七夕特别笔记:Wedding Wows

Wedding wows

标题是个双关，wedding vows 婚礼誓词，但这里用了wows，体现了一点出乎意料的情绪。这篇文章讲的也是中式婚礼的变迁。

How the one-child policy changed Chinese  nuptials .

nuptials必须带着s，上周我们整理的The Good Wife追剧笔记中也有出现Nuptials的变体：prenuptial婚前发生的，也经常看到婚前协议的简写pre-nup。

OVERSIZE cupids in pink, furry  outfits  hand out heart-shaped balloons with “I Do” written on them (in English) at a wedding -themed  trade fair in Beijing. Vendors offer romantic  photo-shoots  of couples under water or at a racetrack, personalised wedding cigarettes, and biscuits with names such as “Date & Fate”. An emphasis on love is a new addition to Chinese weddings—and  shines a pink-filtered spotlight on social change.

第一句话中，outfit特指在特殊场合中穿的全套服装，做及物动词时，注意介词搭配：outfit sb./sth. In/with sth. 为……搭配全套装备/服装。

-themed这个构词，以……为主题的，比如a Hawaiian-themed party夏威夷主题的聚会，themed hotels主题酒店。

photo-shoot 跟photograph不太一样的地方在于，它是更加专业的摄影，而且通常是给名人麻豆拍的摄影。

最后一句可以get到一个很好用的写作词组：shine a spotlight on sth，将…置于聚光灯下，可以引申为聚焦于…、关注…，比如 Campaigners say it's helped to shine a spotlight on the violent consequences of the trade in illicit diamonds. 社会运动人士认为，此次事件有助人们聚焦非法钻石交易带来的暴力犯罪后果。

For centuries, marriage in China was about ensuring heirs for the groom's family. Ceremonies centred on the groom's  kin : couples  kowtowed  to the man's parents but the woman's relatives were absent. Unusually, both the groom's and the bride's family exchanged money or goods. The more money changed hands, the more opulent  the wedding.

第一句话可以完完整整套用到有关爱情与婚姻或者中国传统家庭观念等相关话题的写作中：For centuries, marriage in China was about ensuring heirs for the groom's family. 几百年来，结婚在中国意味着确保新郎家的香火延续。

heir [eər] ，注意没有h的音，继承人，后嗣，就是国人说的香火。 

kin统称家属，亲属，加上后缀-ship，kinship，则可表示亲情或亲密的感情。

kowtow 这个词应该是从中文音译过去的，扣头，很自然地联想到卑躬屈膝、马首是瞻的样子，所以可以引申为顺从巴结，比如如果你看不惯办公室里的马屁精戏精，你可以在心里默默diss：See how stupidly they kow-tow to persons higher in the hierarchy. 瞧他们对上级唯命是从的样子是多么的愚蠢。看，kowtow这个词更多用于贬义。

最后一句关注这个词opulent [ˈɒpjʊlənt]极富有的，阔绰的，这句话是说，转手的彩礼钱越多，婚礼越奢华。

After it  came to power  in 1949, the Communist Party  imposed frugality .  Dowries consisted of necessities like  bed linen  or a bicycle; guests brought their own  food coupons .  But since the 1980s the extravagance of nuptials has matched the country's rise. Celebrations moved out of homes into hotels. Brides  swapped traditional red dresses  for  white,  flouncy meringue-like  ones (some now wear both, in sequence).

Come to power，也可以用rise to power，当权执政。

中文里常说提倡勤俭节约，第一句就提供了表达impose frugality，动词也可以用practice.

接下来的几个名词比较中国特色，dowry嫁妆，bed linen床单枕套，food coupon就是粑粑麻麻小时候国家发行的粮票啦。

But since the 1980s the extravagance of nuptials has matched the country's rise.这句话写得很简洁，主要是match一词用得不错。从字面来看，婚礼的铺张赶上了国家的兴盛。那也就是体现一个前因后果，国家富裕了之后，婚礼也开始铺张浪费大操大办起来。

注意到没有，这句话还有frugality的反义词extravagance。

最后一句话注意swap sth for sth，把……换成……，下次用这个词组替换replace。

女生爱穿的荷叶边衣服，荷叶边怎么说？Flounce，荷叶边的裙子穿上身之后，走起路来裙摆就一抖一抖的，所以也有那么一点盛气凌人的感觉。flounce做动词就有了这么一个意思，怒气冲冲的走路，flounce out of the room气呼呼地走出了房间，可以联想着记忆。

meringue蛋白酥，meringue-like 像蛋白酥的一样的，这个构词法跟前面提到的-themed是一样的。 

A large instry has emerged to serve the 13m couples who marry each year. Wedding planners are increasingly common, particularly in cities. A decade ago Cosmo Bride, an American-owned lifestyle magazine, launched a Chinese-language edition in China. An average wedding cost $12,000 in 2011 (the latest year for which such data exist)— the equivalent of  more than two years' income for the average urban  household . An increase in the average marriage age by 2.5 years since 1990 has given parents (who still usually pay for weddings, despite the earning power of their children) more time to save up.

