开荒种地,《经济学人》如何报道真人秀节目《种地吧》?
今年 2 月爱奇艺上线了一档综艺节目《种地吧》,节目选拔10位年轻人组成“种地小队”,记录他们在142亩土地上,在190天时间里,播种、灌溉、施肥、收获的过程。这档节目引起很多网友关注,《经济学人》也进行了报道,我们一起来读一下:
原文
A Chinese reality-TV show about farming doubles as propaganda
①A young man drives a harvester through a rice field. ②Slow down, a farmer chides him. ③But he zooms on—then gets stuck in the mud. ④Welcome to “Become a Farmer”, the hit reality-tv programme on iqiyi, a Netflix-like Chinese service. ⑤The show transplants ten preppy actors and musicians from the city to the countryside in Zhejiang province, where they must live together and try their luck at farming.
⑥The 20-something men arrive wheeling giant suitcases, only to find what one calls “inhuman” living conditions, an outdoor toilet and endless mud. ⑦Audiences are entertained as they work things out and embrace the task at hand. (⑧The group has six months to turn a profit from about ten hectares of farmland.)
精读
A Chinese reality-TV show about farming doubles as propaganda
一档关于种地的中国真人秀节目兼具宣传之用。
reality-TV show 指“真人秀”。
double as 是个很地道的表达,double 是“两倍”的意思,因此 double as 可以理解成:to have another use or function as well as the main one “兼作、兼用”,如:
The kitchen doubles as a dining room.
这厨房兼做饭厅。
The school doubled as a hospital during the war.
战争期间这所学校兼作医院。
文中 doubles as propaganda 的意思是,这档真人秀节目也用于政治宣传。这个说法有点扯了,《种地吧》纯粹是一档真人秀节目,西方媒体很喜欢把中国的任意一件事跟政治关联起来。
①A young man drives a harvester through a rice field. ②Slow down, a farmer chides him. ③But he zooms on—then gets stuck in the mud.
一个年轻人驾驶着收割机穿过水稻田,一位农民责备他,让他慢一点。然而他却继续加速前进,结果陷入了泥潭。
前三句描写了赵小童开收割机被师傅骂的场景,很有画面感。
harvester 由 harvest(丰收)演变而来,指“收割机”或“收割庄稼的人”,再记一个 combine harvester 联合收割机。
chide 是 criticize 或 blame 的意思,“指责”,《生活大爆炸》第六季中也出现过这个表达:
After I confided, I was derided and chided.
我对她坦诚相告,她对我责备嘲笑。
文中 Slow down, a farmer chides him 意思是,一个农民(赵小童的师傅)责备他要慢下来。Slow down 是间接引语,是 chide 的内容。
zoom 指 move very fast,on 有“继续”的意思,比如《泰坦尼克号》主题曲“My heart will go on”就是“我的心一直持续下去”,文艺点是“我心永恒”,所以 文中 zoom on 指赵小童依然我行我素,继续加速前进。
zoom 这个词可以和 rush 或 whizz 替换,这两个词都表示“冲、呼啸而过”的意思,如:
He whizzed down the road on his motorbike.
他骑着摩托车呼啸着沿路绝尘而去。
zoom 还可以和 up 连用,表示“飞涨、飙升”,替换 soar, rocket up 等词,如:
House prices had zoomed up for the past couple of years.
过去几年房价飞涨。
拍照时我们也可以用 zoom in/out 表示“拉近/拉远”;看监控时把画面放大,也用 zoom in 表示,《银翼杀手》中就出现过这个表达:
④Welcome to “Become a Farmer”, the hit reality-TV programme on iQiyi, a Netflix-like Chinese service.
欢迎来到《种地吧少年》,这是一档风靡一时的真人秀节目,在爱奇艺(一个类似于Netflix的中国平台)上播出。
④句引出《种地吧少年》这档综艺节目。
hit 在这里是形容词,表示影片、书籍、歌曲、游戏“流行的、火爆的”,相当于 successful。
a Netflix-like Chinese service 也可以写成 the Chinese equivalent of Netflix。
equivalent 一词我们之前讲过很多次,表示 sth that has the same value, purpose, job etc as something else. 中文可以理解成“对应物”,比如,Sino Weibo is China's equivalent of Twitter. 新浪微博是推特在中国的对应之物,即,中国的新浪微博就相当于西方的推特。
我们再举个例子,向老外介绍支付宝时,我们就可以说:
Alipay is roughly China's equivalent of PayPal in the West.
