Teachers! I need your help in reading this article♡
The following extract is taken from an article titled “A shadow over the Sunshine State- Ron DeSantis is Donald
Trump’s and the coronavirus’s favourite governor” in “The economist”! And you don’t have to read it all cause I
just brought it in case you need the context to see colored sentences to the full! My questions are from
highlighted sentences!
Florida alone had over 7,000 confirmed coronavirus cases at the time of writing and the number was doubling every three-to-four days. But most of its businesses were still free to operate, Mr DeSantis having refused to lock the state down. Under mounting pressure from anxious Floridians, he said he would do so from April 3rd, fully two weeks after Mr Newsom. To idle millions of workers is no small decision. Yet the 41-year-old Mr DeSantis has denied himself the benefit of the doubt with a wretchedly political performance. His daily messaging has been neurotically in step with the White House, not Florida's public-health experts. This makes his slowness to act look designed to placate a president who-until this week-was liable to take any economy-dampening measure as a personal affront. Mr DeSantis meanwhile aped the president's histrionics by ordering senseless roadblocks to catch infected New Yorkers, warning cruise ships not to land sick "foreigners" and lambasting critical journalists. In one way, his tactics worked. Where Mr Cuomo claims to have received a fraction of the medical supplies he has requested from the federal government, Florida has got every mask and ventilator it has asked for. Even so, Mr DeSantis's pandemic response has looked increasingly reckless. It also indicates how Mr Trump is-and is not-changing his party. The contrasting performances of Mr DeWine and Mr DeSantis, both of whom took office last year, are no accident. The 73-year-old Ohioan won election based on a record for pragmatism accrued during four decades in public life. Mr DeSantis entered Florida's Republican governor's primary as an undistinguished, little-known congressman. He won it by proclaiming his devotion to Mr Trump, who promptly endorsed him, thereby knocking out the DeWine equivalent, Florida's respected agriculture commissioner. Eschewing dull policy talk (to the extent that some questioned whether he even had a platform), Mr DeSantis copied Mr Trump's campaign tactics, too. He warned Floridians not to "monkey this up" by electing his African-American opponent, Andrew Gillum. He derided Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a hate-figure on the right, as "this girl...or whatever she is". His obsequiousness towards Mr Trump was so extreme that he made a joke of it in a campaign ad that depicted him teaching his infant children Trump slogans, while building a wall out of toy bricks. |
(1)
I don’t see what “the doubt” (red-colored) means. Is it a consideration of shutting down the city?
If so, do native-speakers use the word “doubt” in this sense frequently?
(2)
Why did writer put “New Yorkers” in this sentence instead of “non-Floridians” or “visitors outside the state”?
Because New York is the worst affected city by the coroniavirus and this article compares the performances
between DeSantis and other praised governors including Andrew Cuomo?
(3)
I don’t understand this sentence at all! T.T Could you explain it to me? ???
(4)
What does “equivalent” mean in this sentence? Are there two “DeWine”s in the article, one governor of Ohio and
the other agricultural commissioner whom Mr DeSantis defeated in the primary in Florida?
(5)
I googled “monkey up” and read several definitions but they didn't feel close to me! Does the phrasal verb mean
“to ruin something with unsophisticated, inept skills”? Can you tell me the meaning more easily? And can I use it
in daily conversations?
Thank you so much teachers for reading my post!
I hope to get your comments soon ???
Top answer
ANNE202 I don’t see what “the doubt” (red-colored) means. Is it a consideration of shutting down the city? " It is an idiom.
- ANNE202 I don’t see what “the doubt” (red-colored) means.
- Is it a consideration of shutting down the city?
- " It is an idiom.
- It means to take someone's statement as true, even if they have offered no proof or justification.
- com/en/definition/the_benefit_of_the_doubt ANNE202 Yet the 41-year-old Mr DeSantis has denied himself the benefit of the doubt with a wretchedly political performance.
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ANNE202I don’t see what “the doubt” (red-colored) means. Is it a consideration of shutting down the city?
The set phrase is "benefit of the doubt." It is an idiom. It means to take someone's statement as true, even if they have offered no proof or justification.
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