如何通过阅读外刊积累英文写作句型？（29）
这是“读外刊，学英文句型”栏目的第二十九期，关于该栏目第一期的说明可以见如何通过阅读外刊积累英文写作句型？
（1）提供了一个看待事物的角度
如何表达“XX提供了一个看待……的角度”？下面的外刊文章提供了一个句型（来自The Economist文章Russia’s Chukotka andAmerica’s Alaska are an era apart）
Yet the two regions, joined by a land bridge perhaps as recently as 13,000 years ago, feel as if they are on different planets. Their differences, and perhaps even more importantly, their similarities, provide a lens through which to view the differing fortunes of both countries.
这段话的背景是作者实地走访了白令海峡两岸的俄罗斯楚科奇和美国阿拉斯加，观察到两地存在的诸多不同之处。节选的句子意思是：这两个地区早在约13000年前就有一座陆桥相连，但它们给人的感觉好像是分布在不同的星球上。它们之间的差异，或者更为重要的一点是，它们的相似性，为观察两国的不同命运提供了一个视角。
从这里可以学到一个句型：XX provides a lens through which to view… 句子中lens原本的意思是“镜片，透镜”（注意lens的复数形式为lenses），这里引申为“看问题的视角”，即“XX提供了一个看待……的视角”。这一句型在地道英文中有很广泛的应用，比如BBC在报道莎士比亚的作品时有这样一句话：
Preti Taneja considers Shakespeare's King Lear as a lens through which to view the contradictions of India today, including in areas of freedom of speech, development and activism.
我们在文化以及语言等话题中可以用上这个句型，比如要讨论学外语的好处，可以说：
One reason why we should learn a foreign language is that it provides a lens through which to view cultural differences.
另外一个类似的表达是XX gives somebody a different/new perspective on something（XX给了某人看……的不同/新角度），比如要表达“这场交通事故让他对生活有了不同的看法”，可以说：
The car accident gave him a different perspective on life.
（2）在做……的同时避免……
下面的句子节选自The Economist关于环保经济的文章Can business tread more lightly on the planet?
The latest computer age is making things so much lighter and less material-intensive that it promises to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation.
句子意思是：最新的计算机时代正在让事物变得如此轻便，如此省材料，以至于它有望在促进经济增长的同时避免环境恶化。
这个句子的亮点在于decouple A from B（使A和B分离），这是一个很简单的表达，但很少见到有同学使用。这一表达有很广泛的应用，比如要表达“为了让讨论更具成果，我们应该区分事实和观点”，可以说：
To have a fruitful discussion, we need to decouple fact from opinion.
又比如在写作中我们经常会表达这样的意思“在做……的同时避免……”，这种情况下也可以用上这一短语，比如“新技术让我们在发展经济的同时不破坏环境”，可以说：
New technologies are enabling us to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation.
与decouple相关的还有一个表达：coupled with something，它可以用来强调某几个因素加起来导致了事件的发生。比如：Overproduction, coupled with falling sales, has led to huge losses for the company. 生产过剩加上销售下降使这家公司遭受巨大损失。
（3）一个举例句型
写作中举例我们一般会用for example/take…for example/for instance，这里介绍一个新句型：
The young are a proxy for the future. That is especially the case in media businesses, where their habits drive billion-dollar decisions, such as Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram in 2012 and its failed attempt to buy Snapchat the following year.
句子意思是：年轻人是未来的代表。在媒体行业中，这一说法尤其正确。年轻人的习惯推动着数十亿美元的决策（例如Facebook在2012年收购Instagram，以及其在次年收购Snapchat的失败尝试）。
That is especially the case in media businesses, where…其中that指代的是上一句的内容 The young are a proxy for the future. （that is especially the case...也可以换成this is especially the case...）作者在这里也通过这一句式来引入具体的例子（Facebook收购Instagram以及Snapchat的案例）。句式中the case含义是“实际发生的情况”（what actually exists or happens），我们在举例时也可以参考该句式。举个例子：
Decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation is proving difficult. That is especially the case in developing countries, where most governments make economic development a high priority, often to the detriment of the environment.
（4）一个总结建议类句型
下面节选的句子来自The Economist文章The right way to measure carbon emissions
Today’s net-zero targets are better than nothing. But if climate change is to be tackled, countries and consumers must take full responsibility for their carbon.
今天的净零排放目标总比没有好。但是，如果要应对气候变化，国家和消费者必须对自己的碳排放负全部责任。
第二句中出现了if somebody/something is to do something这样的结构，这一结构用于条件句中引入目标，表示“如果……要做某事”，这是一个比较正式的句型，通常放在文章末尾用于总结和建议，比如：If we are to succeed in this enterprise, we shall need to plan everything very carefully. 我们要是想在这一项目中取得成功，每一件事情都要认认真真地去计划。
在话题作文中我们可以用该句式来提建议，比如：
(1) If plastic pollution is to be tackled, people must reduce the use of plastic in their everyday life.
(2) If the problem of homelessness is to be addressed, the government must shoulder responsibility for providing more social housing.
总结：
本期一共介绍了以下几个表达：
(1) XX provides a lens through which to view…
(2) decouple A from B
(3) That is especially the case in media businesses, where…
(4) if somebody/something is to do something
点击文末“阅读原文”可以查看这一系列的往期文章。
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