支付宝大概是中国版的PayPal.
微信刚诞生的那几年,老外对它还没有概念,如果我们能用 equivalent 进行类比的话,那就很容易解释清楚了:
Wechat is China's equivalent of WhatApp in the West.
微信是中国版的 WhatsApp.
⑤The show transplants ten preppy actors and musicians from the city to the countryside in Zhejiang province, where they must live together and try their luck at farming.
该节目将十位时髦的演员和音乐人从城市调派到浙江乡村,让他们共同生活,并尝试农业运作。
⑤句介绍了这档真人秀节目内容。
preppy 的英文解释是:a young person who goes or went to an expensive private school and who dresses and acts in a way that is thought to be typical of such a school,进入昂贵私立学校的年轻人,或穿着、表现像昂贵私立学校的人。也就是说从你的穿着、言行中一眼就能看出你出自非常高级的学校。
后来,这个词引申为“穿着讲究的、穿着时尚的”,相当于 well-groomed,如图:
transplant from...to...常见的意思是“移植(器官、植物)”,如:
Surgeons have successfully transplanted a liver into a four-year-old boy.
外科医生成功地给一个四岁的男孩移植了肝脏。
其实 transplant 的前缀“trans-”本身就表示“改变、从一边到另一边”的含义,如 transform 转变,transplant 移植,translate 翻译(从一种语言到另一种语言)、transatlantic 横渡大西洋的。
transplant 除了“移植”,也可以表示 to move sb / sth to a different place or environment,“使迁移、使移居”,比如很多工厂从中国迁移到越南,可以说:
Many factories have been transplanted from China to Vietnam.
本文中 transplants ten preppy actors and musicians from the city to the countryside in Zhejiang province 意思是:把十个穿着时髦的演员和音乐人从城市带到浙江乡下。
后面还有一个定语从句:where they must live together and try their luck at farming
try one's luck at 的英文解释是:to do something because you hope you will be successful, even though you know you may not be,“碰碰运气”,如:
After the war my father went to Canada to try his luck at farming there.
战后,我父亲去了加拿大,到那里经营农场试试运气。
⑥The 20-something men arrive wheeling giant suitcases, only to find what one calls “inhuman” living conditions, an outdoor toilet and endless mud.
这些年轻人,二十多岁的年纪,拉着巨大的行李箱而来,却发现居住环境非常糟糕,用一个成员的话说,是“不近人情”。有露天厕所,到处都是泥潭。
20-something 是形容词,修饰 men,指“二十多岁的,the 20-something men 也可以用 the 20-year-olds 或 those in their twenties 表示。
wheeling giant suitcases 是 V-ing形式的状语,作 arrive 的伴随。
wheel 在这里是名词动用,本义是轮子,这里指 to move sb / sth that is in or on sth that has wheels,推着带轮子的东西、用带轮子的东西推着走,如:
The nurse wheeled him along the corridor.
护士推着他沿楼道走。
文中 wheeling giant suitcases 指“拖着行李箱”,这里的 wheel 可以用 roll 或 carry 替换。
only to find...这部分也是状语,表示目的。only to do 表示一种出人意料的结果。
what one calls “inhuman” living conditions,像这种 what 引导的名词性从句,可以理解成“...之物”,所以它表示“一个成员称为‘不近人情’生活环境之物”。翻译时可稍加处理,如:却发现生活环境非常糟糕,一个成员称之为“不近人情”。
⑦Audiences are entertained as they work things out and embrace the task at hand.
观众满怀兴趣地看着他们解决问题、接受任务。
⑦句讲了这档综艺的看点。
表示“接受任务”,可以用 take on, be faced with, be engaged in, the task falls to sb 等表示,但和 embrace 不同的是,embrace 有一种主观意愿在里面,有较强的主动性。
⑧The group has six months to turn a profit from about ten hectares of farmland.
这个团队将用六个月的时间靠着大约十公顷的农田赚钱。
turn 在这里是熟词僻义,表示 to achieve a score, performance, profit, etc. 取得(分数);完成(表演);获得(利润)。看个例句:
The champion turned in a superb performance to retain her title.
上届冠军表现十分出色,卫冕成功。
文中 turn a profit = make a profit 盈利。
这篇文章只有前两段能看,后面的内容政治不正确,我就不分享了,想读的同学自己搜索。
今天就到这里,感谢阅读!
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