83-3-403
Mr Brown deals conscientiously with communism in Asia and the solitary Latin American outpost of Cuba. But his main expertise, acquired over decades of scholarly study, is in the Soviet Union and its east European empire. His account is studded with delightfully pertinent and pithy personal observations and anecdotes: the censors in tsarist Russia decided that Karl Marx's "Das Kapital" was so boring that it wasn't worth banning. Lenin thought 1917 was too early for revolution in Russia. At the Battle of Stalingrad, 50,000 Soviet citizens, including turncoats, volunteers and conscripts, were fighting on the German side. An American communist agitator once began a speech with the immortal lines: "Workers and peasants of Brooklyn". Nikita Khrushchev hated putting things in writing because he couldn't spell.
It is easy to be polemical about communism. Mr Brown strives to be fair-minded. He gives careful weight to the achievements of the Soviet regime, particularly in bringing mass literacy to Russia, and unparalleled social mobility. But he is sometimes too lenient. Was the Soviet Union under Leonid Brezhnev really just an authoritarian regime, rather than a totalitarian one? Saying that the Soviet Union "repossessed" the Baltic states in the secret Hitler-Stalin pact in 1939 would strike most people there as a glaring misreading of history. And his discussion of economics is skimpy and cliched.
Yet as a single-volume account of mankind's biggest mistake, Mr Brown's book is hard to beat. Readers over the age of 40 will find it an uncomfortable reminder of a dangerous and dismal past. For most younger readers, it will seem all but unimaginable.

A. 어휘
deal with 다루다. conscientiously 진지하게, 양심적으로. solitary 고독한, 혼자의.
outpost 前哨地點(전초지점). expertise 전문지식(기술). acquire 습득하다.
empire 제국. account 이야기, 설명. stud 박아 넣다, 뿌려 놓다. pertinent 적절한.
pithy 명쾌한, 간결한. observation 관찰에 의한 소견 및 비평, 관찰.
anecdote 逸話(일화), 秘話(비화). censor 검열관, 비난하는 사람.
tsarist Russia 帝政(제정) 러시아. Das Kapital “資本論”(자본론). boring 지겨운.
worth banning 禁止(금지)할 가치가 있는. 1917. 러시아 공산혁명이 일어난 해.
turncoat 변절자, 배반자. conscript 徵集(징집)된 兵士(병사). agitator 煽動家(선동가).
immortal 불멸의. line 語句(어구), 詩(시)의 一行(일행), 詩句(시구).
Brooklyn 미국 뉴욕市의 한 행정구획. peasant 농부, 소작인.
Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) 1960년대의 소련수상.
putting things in writing 말할 내용을 글로 쓰는 것.
polemical 논쟁하는, 論駁(논박)하는. strive-strove-striven 애쓰다, 노력하다.
the Soviet regime 소비엣 정권. mass literacy 대중의 문자해득.
unparalleled 類例(유례)없는. mobility 이동성. lenient 관대한, 인자한.
Leonid Brezhnev (1906년-1982) 소련수상. authoritarian regime 권위주의 정권.
totalitarian 전체주의적인. pact 條約(조약), 협정. the Baltic states 발트해 연안국가.
glaring 너무나 명백한. skimpy 불충분한, 빈약한, 인색한. cliche 상투어구.
single-volume 單券(단권). beat 叱咤(질타)하다, 때리다. dismal 음산한, 무시무시한.
all but=almost.

B. 구문
- began a speech with the immortal lines: "Workers and peasants of Brooklyn"
[“Brooklyn의 노동자와 농민 여러분”라는 불멸의 어구로 연설을 시작하였다.]
- Saying that the Soviet Union "repossessed". . . misreading of history.
cf. saying은 주어로 쓰인 동명사.
[소련이 1939년에 히틀러-스탈린의 비밀조약에 의해 발트해 연안국가들을 “수복하였다”라고 말하는 것은 그들 나라사람들에게는 역사에 대한 명백한 오판으로 받아들여(충격적으로)질 것이다.]