equivalent等同物，等价物，the equivalent 就是12,000 dollars的同位语，Be the equivalent of 堪比，相当于，等同于，无异于。

普通城市家庭，the average urban household，household与family的区别如下：

作名词时，family常见的意义有“家庭”、“家属”、“子女”、“家族”。要特别注意的是，如果有人说I have a family. 不是说“我结婚了”，亦不是“我成家了”，而是“我有孩子了”。比如：She has the sole responsibility for a large family. 她要独自承担抚养一大群子女的责任。

而family 作形容词时，意思为“老少咸宜的”（designed to be suitable for children as well as alts），比如：a family newspaper全家人/成年人和未成年人都能看的报纸。

Household意思为 a house and its occupants regarded as a unit。尽管很多时候household也翻译成“家庭”、“一家人”，但是要注意这里它和family的区别在于：

household包含的是住在一起的人，可以是亲属，也可以不是亲属，比如佣人、管家或者其他成员，有点类似我们国家说的“户口”、“户”的含义，比如我国人口普查报告中有一个概念“家庭户”，官方提供的译文是 family household。而在这一层面上，family只是指有血缘关系的家庭。

最后一句，save up 和save同义，储蓄，save up for sth.为了……而存钱。

The change in wedding  frippery  also reflects a fundamental shift in society. For the first time in the history of Chinese family life, the child—rather than ancestors or parents—is regarded as the centre of the family, says Yan Yunxiang of the University of California, Los Angeles. Most  newly-weds  now are single children, born since the one-child policy was introced more than 30 years ago. Parents have more to spend if they only have to  fork out for  one wedding (they usually share costs with the spouse-to-be's family).

第一句frippery [ˈfrɪpəri]，多余无用的东西，花哨的装饰品，也可以指艳俗的服装或装饰物。

For the first time in the history/in one’s life...放在句首，强调the first time，比如For the first time in years the U.S airline instry is in terrific shape.

newly-weds，s要跟着，新婚夫妇，〔一对〕新人

最后一句fork out (for sth)，fork out sth (for/on sth) 大量花钱，大把掏钱，而且通常是不情愿的。可以和上一段的save up合在一起记忆。比如：forked out a small fortune on ecation在教育上花了不少钱。

同样表示花了不少钱的表达还有:

Shell out: 付 (一大笔钱)，比如：You won't have to shell out a fortune for it. 你将不必为它花一大笔钱。

Pour into: 大量投入〔金钱〕于〔某事物〕，比如They’ve poured thousands of pounds into developing the business. 他们已经投入几千英镑开发这项业务。

Splurge: 乱花钱，挥霍，splurge (sth) on sth，比如Within a couple of months, I’d splurged about £2,500 on clothes.就在几个月时间里，我买衣服花掉了 2,500 英镑。

Splash out on sth.:大肆挥霍(金钱)

William Jankowiak of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who has  documented relationships in China for 30 years, says love plays a larger part in young people's lives—both in choice of partner and in their relationships with parents. Love is far more often spoken about. The result is evident in weddings, which now focus on the couple. Both sets of parents are represented, but their position is  peripheral. Weddings often  feature  a day of wedding photos, shot before the event, with the couple in a range of outfits  against romantic backgrounds , but with no family members.

第一句的document是及物动词，记录，记载，比如The effects of smoking have been well documented.有关吸烟的影响记录翔实。

Both sets of parents are represented, but their position is peripheral.双方父母，both sets of parents。双方父母都会出席，但只是peripheral次要的；附带，比如peripheral and boring information.无关紧要的无聊信息。父母只是婚礼上的陪衬。

feature 以…为特色，是…的特征，翻译的时候可以说，具有……的特点，……的特点是……，或者简单地翻译成通常……，比如文中这句话：Weddings often feature a day of wedding photos, shot before the event婚礼现场当天通常饰以在此前拍摄的婚纱照。

Weddings often feature a day of wedding photos, shot before the event, with the couple in a range of outfits against romantic backgrounds, but with no family members. 婚礼现场当天通常饰以在此前拍摄的婚纱照，在浪漫的背景下，夫妻穿上一系列服装拍摄婚纱照，但没有家庭成员参与其中。

这句话也可以直接记下来，用于描述中国式的婚礼，口语写作两相宜

against the background, against a background of sth以…为背景。

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