Lexington
101. Still crazy after all these years
Aug 20th 2009 From The Economist print edition
The perils of losing one's grip on reality
101-1-474
NOT long after the assassination of John Kennedy in 1963, the Senate contemplated a bill to tighten federal control over the sale of guns through the post. Three gun-lovers drove 2,500 miles from Arizona to Washington, DC, to protest. One argued that the bill was part of "a further attempt by a subversive power to make us part of one world socialistic government" and that it could "create chaos" and help "our enemies" to seize power. Not much has changed since Richard Hofstadter described this incident in a hugely influential book, "The Paranoid Style in American Politics". Gun-lovers still argue that the slightest curb on their right to bear arms will make America vulnerable to tyranny. And in other areas, too, the paranoid style is alive and frothing.
Some of Barack Obama's detractors content themselves with arguing that he is a bad president. Others go further. "Birthers" insist that he was not born in the United States and is therefore constitutionally barred from being president. Yet Mr Obama's birth certificate says he was born in Hawaii, and there is not a shred of evidence to the contrary. There is even an announcement of his birth in the archive of the Honolulu Advertiser, a local newspaper. Yet the internet crackles with theories as to how all this was faked so that, 48 years later, Mr Obama could impose a socialist state on America. And a YouGov poll for The Economist found that 26% of Republicans think Mr Obama is probably foreign-born.
A. 어휘
peril 위험. reality 현실, 實在(실재). assassination 암살. the Senate 上院(상원).
contemplate 의도하다, 고찰하다, 黙想(묵상)하다. bill 법률안.
federal control over the sale of guns 銃器(총기)판매에 대한 연방통제.
subversive 전복시키는, 파괴적인.
one world socialistic government 사회주의세계정부. seize power 執權(집권)하다.
incident 사건. paranoid 편집병 같은. bear arms 무기를 携帶(휴대)하다.
vulnerable 상처받기 쉬운, 취약한, 저항력이 없는. tyranny 폭정 , 압제.
froth 거품처럼 뿜어내다, 거품을 내다. detractor 남을 헐뜯는 사람, 中傷者(중상자).
content themselves with 자신들을 만족시키다.
Birthers출생관계를 조사하는 사람〈造語(조어)〉constitutionally 헌법적으로.
bar 금지하다. birth certificate 출생증명서. shred 조금, 조각.
contrary 반대. announcement 告示(고시), 발표, 광고. archive 공적 기록 보관소.
crackle 탁탁 소리내다. theory 의견, 持論(지론), 說(설), 이론, 학설.
as to ...에 관한. fake 捏造(날조)하다. so that... S+can/may/will ...하기 위하여.
impose 강요하다. poll 여론조사. Republicans 미국 공화당 당원.
101-2-475
Other conspiracy theories about Mr Obama are even loopier. For example, some Americans think he is the Antichrist. The evidence for this, apparently, is that in the Bible Jesus is quoted as predicting that Satan will come down like lightning from heaven, and the words for "lightning" and "heaven" in Hebrew sound a bit like "Barack Obama". Plus, his presidential limo is nicknamed "The Beast". For those who think this is too far-fetched, there is the theory that Mr Obama is a closet Nazi. He thinks abortion should be legal. Historically, some abortion advocates have also been eugenicists. Therefore he must be one of them. Also, he wants to discourage smoking. So did Hitler!
Hofstadter, writing at the time of Barry Goldwater's insurgency, argued that political paranoiaa mix of anger, heated exaggeration, suspiciousness and conspiratorial fantasywas most evident on the extreme right. And there are plenty of examples of right-wingers peddling nutty tales. Isolationists in the 1940s accused Franklin Roosevelt of deliberately letting the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbour to provide an excuse for war. Talk-radio crackpots in the 1990s accused the Clintons of having Vince Foster, a depressive friend of theirs who killed himself, murdered.
A. 어휘
conspiracy theories 陰謀 說(음모 설). loopy 미친, 취해서 머리가 혼란 된.
the Antichrist 그리스도의 강한 敵手(적수)로서 말세에 태어난다는 인물.
evidence 증거. apparently 분명히, 명백히, 외관상 보기에는.
quote 인용하다. predict 예언하다. Satan 사탄, 마왕, 惡魔(악마).
Hebrew 히브리어. limo=limousine. far-fetched 멀리 빗나가다.
closet 비밀의, 私室(사실). abortion 落胎(낙태). legal 합법적인.
advocate 옹호자. eugenicist 優生學者(우생학자).
Barry Goldwater 1964년 미국 공화당의 대통령후보로서 보수파의 代父(대부)였다.
insurgency 반란, 騷擾(소요), 폭동. paranoia 편집병자. exaggeration 誇張(과장).
suspiciousness 의심 많음. conspiratorial 음모의. fantasy 환상, 공상.
the extreme right 極右(극우). right-winger 우파사람, 보수주의자.
peddle 팔고 다니다, 소문을 퍼뜨리다. nutty 미친, 열중한.
isolationist 고립주의자. accuse 고발하다, 비난하다.
deliberately 고의적으로, 신중하게. bomb 폭격하다. Pearl Harbour 진주만.
provide an excuse for war 전쟁할 구실을 제공하다. crackpot 괴짜, 머리가 돈 사람.
talk-radio 청취자와의 전화 대화 및 잡담만으로 구성되는 라디오 프로그램.
the Clintons 클린턴 대통령 내외분. depressive 우울한.
B. 구문
- Talk-radio crackpots in the 1990s. . . who killed himself, murdered.
cf. have+목적어+과거분사의 두 용법.
→I have my car repaired (by him)=I have him repair my car.
cf. 二重所有格(이중소유격)→a/no/any/this/that+NOUN+of+소유대명사
ex. my friend→a/no/any/this/that friend of theirs/mine/ours/hers/yours/his
[1990년대 토크라디오 프로그램의 전화대화에 나오는 정신나간 청취자들은 Clinton 대통령 내외분이 우울증으로 자살한 그들의 친구 Vince Foster를 살해하였다고 대통령내외분을 비난하였다.]
Still crazy after all these years ①
- 朴承用
- ▶ 필자의 다른 기사보기
- 2010-04-02, 09:57











