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Text 1 Overdue Interest
About Iris Chang and her book
Iris Chang is a graduate of the University
of Illinois and John Hopkins University. She works as a freelance
writer who has written for The Chicago Tribune, the
Associated Press, and the New York Times. She is the
bestselling author of Thread of the Silkworm and
The Rape of Nanjing: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War
Two. The Rape of Nanjing describes one of the
great atrocities of world history: the slaughter, rape and
torture of more than 300 000 Chinese civilians by Japanese
soldiers in the capital of China.
Language notes
1)
Central to this attempted revival is a new book by Iris Chang,
The Rape of Nanjing.
（此次旧焰重燃的导火线便是伊瑞斯 •
张所著的新书 《南京大屠杀》。）
Note that the sentence is in an inverted
order for emphasis.
2）"It
is up to us as Asian-Americans to supply the resources, it
is up to us to speak."
（作为亚裔美国人，我们应该提供材料，应该说出来。）
The sentence structure that it is up to
sb. to do sth. means that it is sb.'s duty or responsibility
to do sth.
e.g. It's up to us to help those in need.
3)
The
massacre was also a systematic attempt at annihilation, Chang
argues, adding that the massacre should be likened to the
Holocaust.
（张论争道，大屠杀同样是一次系统的灭绝人种的尝试，它可以与纳粹屠杀清洗犹太人事件相提并论。）
Be likened to means to be compared
to.
4)
Chang
believes it stems from legal concerns: If Japan were to admit
responsibility, the door would be open to lawsuits demanding
billions of dollars in reparations.
（张认为这是源于对诉讼的考虑：如果日本承认自己有责任，那么对要求数10亿美元的弥补性赔偿的诉讼便敞开了大门。）
Note that the sentence structure is used in
the subjunctive mood.
5)
Chang
and other Chinese-Americans ask that fellow citizens understand
this horror in the most fundamental terms.
（张与其他美籍华人要求其他公民对这一恐怖事件有最基本的了解。）
In this sentence ask means request,
so the that-clause is in the subjunctive mood.
Text 2
G. A. Fitch's Diary
Language notes
1)
What I am about to relate is anything but a pleasant story.
（我要讲述的故事决非令人愉悦。）
Anything but means not at all or far
from.
2)
However, I am going to record some of the more important events
of this period as I have jotted them down in my little diary,...
（然而，我打算记录下这一时期一些较为重要的事件，我已在小日记本里匆匆写下了......）
Jot down means to write quickly,
esp. without preparation.
3)
The Japanese censorship will see to that.
（日本人的审查机构会监视的。）
See to means to deal with or to take
care of.
e.g. The machine isn't working; get a mechanic
to see to it.
4)
At our staff conference that evening word came that soldiers
were taking all 1300 men in one of our camps near headquarters
to shoot them.
（那天晚上在全体会议上我们听说，士兵正在带走我们靠近总部的一个难民营中全部1300名男子，打算枪毙他们。）
In this sentence word (without a
or the) means a message or a piece of news.
e.g. Please send me word of your arrival.
5)
We had confidently exposed that they would live up to their
promise, at least in some degree, and that order would be
established with their arrival.
（我们满怀信心地希望他们至少在一定程度上会信守承诺，希望他们的到来能建立起秩序。）
Live up to means to keep to the
high standards of.
e.g. He has failed to live up to his parents'
expectations.
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