外刊精读，分享几个很棒的英文表达

小白老师说：昨天读了一篇关于抖音 CEO 出席听证会的英文新闻，里面有几个超棒的表达想跟大家分享。读外刊目的不是掌握多少生词难词，而是要学习母语者简单生动的表达。文末有福利，大家千万不要错过。‍

文章来自 The Association Press 的新闻报道▼

TikTok CEO testified Thursday at a congressional hearing over concerns about user data collected by the popular video-sharing app.

testify 是个动词，指“在法庭上作证、证明”，尤其指当事人或证人在法庭上陈述事实或提供证据，以便法官或陪审团了解案件的真相。例如下面这个来自《纽约时报》的例句：

She will testify before the grand jury next week.

下周她将在大陪审团面前作证。

此外，testify 还有“证实”之义。我们在论文写作描述实验结果时可以用这个词，作为 prove 的同义替换，体现用词多样化。比如我们可以这么写：

Statistics by IR and chemical analysis testifies the above results.

IR 和化学分析数据证实了上述实验结果。

Under his helm, TikTok reached 150 million users in the U.S., the majority of them teens and young adults who are attracted to the app’s simple interface and addictive algorithm that serves up short videos on just about any imaginable topic.

helm 作名词原义是“舵”、“驾驶盘”，作动词意思是“指挥”。

明确了 helm 的意思，under his helm 这个短语就很好理解了，大海航行靠舵手，掌舵的人，当然就是拥有指挥权的人了，under one’s helm 即“在某人的领导或控制下”。例如：

The company’s profits have soared under her helm.《金融时报》

在她的领导下，公司的利润大幅上升。

当你想表达“在某人的领导下”时，可以用这个短语来替换 “under the leadership of sb”、“led by sb” 等平庸表达，简单好记又生动形象，如同一股清流，给阅卷老师一个惊喜。

“He gained a lot of respect just by taking that high risk, in-the-hot seat role at TikTok,” Ives said, adding that the company likely thought he was the right person to ease tensions.

ease 缓解，ease tensions 即“缓解紧张局势”，尤指采取各种措施来消除敌意或不信任。‍‍‍

ease 简单好记，但在写作中的利用率也很高。比如我们想表达“缓解疼痛”，就可以用 ease the pain，相当于 relieve the pain。举个例子给大家加深印象：

The hospice aims to ease the sufferings of the dying.

临终关怀医院旨在减轻临终者的痛苦。

Enberg said there was little Chew could say to convince lawmakers that TikTok is not monitored or influenced in some way.

There was little sb could do to … 对于某人来说，对某事几乎无能为力。

这个句式用来表示某人在某种情况下几乎无能为力，无法实现某个目标或解决某个问题。比如来自《华盛顿邮报》的这个例句：‍‍‍‍‍

Health-industry officials on Wednesday began grappling with a range of problematic outcomes and said there was little they could do to prepare for them.

医疗行业的官员周三开始应对一系列有问题的后果，并表示他们对此几乎无能为力。

Ives said his testimony was always going to be fraught, but his lack of concrete answers about data access and security was “a disaster” and likely set the stage for a ban.

set the stage for（为某一事件或行动的发生）创造条件或做好准备

这个表达也很形象，stage 本义是“舞台”，set the stage for 即“为某事搭好舞台”，不就是“创造条件、做好准备”嘛。在写作中，我们可以用这个短语来替代 “prepare sb for ”和 “create conditions for”。你看，地道的表达往往简单又生动的。

给大家举个例子加深印象：‍

Their early success set the stage for the company’s rapid growth.《金融时报》

他们早期的成功为公司的快速增长奠定了基础。

稍微衍申一下，如果你想表达“准备工作都做好了”、“条件都有了”，就可以说“The stage is set. ”

But Shelly Palmer, a professor of advanced media at Syracuse University who studies social network business models, said Chew did the best he could given the grilling he received from lawmakers who “in my opinion were not actually listening” but instead were grandstanding.

grill 有“烧烤、炙烤”之意，引申为“盘问”，非常形象。当一个人接受盘问时，内心和意志正如同被放在火上烤，煎熬又焦灼。在这里指一种强烈、严格的询问或审讯，通常涉及对事实、动机和信仰的探究。

例如：

She had to grill him on the topic of her mother’s bleeding stomach.

她不得不就她母亲胃出血的事盘问他。

敲黑板

• testify 作证

• propaganda 宣传

• under his helm 在他的领导下

• ease tensions 缓解紧张局势

• set the stage for 创造条件或做好准备

• There was little… could do to… 对于… 来说，几乎无能为力…

• grill 严厉盘问

福利时间

长按下图二维码，识别最右边那个加助手小姐姐微信，可以免费领取美联社这篇新闻的英文全文，以及中文翻译。‍‍‍‍‍

我在考虑把这样的外刊精读写成一个固定栏目，每周更新一到两篇。如果大家感兴趣，就点文末右下角的“在看”让我知道吧。‍‍

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