????FOR most countries, language is as simple as ABC. Not Algeria. Its kindergartens are a linguisticmorass. The republic’s official language is standard Arabic, but few children grow up speaking it, so they oftenfeel loston their first day of school. Berber, the tongue of perhaps a quarter of Algerians, was officially recognised last year—but no one can agree on which of its six dialects to teach. Algeria’s French-speaking elite prefer their old masters’ lingo. The education minister, Nouria Benghebrit, advocates the introduction of a fourth language: Darija, which fuses the other three and is the mother tongue of most Algerians. An increasing number of Anglophiles want towipethe slate clean with English.
1） morass?英 [m??r?s] ? 美 [m??r?s, m?-] ?n.困境;纏作一團(tuán);<文>沼澤;陷阱
I?tried?to?drag?myself?out?of?the?morass?of?despair.
我試圖從絕望的困境中走出來(lái)。
2） feel lost?英 [fi:l l?:st] ? 美 [fil l?st] ?悵然若失;恍然若失;不知所措
I?feel?lost?and?lonely?in?a?strange?town?alone.
在陌生的城鎮(zhèn)里只身一人，我感到不知所措、孤單寂寞。
3） wipe?英 [wa?p] ? 美 [wa?p] ?vt.擦，拭;擦去，消除;涂上;刷卡?n.擦，拭;抹布，毛巾;用力打?vi.擦，抹;打，揍
I'll?just?wipe?the?table
我就擦擦桌子
短語(yǔ)：wipe out?英 [waip aut] ? 美 [wa?p a?t] ?了結(jié);擦掉（符號(hào)）;（把器皿里面用抹布）擦凈;徹底摧毀
wipe away?英 [waip ??wei] ? 美 [wa?p ??we] ?抹掉;擦掉，清除
wipe off?英 [waip ?f] ? 美 [wa?p ?f] ?擦去;揩去，擦掉;<口>勾銷（債務(wù)）;揾
wipe up?英 [waip ?p] ? 美 [wa?p ?p] ?擦凈;擦干，擦掉?
???The choice goes to the heart of Algeria’s sense of identity. The French banned Arabic at primary school when the country was theirs, dismissing it as a backward language. After independence in 1962, nationalists pushed Arabisation to undo 132 years of French indoctrination. Thousands of teachers and bureaucrats from Egypt and Syria filled posts vacated by France’s fleeing civil servants. But their arrival also sparked a backlash, this time against Arab domination. The most?recent language movements have been indigenous.?
???Islamists haverushed tothe defence of classical Arabic. Some have accused Ms Benghebrit, absurdly, of conspiring with Mossad to betray God’s language. She has added grist to their mill by ordering an investigation into a primary school teacher who filmed herself telling her class that Arabic was spoken in paradise and vowing to teach nothing else. “Arabisation was a mistake because it was motivated by this idea of revenge against French colonialism,” says one of her advisers. “We shouldn’t confuse thesavage, barbaric colonialism of France with the French language, which is a universal vehicle of science and culture.”
1） rush to?英 [r?? tu:] ? 美 [r?? tu] ?奔;（使某人）急速去;奔赴
I?had?to?rush?to?the?loo?to?avoid?an?attack?of?hysterical?giggles.
我不得不沖向衛(wèi)生間，以免遭到別人的瘋狂嘲笑。
2) savage?英 [?s?v?d?] ? 美 [?s?v?d?] ??adj.野蠻的;兇猛的;未開(kāi)化的;殘忍的?vt.（動(dòng)物）兇狠地攻擊（或傷害）;殘害;猛烈批評(píng);激烈抨擊?n.未開(kāi)化的人，野蠻人;野獸;<美>有拘捕狂的警察
This?was?a?savage?attack?on?a?defenceless?young?girl.
這是對(duì)一個(gè)毫無(wú)自衛(wèi)能力的年輕女孩的野蠻襲擊。
短語(yǔ)：savage act?英 [?s?vid? ?kt] ? 美 [?s?v?d? ?kt] ?暴行?
? ???The arguments continue at universities and beyond. Algeria’s undergraduates study law, politics and religion in Arabic, but pretty much everything else in French. Court proceedings, news bulletins and Friday sermons are in Arabic. Sitcoms, increasingly, are homemade and in Darija. But cabinet sessions are mostly in French, as are business meetings and literary salons. Ministers, including Ms Benghebrit, seem unable to complete a sentence in proper Arabic. “We’re in desperate need of a linguistic peace,” says Amara Benyounès, who heads the Algerian Popular Movement, a Berber party. Islamists and secularists havelaid downtheir arms after a civil war that killed at least100,000. But12 years after a national reconciliation, they are still not speaking the same language.
1) laid down ?英 [le?d daun] ? 美 [led da?n] ?[經(jīng)] 鋪設(shè)（鐵路），建設(shè)（船舶）
The?revolutionaries?laid?down?their?arms?and?its?leaders?went?into?voluntary?exile.
革命者放下了武器，其領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人也自愿流亡他國(guó)了。?
???More isat stakethan whether Algeria pivots north, east or inward. Pedagogues argue that Algerians have become jacks of all tongues, but masters of none, and worry that themélangeis stunting development. “The young are victims of language policies which have undermined our ability to express ourselves,” says Selma Hellal, a publisher mainly of French books in Algiers. Some wonder whether frustration over language is to blame for rising violence against lecturers at universities.Peut-être.
1) at stake?英 [?t steik] ? 美 [?t stek] ?adv.危如累卵，危險(xiǎn)?瀕于險(xiǎn)境，處于成敗關(guān)頭
The?Chinese?nation?has?reached?a?point?where?its?very?existence?is?at?stake.
中華民族到了這生死存亡的關(guān)頭。?
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