Various accounts have traced the “Big Apple” expression to Depression-Era sidewalk apple vendors， a Harlem night club and a popular 1930s dance known as the “Big Apple.” One fanciful version even links the name with a notorious 19th-century procuress!

In fact， it was the jazz musicians of the 1930s and ‘40s who put the phrase into more or less general circulation. If a jazzman circa 1940 told you he had a gig in the “Big Apple，” you knew he had an engagement to play in the most coveted venue of all， Manhattan， where the audience was the biggest， hippest， and most appreciative in the country.

The older generation of jazzmen specifically credit Fletcher Henderson， one of the greatest of the early BigBand leaders and arrangers， with popularizing it， but such things are probably impossible to document. Be that as it may， the ultimate source actually was not the jazz world but the racetrack.

As Damon Runyon (among many others) cheerfully pointed out， New York in those days offered a betting man a lot of places to go broke. There were no fewer than four major tracks nearby， and it required no fewer than three racing journals to cover such a lively scene—The Daily Racing Form (which still survives on newsstands today) and The Running Horse and The New York Morning Telegraph (which do not)—and the ultimate credit for marrying New York to its durable catchphrase goes to columnist John J. FitzGerald who wrote for the Telegraph for over 20 years.

Despite its turf-related origins， by the 1930s and ‘40s， the phrase had become firmly linked to the city’s jazzscene. “Big Apple” was the name both of a popular night club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem and a jitterbug-style group dance that originated in the South， became a huge phenomenon at Harlem‘s great Savoy Ballroom and rapidly spread across the country. (Neat cultural footnote： the great African-American cinema pioneer Oscar Micheaux liked to use the Big Apple as a venue for occasional screenings of his latest feature film or documentary.)

A film short called The Big Apple came out in 1938， with an all-Black cast featuring Herbert “Whitey” White‘s Lindy Hoppers， Harlem’s top ballroom dancers in the Swing Era. In a book published the same year， bandleader Cab Calloway used the phrase “Big Apple” to mean “the big town， the main stem， Harlem.” Anyonewho loved the city would have readily agreed with Jack FitzGerald： “There‘s only one Big Apple. That’s New York.”

The term had grown stale and was in fact generally forgotten by the 1970s. Then Charles Gillett， head of the New York Convention & Visitors Bureau， got the idea of reviving it. The agency was desperately trying to attract tourists to the town. Mayor John Lindsay had dubbed “Fun City，” but which had become better-known for its blackouts， strikes， street crime and occasional riots. What could be a more wholesome symbol of renewal than a plump red apple?

The city‘s industrial-strength campaign was launched toward the end of the Lindsay administration in 1971， complete with a cheerful Big Apple logo in innumerable forms (lapel pins， buttons， bumper stickers， refrigerator magnets， shopping bags， ashtrays， ties， tie tacks， “Big Apple” T-shirts， etc.)。

Apparently Gillett was on to something， because at this writing， over 35 years later， the campaign he launched—it won him a Tourism Achievement award in 1994， by the way—is still going strong.

1. Read the first paragraph and then choose the correct one.

[A] “Big Apple” is a name of New York.

[B] There are many reasons for the name “Big Apple”……

[C] People are likely to call New York City “Big Apple”

[D] The name “Big Apple” is a name of New York City in the history.

2. According to the author， what‘s the reason for the name “Big Apple”?

[A] He thought that the name “Big Apple” could not be traced as many people‘s saying.

[B] He thought that the name “Big Apple” was something about jazz musicians.

[C] He thought that initially the name “Big Apple”was a name for Manhattan， not for New York City.

[D] He thought that the name “Big Apple” was named by jazz musicians.

3. According to Cab Calloway‘s book， what’s the meaning of the phrase “Big Apple”?

[A] A name of club in his book.

[B] A name of drama mentioned in his book.

[C] It meant the big town， the main stem， Harlem.

[D] It was just a name and had no means.

4.How did they revive the name “Big Apple” by the 1970s?

[A] By announced a new slogan.

[B] By announce that a plump red apple is a symbol of health.

