我是The Economist 的读者。
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The Economist 是不需要从头读到尾的。每个读者都会形成自己读TE的习惯。
我读TE是，每次看最新一期杂志，都会先看China，毕竟作为中国人还是最关心自己的国家的。可惜文章不是很多。有时候只有一篇。
然后business,尤其喜欢其中的Schumpeter专栏文章。Schumpeter 冠名自经济学家Joseph Schumpeter. 他是历史上为数不多能用名字冠名一个学派的经济学家--Schumpeterian Shool.另一个冠名一个学派的就是凯恩斯。Schumpeter认为"Capitalism is a powerful vehicle of economic progress, But it will atrophy,as firms become larger and more bureaucratic." 所以他强调企业家精神以及由企业家所带来的创新。这个也是和TE的定位以及读者群契合的。
再后面看Books and arts.然后就是其他的挑着看。而且是经常性的没有看完。还有必要说一下，Books and arts 里面的Johnson 专栏文章。这个专栏也是我的最爱之一。这个专栏经常会讨论词汇以及语法。最近一期杂志的Johnson就在讨论“elites "这个词。还有一期杂志的Johnson文章是讨论的是虚拟语气的。解释为什么在虚拟语气的句子中，用"was "而不是“were”。TE的学究气在这篇文章展露无遗。我看这份杂志也是欣赏其较真的劲。
随着阅历的增长，一个以前没有怎么被我留意的专栏。现在变成了我最喜欢的专栏。那就是Obiuary（悼词）专栏。这个专栏是由大文豪Ann Wroe 执笔的。（虽然经济学人的文章是不署名的）她的文章总是诙谐中带有伤感。现在成为了我最喜欢的专栏。
比如最近12月17号刊的Obituary，写的是宇航员John Glenn.
“John Glenn, astronaut and politician, died on December 8th, aged 95.”
关于逝者的介绍概括总是用这样简洁的语言来概括。姓名 + 身份+逝世日期+享年。
在这篇悼词中，John Glenn.有两个身份，一个是宇航员，让他成为了美国的英雄。另一个是政客差点让其晚节不保。这两个看似矛盾的身份也构成了这篇文章的结构。让人不得不佩服Ann Wroe.
1、文章开篇
“TOO big, too unschooled, too old—only narrowly did John Glenn gain entry to the training programme which made him America’s space hero.”
连续用了三个"too”，把John Glenn写在了可以成为宇航员的另一个极端。一个两级的张力。后接一个倒装句强调narrowly.（BTW：我觉得TE是比较喜欢用强调语气的，因为在语法上选用强调，可以表明鲜明的态度，给人留下对TE文章的犀利风格印象。）
2、第二段开头。
“Nothing could be done about his age (pushing 40), nor his lack of scientific qualifications—he had dropped out of his engineering course in 1941 after learning to fly. But what flying it was: 149 combat missions, first against Japan in the Pacific, then in the Korean war; one of them left more than 200 bullet-holes in his plane’s fuselage. ”
又是两个极端，一边是接近40岁的高龄，缺乏科学素养，另一边是149次战斗任务，还有一次执行任务机翼有200多个洞。这句最妙的是衔接。前一句结束是“……after learning to fly.”后一句开始是“But what flying it was:……”.这样的句子结构，不得不服。而且通过句子结构表达了John Glenn的充满矛盾的张力。
3、倒数第三段：
“He strongly defended evolution, too. Science and religious belief did not clash: they reinforced each other. He had seen more of God’s creation than most people, he would note.”
这句的矛盾张力，我认为是最强的。一个最虔诚的信徒和一个强烈的进化论的支持者。这是最不可调和的两级，居然集中在一个人的身上。就像用两个巨大的极强的相反的力去拉扯一个一个物体，这个物体肯定会被撕碎的。然而John Glenn没有，证明在其心中有某种非常柔软或者异常坚韧的东西,在转化这两股力量。
John Glenn两个身份：astronaut 和 politician.
1）作为astronaut ：
He was so popular, the BBC’s Alastair Cooke said only half-jokingly, that he could have “abolished the Constitution and been proclaimed president overnight”.
作为宇航员，他成为了超级英雄，BBC调侃；他可以一夜之间废除宪法，并且宣布成为总统。
2）作为politician ：
He was bad at delegating and a dull speaker: his fireside chats would put out the fire, people said unkindly. His sole bid for the Democratic nomination, in 1984, crashed amid humiliation and debts. His legislative achievements were modest.
但是作为一个政客，他却是非常的失败。又是如此矛盾且具有张力的两极。
最后一段：
But in 1998, in his final year in the Senate, he became, aged 77, the oldest person to go into space. In theory, the mission was to study the ageing process. But in truth, most reckoned, it was a favour from his friend President Bill Clinton. Few begrudged him his last hurrah. Not until the age of 90 did he give up flying: old people, he insisted, should not let the calendar dictate their lives.
最后一句深深的打动了我，这也足以体现Ann Wroe文章的功力。一个永不服输的老头，不正是像<Old man and the sea >么？
“But a man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”
一个人可以被消灭,但是不可以被打败。满满的《老人与海》式的结尾。这时候可以镜头回放了，正是由于这种精神或者说人之所以为人的这种朴素的尊严，让他可以在条件如此不符，通过努力进入了NASA的选拔；在149次战斗中活下来；在机翼中弹造成200多个洞时活下来；被捧上了天，也被踩成地底泥；既信仰神，又是进化论的拥趸。
这一切都是源于人的朴素的尊严，《老人与海》式的尊严。
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最后，引用TE的创刊宗旨：
it aims "to take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress"
这个宗旨是贯穿在每一篇文章中的，所以《经济学人》好在这里。
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以上。
