《外刊看中国》 阅读笔记1
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Industrial clusters：Bleak times in bra town
1. Clusters N-COUNT 可数名词（人或物的）组，群，簇
A group of things the same type that grow or appear close together
*oft N of n
Eg:①A clusters of men in formal clothes…… ②There’s no town here,just a cluster of shops,cabins and motels at the side of the highway.
2. bleak ADJ-GRADED 能被表示程度的副词或介词词组修饰的形容词 （情形）没有希望的，前景暗淡的
(of a situation)not encouraging or giving any reason to have hope One-product towns fuelled China’s export boom.
Many are now in trouble Apr 16th 2016 | GURAO | From the print edition A PYRAMID of bras stands beside each worker at the Honji Underwear factory in Gurao, a town in the southern province of Guangdong. The workshop resounds with the clack-clack of sewing machines as employees repeat their single, assigned task before passing the garment on to the next person on the production line. Most of the 22,000 thickly padded bras made here each day are destined for shops in China. In this “Town of Underwear”, as the local government likes to call it, there are thousands of similar factories. Gurao produces 350m bras and 430m vests and pairs of knickers a year for sale at home and abroad. Undies account for 80% of its industrial output.
3.pyramid N-COUNT 角锥体；棱锥体
A pyramid is a shape,object,or pile of things with a flat base and sloping triangular sides that meet at a point.
*usu N of n
Eg:On a plate in front of him was piled a pyramid of flat white biscuit
4.resound verb. 充满，回荡着（声音）
If a place resounds with or to particular noises,it is filled with them. *V with n Eg:The whole place resounded with music.
5.clack V-ERG 及物/不及物动词 （使）咔哒作响；（使）啪啪作响
If things clack or if you clack them,they make a short loud noise,especially when they hit each other. 6.thickly adv. 厚厚地 in a way that produces a wide piece or deep layer of sth
7.padded adj 有填充物的，有衬垫的 containing a layer of soft material used for protection or to give shape
8．Knickers N-PLURAL 复数名词 女士短内裤 Knickers are a piece of underwear worn by women and girls which have holes for the legs and elastic around the waist to hold them up
*also a pair of N
Eg:She bought Ann two bras and six pairs of knickers.
Across Gurao, billboards show big-breasted—usually foreign—women sporting the lingerie that underwires the town’s prosperity (see picture). But many people in Gurao and other underwear-factory clusters around Shantou, a coastal city, worry about the future. Costs are rising, but customers are unwilling to pay more, says June Liu of Pengsheng Underwear, which makes lingerie and swimwear. Last year several factory-owners fled from Gurao, leaving debts and unpaid wages. Some also shut up shop in Chendian, another underwear town nearby.
9.billboard N-COUNT 广告牌；布告栏；招贴板
A billboard is a very large board on which posters are displayed.
10.lingerie N-UNCOUNT 女式贴身内衣裤；女内衣；女睡衣
Lingerie is women’s underwear and nightclothes.
11.underwire adj. (of a bra)having a thin metal strip sewn into the bottom half of each cup to improve the shape
During the past three decades of rapid economic growth, one-industry towns like Gurao and Chendian sprang up along China’s eastern seaboard, often in what were once paddyfields. With investment from Hong Kong and Taiwan, and a huge influx of migrant labour from China’s interior, they fuelled the country’s export boom. There are now more than 500 such towns, making products such as buttons, ties, plastic shoes, car tyres, toys, Christmas decorations and toilets (see map).
12.seaboard N-COUNT (尤指北美的)沿海地区，海滨
The seaboard is the part of a country that is next to the sea;used especially of the coasts of North America.
*usu the N in sing ……the Eastern seaboard of the USA
13.paddy field n. 稻田；水田 a field planted with rich growing in water
14.influx N-COUNT 流入；涌进 An influx of people or things into a place is their arrival there in large numbers.
*usu sing
Eg:①……problems caused by the influx of refugees. ②……the influx of American popcorn into the British market.