[C] By put an end to New York‘s occasional riots.

[D] By put an end to New York‘s street crimes.

5.What‘s the industrial-strength campaign’s effect which was launched toward the end of the Lindsay

administration in 1971?

[A] It led to a trend of widely used of the phrase “Big Apple”。

[B] It made the phrase “Big Apple” have new meanings.

[C] The campaign is good for the reviving of the name “Big City”。

[D] The campaign lead to the name‘s widely use which was good for its reviving.

疑難長句翻譯與注解

1. Various accounts have traced…a popular 1930s dance known as the “Big Apple.”

[譯文]關于大蘋果這個稱謂可以追述到很多來源，如有的說是大蕭條時期人行道旁的蘋果攤賣主，有的歸因于黑人住宅區(qū)夜總會，以及在二十世紀三十年代流行的一種叫大蘋果的舞蹈。

[注解]“Big Apple”是對紐約市的一種約定俗成的稱呼，本文就是探討該名字的由來。句中沒有連詞，只是用句式的邏輯表達了出來，我們在翻譯的時候要把連詞添上。

2. “which still survives on newsstands today”

[譯文] 這份刊物現(xiàn)在還在發(fā)行。

[注解] 不能翻譯成“今天依然活在報攤上”。應該意譯。意思是說這份刊物現(xiàn)在還在發(fā)行，仍然存在。

3. The city‘s industrial-strength campaign… the end of the Lindsay administration in 1971.

[譯文]城市的加強工業(yè)運動開始于1971年Lindsay 政府的任期將滿之前。

[注解] “toward the end of the Lindsay administration in 1971”。的意思就是在 1971 年，Lindsay 政府任期將滿之前。這里 toward the end 是 just before a particular time.

4.The older generation of jazzmen specifically … are probably impossible to document.

[譯文]老一輩的爵士樂家們熱衷于將其歸功于早期大樂隊最偉大的領導者之一的 Fletcher Henderson， 他們認為是他使“大蘋果”這個名字流行起來的，但卻不大可能有東西證明這種事的存在。

[注解] jazzmen 在這里指爵士樂家，credit 除了有信任之意思外，還可以指“把……歸功于……”。本句中credit 的意思就是后者。

5. The term had grown stale and was in fact generally forgotten by the 1970s.

[譯文] 這種稱謂逐漸變得了無新意，并于 20 世紀 70 年代被人們基本遺忘。

[注解] “The term”指代上文中提到的的大蘋果的稱謂。“stale”指“陳舊的、不新鮮的”，在這里譯為了無新意。

參考答案：

1.[B]段意歸納題。本題的干擾項在 C 項。紐約市被稱為大蘋果是我們的常識，所以很多考生會選擇這個選項。但陷阱往往就在這里。我們把這種陷阱稱為“真理式陷阱”。該類干擾項的共同特點在于，孤立的看，這個選項挑不出任何毛病，而且往往能使我們聯(lián)想起我們?nèi)粘Ｉ�活中的常識。但有至關重要的是該類選項在目標段落中沒有被談到，所以需要被排除。

2.[B]選項中 A 項講的是上一段說的內(nèi)容，因此不能選。C 項說大蘋果最初是曼哈頓名字這點說的不正確。文中提到曼哈頓只是說它與我們的命名有關，但沒說這名字給了曼哈頓了。D 項說作者認為大蘋果這個名字是爵士樂音樂家給起的，也不正確。這個名字雖然與爵士樂家有關，但不是由爵士樂家們專門為紐約市取的名字。

3.[C]細節(jié)題。細讀文章第六段即可找到答案。此類題只要準確定位到原文就可以順利排除干擾項。

4.[B]C 和 D 項干擾意圖明顯，可以很容易被排除。A 項雖然沒有錯，但相對而言，B 項說得更具體些。

5.[D]該題的迷惑性在于如何區(qū)分幾個相近選項。B 項是可以首先排除的。接下來看 A、C.從一定意義上說，A、C 都有道理。但根據(jù)選擇最佳方案法，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，D 項說得最全面。所以，這里把 A、C 排除而選擇 D.