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跟着「经济学人」一起聊聊月饼

LR君 LearnAndRecord 2022-07-26



一年一度的中秋佳节到了,LR在这里祝大家中秋快乐,阖家团圆!大家应该都吃了月饼吧?今天就和大家一起学习经济学人是怎么聊月饼的~


MOONCAKES are among the most divisive treats. For some the chewy pastries are delicacies on which to gorge for the Mid-Autumn Festival, a Chinese holiday that falls this year on September 24th. For others they are dry, dense and full of calories. But for economists they are something else entirely: an indicator of important trends in consumption, innovation, corruption and grey-market trading.


treat


treat一词在前几天网红"故宫黄酒雪糕"  你心动了吗?提到过,不过没有明显标注出来,今天再来回顾一次:表示“〔尤指不经常吃的〕美味食物”,英文解释为:a special food that tastes good, especially one that you do not eat very often.

举个🌰:

The cafe serves an assortment of gourmet treats.

这家小餐馆供应各种美味佳肴。


这里用divisive(造成不和的;引起纷争的)一词来形容月饼很贴切,因为下文紧接着提到争论的双方(For some...For others...)


月饼


the chewy pastry 耐嚼的油酥糕点


gorge on

表示“狼吞虎咽”,英文解释为:If you gorge on something or gorge yourself on it, you eat lots of it in a very greedy way.

举个🌰:

I could spend each day gorging on chocolate. 

我可以将每一天都花在狂吃巧克力上。


中秋节


文中写到the Mid-Autumn Festival后,还补充了一句 a Chinese holiday that falls this year on September 24th.


grey-market


字面意思就是“灰市” ,指经非正式渠道购卖商品再以低于市价的价格售出,英文解释为:Grey-market goods are bought unofficially and then sold to customers at lower prices than usual.

举个🌰:

Grey-market perfumes and toiletries are now commonly sold by mail. 

灰市的香水和化妆品现在常以邮购方式售出。


写作


经济学人是很好的学习英文写作的素材,比如这里的经典开头。首句提出论点... are among the most divisive ...,然后用For some...For others...结构引出双方论据,最后再用一个But引出新的观点——经济学家的观点,也就是文章主旨。



Mooncakes play this role because of their status as gifts. Ahead of the mid-autumn holiday, companies give them to employees; business contacts exchange them. Consumption of mooncakes is thus less a reflection of whether people enjoy the pastries, likened by some to edible hockey pucks, and more a measure of the health of the economy.



edible hockey pucks


hockey pucks指“冰球”,这里是说因为月饼和冰球很像,人们把它比作“可食用的冰球”。


OF ALL the dread-provoking Christmas gifts—all the reindeer sweaters and buzzing children’s toys—perhaps none is as feared as the fruitcake: a football-sized dessert, wrapped in lurid red foil. It will often lurk reprovingly on sideboards and in refrigerators for months before being finally, furtively, chucked out.


dread-provoking


合成词,dread表示“畏惧,害怕”,provoke表示“激怒,惹起,煽动”,所以dread-provoking表示“令人害怕的”。从这个词可以看出来作者对fruitcake作为“圣诞礼物“的态度是消极的,而破折后的”as feared as“进一步体现了这种态度。


lurid


表示“艳丽的”,英文解释为“If you describe something as lurid, you do not like it because it is very brightly coloured. ”

举个🌰:

She took care to paint her toe nails a lurid red or orange. 

她小心翼翼地把脚趾甲涂成艳丽的红色或桔色。



fruitcake


fruitcake意思是“水果[果脯,果子]蛋糕,掺有干果的糕饼”,它还有另一个意思表示“疯子,怪人”,文中对前者的解释:a football-sized dessert, wrapped in lurid red foil


图片来源维基百科


It will often lurk reprovingly on sideboards and in refrigerators for months before being finally, furtively, chucked out.

这个句子用了大量的介词,而且是采用it这种无灵主语,将fruitcake拟人化,所以直译的话个人觉得怪怪的,试着采用了意译(欢迎指正哦):

人们经常刻意把水果蛋糕放在餐具柜上或冰箱里不显眼的地方,数月之后又偷偷扔掉。


reprovingly 挑剔地

lurk on 潜伏

sideboard 餐具柜

furtively 偷偷地

chuck out 扔掉



For the Chinese and Vietnamese, the equivalent is the mooncake: a dense, round pastry that—based on your correspondent’s highly informal survey—people seem much fonder of giving than eating. The cakes are stuffed with a variety of high-calorie fillings, often based on lotus seeds, nuts or sweet bean-paste. As with much of Chinese cuisine, mooncakes vary by region: in Shanghai and eastern China the filling often includes pork and tends to be savoury; Henan mooncakes are crisp and almost biscuit; Teochew mooncakes are often yam.



stuff


表示“把...装满”,常与with搭配,英文解释为“If you stuff a container or space with something, you fill it with something or with a quantity of things until it is full. ”

举个🌰:

He grabbed my purse, opened it and stuffed it full, then gave it back to me. 

他抢走我的钱包,打开并把它装得满满的,然后还给了我。



月饼


上文出现的:the chewy pastry 耐嚼的油酥糕点

此处用了:a dense, round pastry

The cakes are stuffed with a variety of high-calorie fillings 馅, often based on lotus seeds, nuts or sweet bean-paste 豆沙


In Shanghai and eastern China the filling often includes pork and tends to be savoury 咸的; Henan mooncakes are crisp 脆的 and almost biscuit    淡褐色的; Teochew mooncakes are often yam 山药 or 红薯?馅.


来来来,上海、河南、潮汕以及

五湖四海的朋友们,

说说自己家乡月饼的味道


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