托福阅读材料：Brazil's big year

   　托福阅读材料：Brazil's big year。今天，为大家带来了关于Brazil’s bigyear的托福阅读练习材料供参考。下文中包括了Brazil’s big year这篇文章的词汇讲解以及语法点，考生们可以学习相关知识点。

      Brazil’s big year

　　Kick-off approaches

　　托福考试中，有许多同义词替换。这里的kick off不仅仅可以指足球比赛的开球，也可以指任何一件事情的开始。

　　Latin America’s largest economy enters an uNPRedictable election year“IT’Snot about the 50 cents” reads a scrawl on a shop shutter on Avenida Faria Lima,one of S?o Paulo’s main thoroughfares. Next door, the message is blunter: “Screwthe police”. Six months after a small demonstration against a 50-cent rise inbus fares blew up into the biggest street protests Brazil had seen in ageneration, few visible signs remain of the wider anger they revealed-aboutcorruption, poor public services and rising living costs.

　　这里的破折号的作用如同托福考试中，作用是进一步的解释和说明

　　Recent attempts to organise a reprise have attracted only a few hundredmarchers. Support for the president, Dilma Rousseff of the Workers’ Party, whichplummeted after June’s protests, has rebounded. A poll in November of votingintentions in next October’s elections gave her 47%, against 30% for her twolikeliest adversaries combined.

　　逗号之后的“against---“表示伴随状语。在托福考试中，伴随状语，目的状语和结果状语通常以动词ing形式出现。

　　Even so, the race is hard to call. The same poll found that two-thirds ofvoters want Brazil’s next president to make sweeping, if unspecified, policychanges. That suggests the spirit of June is still alive-and that some of MsRousseff’s support could melt away if a strong alternative emerges. Politicalanalysts say that many Brazilians’ voting strategy is to plump for the perceivedfront-runner, whoever that may be, meaning that a challenger who manages toadvance in the polls could quickly take a commanding lead.

　　Neither of Ms Rousseff’s probable adversaries is yet campaigning inearnest. Aécio Neves’s Party of Brazilian Social Democracy has been hit byevidence of bribery and overbilling on public contracts in its heartland stateof S?o Paulo. Eduardo Campos, the governor of the state of Pernambuco, ishammering out a programme with his likely running mate, Marina Silva, anenvironmentalist who joined his party after missing a deadline to set up herown.

　　插入语结构经常在托福阅读中出现，而我们需要注意对于插入语通常可以选择忽略，因为这属于次要内容，无关考点。忽略插入语可以加速我们的阅读效率。

　　The economy offers a line of attack for both candidates. Since Ms Roussefftook office in 2011, growth has been anaemic. Unemployment is low and, untilrecently, incomes had risen faster than inflation. But job creation and wagegrowth are now cooling, while prices are still going up. The public financeshave deteriorated-and will not be repaired in an election year.

　　Deteriorated在托福词汇题中多次出现，表示恶化。

　　A spoof calendar circulating on social-networking sites paints 2014 asanother lost year for growth, with a late Carnival extending the summer breakfrom Christmas to March and a three-month shutdown around the football WorldCup, which Brazil is hosting. It shows May devoted to preparations, June to thetournament and July to celebration-or, just conceivably, mourning. Extraspending on beer, replica kit and new televisions will barely offset the closureof schools and government offices on match days in order to get locals off hostcities’ congested roads and allow fans to get to games.

　　Offset是个重点词，意为抵消。这个词也是词汇题考察的高频词。同样多次出现在经济类文章中。

　　The World Cup brings other risks for the incumbent. Last June’s marchescoincided with the Confederations Cup, a dress rehearsal for this year’stournament. The timing added fuel to protesters’ rage by highlighting thecontrast between pricey new stadiums and shoddy public infrastructure, and gavethem a chance to air grievances with the world watching. Brazilians’ passion forfootball and national pride makes a full-blown repeat during the main eventunlikely. But “Black Blocs”-shifting, leaderless youths who march dressed inblack, hooded and masked, and seek violent confrontation with the police-have nosuch qualms.