名人教英文：看rubber duck学英文（2）
gre、gmat、sat等考试的critical reading环节要求考生理解作者说话的真正含意，所以大家应多看一些有层次的文章，学习掌握字面和实际意思之间的差异。这次我会继续用博客evan fowler对rubber duck的评论做例子。
fowler对rubber duck十分赞赏："it is a great example of installed art that both wallows in and draws meaning from its installation."
他又说："the choice of the toy rubber duck as a statement is certainly effective if not inspired." certainly effective if not inspired的字面义是「就算非神来之笔，也无疑很有力」，实际意思即effective and inspired。不过，if not和and在用法上有少许不同，if not用以连接意思相近但强弱程度有别的形容词，后面的形容词较前面的强，例如reasonably priced if not cheap、smart if not brilliant、mediocre if not bad等。
fowler指出，橡皮鸭子是发达国家孩子的玩意，而且是工业化大规模生产的产物。他这样分析rubber duck："it is at once innocent, child-like and simple; and yet it is also a representation of a very adult world of mass production, business and the spread of markets." rubber duck一方面代表纯真的童年，另一方面是现代商业社会的象征。rubber duck来到繁华的维港，尤其突显了第二重涵义。环境给作品赋予意义，正是装置艺术的妙处。
rubber duck的创作者hofman指作品象征全球大家庭。fowler说："it is the representation of an ideal rather than the real; of an idea of a family, of a global family, shorn of the philandering fathers and bitter fights that all that often categorises the idea in practice." 大家会怎样回答以下一题？
fowler thinks that the world is actually:
1) filled with joy.
2) plagued by conflicts.
3) simple.
英语单词词汇学习：
inspired……如神来之笔
philandering……拈花惹草的
shorn of……裁掉
wallow……沉浸