
(c) "In 1961 he [BBC Central European Correspondent] tried to knock the whole idea on the head in a memo to his editor: 'It is impossible in the USSR to get either official or unofficial reaction to anything except through the pages of the press the next day. Though this is often forgotten in London where it is naturally assumed correspondents will be able to go and talk to the renowned man-in-the-street. They can't.'"
(i) knock sth on the head: "UK INFORMAL [:] to prevent something from happening, or to finally finish something"
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ ... ock-sth-on-the-head
(ii) the man/woman/person in/on the street: "an ordinary, average person whose opinions are considered to represent most people"
Cambridge Dictionaries Online
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ ... on-in-on-the-street
(d) "Erik de Mauny was the obvious choice for the BBC's first resident correspondent in the USSR. * * * The BBC bought him a car, a dark green Humber Super Snipe, which had been specially adapted to cope with the cold. And to keep himself warm, the intrepid reporter had brought with him two key items - an ankle-length suede coat from Moss Bros and a pair of RAF flying boots."
(i) About the surname "de Mauny."
(A) Mauny
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauny
(B) Laura K Lawless, De - French Preposition. About.com, undated
http://french.about.com/od/grammar/a/preposition_de.htm
("Starting point or origin * * * Je suis de Bruxelles - I'm from Brussels")
(C) In French:
* de + le = du
* de + les = des
* French articles and determiners
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_articles_and_determiners
(section 1.1 Definite article)
(ii) Humber (car)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humber_(car)
(1868-1931; a British automobile marque which can date its beginnings to Thomas Humber's bicycle company founded in 1868; The range focused on luxury models, such as the Humber Super Snipe)
Humber also produced Humber Hawk, Humber Snipe. A "snipe" is a bird.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snipe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauny
(iii) The English surname Humber comes from
(A) Humber
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humber
(a large tidal estuary; formed at Trent Falls, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent)
Called estuary because rather than a river, Humber is more like Hangzhou Bay 杭州湾.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangzhou_Bay
(B) Dictionary of American Family Names, published by Oxford Univ Press, said Humber is "a common prehistoric river name, of uncertain origin and meaning."
(e) "his [de Mauny's] exclusive interview in 1964 with the spy, Kim Philby"
Kim Philby
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Philby
(Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby; 1912-1988; Nicknamed "Kim" after the young boy in Rudyard Kipling's novel Kim [(first published serially 1900-1901; featuring Kim (Kimball O'Hara)]; defect[ed] to the Soviet Union in 1963)
The English surname Kimball is "from the Middle English personal name Kimbel, Old English Cynebeal(d), composed of the elements cyne- ‘royal’ + beald ‘bold’, ‘brave.’"
(f) "but it was highly likely to prove a nine-days wonder. I seemed to me sensible to keep my powder dry and wait to see whether my encounter with Kim might yield long-term benefits"
(i) Keep your powder dry
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/217500.html
(ii) Nine days' wonder: "A novelty that loses its appeal after a few days"
The Phrase Finder, undated.
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/nine-days-wonder.html
(g) "'Yes, I know,' said Donald, not to be put off, 'but is she Khrushchev's mistress?' The ambassador directed his gaze at the ceiling, and, this time in loud, decisive tones, once more declared: 'Mrs Furtseva is the Soviet Minister of Culture!' I saw Donald open his mouth, as if to make a further try. Then, fortunately, the penny dropped. There was a moment of embarrassed silence, and we turned to other topics."
(i) put sb off (sth/sb): "phrasal verb[:] to make someone dislike something or someone, or to discourage someone from doing something"
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ ... h/put-sb-off-sth-sb
(ii) The penny drops: "A belated realization of something after a period of confusion or ignorance"
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/280900.html
(h)
(i) "in the 1960s [] [a]ll foreign correspondents and the entire diplomatic corp based in Moscow would get invited to lavish banquets at the Kremlin"
The "corp" can be an abbreviation of "corporation," but it is not a word by itself (not found in the dictionary, that is). It should be
diplomatic corps
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_corps
(ii) For malosol, see malossol (n; Russian)
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/malossol
(alternative form: malosol)
Very few English dictionaries carry this word, one of which--Linda Stradley, Linda's Culinary Dictionary; A dictionary and history of cooking, food, and beverage terms. 2004--gave this pronunciation “MAHL-oh-sahl.”
(iii) “ today Moscow is awash with cafes, coffee shops and restaurants. The supermarkets are better stocked, too, and many of them are open round the clock. The Soviet concept of "defitsit" or "shortage" has, thankfully, passed into history.”
(A) Russia-English dictionary:
defitsit (noun masculine): "deficit"
Eugene Garfield (ed), Transliterated Dictionary of the Russian Language. ISI Press, 1979.
http://garfield.library.upenn.edu/rd/rusd.pdf
(B) In the Web, Soviet-era “defitsit” often is translated as “lack.”
(iv) “I fly to the city of Perm in the Ural Mountains and attend a rehearsal at the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre. This is one of the oldest and most successful musical theatres in Russia. And the general manager and executive producer here is Marc de Mauny, * * * years later, he [Erik de Maury’s son, Marc] would return to study music at the St Petersburg Conservatory. * * * Marc says, ‘"I didn't wake up to that until I was 16 or 17 and wondering where to go for my gap year and what to study at university. And it came to me in a blinding flash that I'd like to study Russian and travel in Russia and discover this country’”
(A) Perm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perm
(section 1 Etymology; “In 1870, an opera theater was opened in the city * * * The Perm Opera and Ballet House is one of the best in Russia [photo]”)
(B) Saint Petersburg Conservatory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Petersburg_Conservatory
(founded in 1862 by the Russian pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein)
is today Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg state conservatory.
http://istud.conservatory.ru/
(C) gap year (n)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gap%20year
(D) The “blinding flash” alludes to Saint Paul. See Paul the Apostle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_the_Apostle
(section 4.1 Damascus Road)
|
发表于 10-29-2013 11:43:03
收藏
分享
支持
反对
楼主