Classics in Political Terminology

Author: Xuanyuan You (Compiler)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-06-01
Features: TIME's elegant wording and beautiful articles have long been praised by all circles and are regarded as a classic for understanding Western culture. Its language is extremely concise and succinct. If you want to fully enjoy reading TIME, the first step is to familiarize yourself with its common vocabulary. In light of this, Classic Communications Co. has specially produced a series of "TIME Classic Words" books. The entire series is planned to consist of four volumes: "Politics," "Business," "Technology," and "Humanities." When selecting words, the following principles are taken into consideration:
First: Common usage. Only words that frequently appear in TIME are worth annotating. Therefore, the English title of this series is "EClassicWords."
Second: Unavailable in dictionaries. Words that can be easily found in general dictionaries do not require annotation.
Third: Some TIME words, although they can be found in dictionaries, are related to Western cultural allusions and current events, which cannot be fully expressed in dictionaries. This book also provides annotations for such words, hoping that this background knowledge will help readers gain a deeper understanding of TIME's articles.
In this book, we have made detailed classifications to facilitate readers in comprehensively exploring a topic. As a result, in addition to recognizing TIME's classic words, readers can also accumulate rich background knowledge around the topic, which will help them better understand articles on the same topic in TIME.
The "Politics" volume is broadly divided into three major themes: "Politics," "Military," and "Law." Under "Politics," there are six sub-themes: "Party Politics," "Elections," "Government," "International Politics," "Economic Policy," and "General Politics." Adding the aforementioned "Law" and "Military," there are a total of eight themes. All carefully selected words will greatly benefit readers in understanding TIME. It should be noted that the economic terms selected for annotation in "Economic Policy" are closely related to politics. Most economic terms are left for the "Business" volume for detailed discussion.
The annotations for each word not only explain its origin, structure, evolution, and usage but also provide related words for reference. Special allusions, whether literary, historical, or current, are also explained in detail. At the end, two example sentences are provided, selected from various TIME articles, to illustrate the usage of the word.
Additionally, at the end of each theme, there is a TIME Essay. These are the gems of TIME, reflecting the style of contemporary writing and the opinions of intellectuals. Each essay is challenging and thought-provoking. The eight essays selected in this book are the cream of hundreds of Essays published from 1989 to 1996. The selection criteria are to help readers understand the knowledge, cultural, and historical background of these words, as well as to appreciate how top essayists use them in actual articles.
For example, in the "Party Politics" section of the "Politics" volume, we have selected Barbara Ehrenreich's essay "Living Out the Wars of 1968." This essay allows readers to understand the historical background of the emergence of "New Left" and "New Conservatism" and to recognize the differences between them and traditional left-wing and right-wing politics. Following this reading approach, readers' understanding of American party politics will go beyond the superficial level of "Republicans are conservative and Democrats are liberal" and will enable them to truly grasp the origins and development of American party politics.
Of course, words related to "Party Politics" will also appear frequently in this essay. As a result, readers will encounter TIME's classic words repeatedly in a natural way, avoiding the old method of memorizing words by relying on a few examples and gaining a more comprehensive reading experience to digest these words.