Knickerbocker glories
15.Knickerbocker glories n. 冰淇淋杯
a sweet food consisting of layers of ice cream,fruit,jelly,and cream,served in a tall glass
Gurao is one of several underwear hubs that have made China the world’s largest lingerie producer. The country made 2.9 billion bras in 2014, 60% of the world’s total, according to Frost & Sullivan, a consultancy. In several industries, the clustering of similar firms in the same place creates a critical mass of good suppliers and workers with relevant skills. Niche towns in China produce 63% of the world’s shoes, 70% of its spectacles and 90% of its energy-saving lamps.
16.hub N-COUNT （活动的）中心，核心
You can describe a place as a hub of an activity when it is a very important centre for that activity. *usu with supp
Eg:The island’s social hub is the Cafe Sport……
17.consultancy N-COUNT 咨询公司
A consultancy is a company that gives expert advice on a particular subject.
18.spectacles n. 眼镜 glasses
All this growth has had an environmental cost. In 2010 Greenpeace, an NGO, reported that fabric-dyeing plants in Gurao had severely polluted the water, making it unfit to drink. But the bra-makers of Gurao are far more worried about foreign competition than foreign eco-warriors.
19.fabric N-MASS 物质名词 织物；布料
Fabric is cloth or other material produced by weaving together cotton,nylon,wool,silk,or other threads.Fabrics are used for making things such as clothes,curtains,and sheets.
20.dyeing n.染色 the use of dye to change the color of something permanently.
21.plant N-COUNT 工厂；发电厂 A plant is a factory or a place where power is produced.
22.eco-warrior N-COUNT 环保斗士；生态战士 An eco-warrior is someone who spends a lot of time working actively for environmental causes.
China’s consumer goods grabbed a huge share of global markets thanks to their low prices. That advantage is fading. Since 2001 wages have risen by 12% a year. Thailand and Vietnam, where labour is cheaper and taxes lower, now make lingerie for global brands such as Victoria’s Secret and La Senza. China’s biggest underwear firm, Regina Miracle, will open two factories in Vietnam this year, its first outside China. It plans another two there by 2018. Cambodia and Myanmar are joining the fray. Wacoal, a Japanese underwear-maker, opened factories in both countries in 2013 and another in Myanmar last year.
23.fray N-SING 单数名词 竞争；争斗；争论 The fray is an exciting or chanlleng activity,situation,or argument that you are involved in.
*the N
Eg:He would be inspiring yong people to get into the political fray.
Gurao still has advantages, such as excellent supply chains. Several factories there make components for undergarments: dyed textiles, lace and the tough foam used to upholster push-up bras. Every form of elastic waistband used for boxer shorts is produced locally. The town also appears to enjoy loose regulation of trademarks. Some of the waistbands use misspellings such as “Calven Klain” and “Oalvin Klein” in an attempt to cash in on famous brand names.
24.textiles N-PLURAL 纺织业 Textiles are the industries concerned with the manufacture of cloth. *no det
Eg:Another 75000 jobs will be lost in textiles and clothing.
25.foam N-MASS 泡沫橡胶；海绵式橡胶 Foam or foam rubber is soft rubber full of small holes which is used,for example,to make mattresses and cushions.
26.upholster v. 为（椅子等）装软垫（或套子等） to cover a chair,etc.with soft material(=padding)and cloth
27.push-up N-COUNT 俯卧撑 An exercise in which you lie on your stomach and raise your body off the ground by pressing down on your hands until your arms are straight.
28.elastic N-UNCOUNT 松紧带；橡皮筋 Elastic is a rubber material that stretches when you pull it and returns to its original size and shape when you let it go.
Elastic is often used in clothes to make them fit tightly,for example round the waist. Officials in Gurao insist that the town can overcome its difficulties by upgrading its technology and using machines instead of people. But attracting the capital and skill to transform Gurao may be more difficult than the daring step taken by a local entrepreneur in 1982 when he opened its first bra factory, at a time when private enterprise was still frowned on in China.
