跟着「经济学人」一起聊聊月饼

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 mostdivisive treats.For somethe chewy pastriesare delicaciesonwhich togorgeforthe Mid-Autumn Festival, a Chinese holiday that falls this year on September 24th.For othersthey are dry, dense and full of calories. But for economists they are something else entirely:an indicator ofimportant trends inconsumption, innovation, corruption andgrey-markettrading.

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 lessa reflection of whether people enjoy the pastries, likened by some toedible hockey pucks, andmore 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 thedread-provokingChristmas gifts—all the reindeer sweaters and buzzing children’s toys—perhaps none is as feared as the fruitcake:a football-sized dessert, wrapped in luridred foil. It will often lurk reprovingly onsideboards 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 oftenlurk reprovingly onsideboards 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 pastrythat—based on your correspondent’s highly informal survey—peopleseem much fonder of giving than eating. The cakesare stuffed witha variety of high-calorie fillings, often based onlotus 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 cakesare stuffed witha variety of high-caloriefillings 馅, often based onlotus seeds, nuts orsweet bean-paste 豆沙

In Shanghai and eastern China the filling often includes pork and tends to besavoury 咸的; Henan mooncakes arecrisp 脆的and almostbiscuit 淡褐色的; Teochew mooncakes are oftenyam 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