29.frown v. 皱眉；蹙额 To bring your eyebrows together so that there are lines on your face above your eyes to show that you are annoyed or worried.
*frown on/upon sth 不赞成；不许 To disapprove of something
Eg:Smoking is frowned upon in many restaurants.
Even China’s largest underwear manufacturers have always found it hard to get long-term commitments from buyers. That has made them reluctant to spend on research or technology. Some factories in Gurao are upgrading, for example by making seamless laser-cut underwear and using new, more comfortable, materials to underwire bras. But most remain low-tech and labour-intensive.
30.commitments N-UNCONT 信奉；忠诚 Commitment is a strong belief in an idea or system.
*oft N to n Eg:……commitment to the ideals of Bolshevism.
Because they are dominated by private enterprises, towns such as Gurao may be nimbler at adapting to changing market conditions than China’s steel and coal cities, where 1.8m layoffs are planned in the next few years. In 2013 migrant workers made up nearly half of Gurao’s 161,000 people. Many are low-skilled, moving from one job to another, sewing the same part of the bra as they did in the previous factory. Most did not complete high school and are ill-equipped to retrain for jobs in service industries, which the Chinese government hopes will replace manufacturing ones. But luckily most of them have houses and farmland to go back to in their villages if they lose their jobs.
31.nimble ADJ-GRADED 敏捷的；灵活的；灵巧的 Someone who is nimble is able to move their fingers,hands,or legs quickly and easily.
Some of the one-product boomtowns could fade away, leaving little behind but the concrete shells of empty factories and polluted soil. Gurao and other such places have generated extraordinary wealth in once dirt-poor parts of the country. But to thrive in the future, they will need to look beyond the bare necessities. From the print edition: China
32.generate v. 造成；引起；导致 To generate something means to cause it to begin and develop. 33.dirt-poor adj. 非常贫穷的；赤贫的 A dirt-poor person or place is extremely poor.
语言亮点
1. Bleak times in bra town 文胸之城的暗淡时光 Bleak times：暗淡时光
2 One-product towns fuelledChina’s export boom.
生产单一产品的城镇曾经刺激了中国出口的繁荣。 Fuel：刺激
3. The workshop resounds with the clack-clack of sewing machines as employees repeat their single, assigned task before passing the garment on to the next person on the production line. 工人们在重复着他们单一的、分配好的工作，然后把正在制作的衣物传给生产流水线上的下一个人。
4.Across Gurao,billboards show big-breasted--usually foreign---women sporting the lingerie that underwires the town's prosperity.
遍布谷饶的广告牌展示着胸部丰满的女性—通常是外国女性—炫耀地穿着托起这个城镇繁荣的内衣。
5.During the past three decades of repid economic growth,one-industry like Gurao and C Chendian sprang up along China's eastern seaboard,often in what were once paddyfields.
在过去30年经济飞速增长的过程中，像谷饶和陈店这些曾经只是稻田的地方，依靠单一产业的城镇在中国东部的沿海地区迅速崛起。
sprang up:迅速崛起
6.That advantage is fading. 这一优势正在消退。
7. But most remain low-tech and labour-intensive. 但是大多数公司依旧是低技术和劳动密集型企业。 8.But to thrive in the future, they will need to look beyond the bare necessities.
但是想要在未来兴旺发达，它们的眼光需要超越那些基本生活必需品。
文章结构分析——总—分—总
1-3 生产单一产品的城镇大多数现在处于困境，比如内衣工厂。
4-5 谷饶和陈店曾经依靠单一产品迅速崛起，并且带来了国家出口业的繁荣。
6-7 谷饶面临制造材料的污染和外来竞争的双重问题
8-10 谷饶正在抓住自己的优势，积极转型升级
11-12 只要有远见，谷饶这样的企业未来仍然是乐观的
