印度人禁酒玩出了新花样?丨经济学人精读

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By 拔丝英语网

印度最高法院颁布了一条禁酒令,要求公路500米内不能卖酒。于是一家酒吧老板别出心裁,在自家酒吧门口和公路之间修了一条迷宫,使距离超过了500米……

《经济学人》的这篇报道风趣幽默,我从中挑选出一段和大家分享:
 
原文
先来看原文:
Many find alcohol bans tiresome. Watering-holes have always found ways to keep their clients’ beaks wet. When India’s Supreme Court ordered that spirits could not be sold within 500 metres of a highway, one bar in the southern state of Kerala built a concrete maze to increase the distance from its front-door to the highway. Such ingenuity is to be toasted.
 

精读

1

Many find alcohol bans tiresome.

很多人觉得禁酒令令人厌烦。

语言点拨

alcohol bans 就是“禁酒令”的意思,也可以说 alcohol prohibition

find sth+形容词/分词/名词/介词”是一个非常地道的表达结构,意思是“认为sth如何”,我们看几个例句:2018年考研英语一的Text4中有句话就“find sth+介词”的用法

There are many reasons this formerly stable federal institution finds itself at the brink of bankruptcy.

美国邮局之前经营稳定,而如今面临破产的境地,这其中有很多原因。

at the brink ofon the verge of,表示“在…的边缘”。

2018年考研英语一的Text1中有句话出现了“find sth+分词”的用法:

Technology will improve society in ways big and small over the next few years, yet this will be little comfort to those who find their lives and careers upended by automation.

未来几年,科技会以或大或小的方式改善社会,但对其生活和职业被自动化颠覆的人来说,这一点也不令人舒心。

big and small 是形容词后置,修饰前面的ways,意思是:大大小小的方式。英剧《万物生灵》的英文题目是:All creatures great and small,也是形容词后置的用法。

印度人禁酒玩出了新花样?丨经济学人精读

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍熊孩子们一放假,父母就会瑟瑟发抖,《经济学人》是这么说的:

Many parents also find them a struggle.

很多父母对暑假感到很头疼。

这句话是“find sth+名词”的用法。

them指holidays.

struggle指“令人头疼的事”。

写作中可以用“find sth+形容词/分词/名词/介词”替换 think/believe/feel 这些土掉渣的词汇。‍‍‍‍‍

2

Watering-holes have always found ways to keep their clients’ beak wet.

酒吧总有办法让顾客的嘴保持湿润。

语言点拨

正所谓“道高一尺魔高一丈”,上有政策,下有对策。 

watering-holes这个词非常形象,字面意思是“水洞”,它的真实含义便不言自明了——像水洞一样提供丰富的水源,即“酒吧”(a pub or other place where people go to drink alcohol)。看一张图,一群鸟趴在水洞边饮水,像不像一群人聚集在酒吧喝酒的场景?这个词以夸张的表现力给读者留下了深刻的印象。

keep their clients’s beaks wet 是一个很风趣的说法,beak 本义是“鸟嘴,喙”,这个短语恰恰对应了上面那张图——字面意思是“让顾客的鸟嘴保持湿润”,即“让顾客有酒喝”。我们在调侃某人“嗜酒如命”“是一个酒罐子”时,就可以说 sb is always keeping his beak wet.

3

When India’s Supreme Court ordered that spirits could not be sold within 500 metres of a highway, one bar in the southern state of Kerala built a contrete maze to increase the distance from its front-door to the highway.

当印度最高法院裁定公路500米范围内不得出售烈酒时,南部喀拉拉邦的一家酒吧建造了一个混凝土迷宫,以增加从正门到公路之间的距离。

语言点拨

本句对上述的“found ways”进行展开,具体讲了酒吧对策。 

spirits 作复数讲是“烈酒”的意思,古代酒的酒精度数低,比如当年上景阳冈的武松连喝18碗都不醉,而后来炼金术师发明的蒸馏法,可以使酒精纯度达到60°以上,直击心灵,让人快速达到一种亢奋或放松的极致精神状态,所以后来人们用 spirits(精神、心灵)来指“烈酒、高度酒”。Chinese Baijiu(中国白酒)、whisky(威士忌)、brandy(白兰地)都属于 spirits.

此外,liquor 也有“烈性酒”的意思,而 wine 特指“葡萄酒”,beer 特指“啤酒”,booze 以及第一句出现的 alcohol 则是“酒”的统称。

 

原版书《鱼翅与花椒》中有一段话描述了中国人春节祭祖的场景,里面出现了另一类酒的说法,感兴趣的同学可以当作延展阅读看一下:

Sharing food, in China, binds the living family together, and it is also the ritual that connects those on both sides of the grave. On New Year’s Eve, Liu Yaochun’s extended family, from the grandparents down to the smallest child, processed to the orchard (果园) to invite their ancestors to join in the feast. They knelt on the ground, burning paper money and incense, kowtowing repeatedly, pouring libations (祭酒) of strong grain liquor into the earth.
在中国,分享食物是家人联系感情的一种方式,也是一种仪式,连接着坟头内外的亲人。除夕那天,刘耀春这一大家子,从祖辈到最小的孩子,都会来到果园里邀请祖先共进年夜饭。他们跪在地上,敬香、烧纸钱、不停地磕头,把高度的高粱酒倒进土里。
bind, connect 都有“连接”之意。
process: v.列队行进(to walk or move along in a very slow and serious way, especially as part of a group)
extended family: 大家庭(父母+子女+爷爷奶奶叔叔等一起生活),与之相对的则是 nuclear family 小家庭(父母+子女)。
形容酒精度数高,用 strong 而不是 high. 

回到文中来,最高法院规定(ordered that…),公路500米以内不能卖酒(spirits could not be sold within 500 metres of a highway),于是一家酒吧老板想出了个办法:

one bar in the southern state of Kerala built a contrete maze to increase the distance from its front-door to the highway.

这位老板建了个迷宫(maze),来增加正门到公路之间的距离(increase the distance from its front-door to the highway)

maze 本义是“迷宫”,在实际使用中我们可以用 the/a maze of 比喻“复杂难懂的东西”,比如签合同时里面的条款复杂难懂,我们就可以说 a maze of terms;再比如形容规章制度复杂难懂时,可以说 a maze of rules / regulations.

4

Such ingenuity is to be toasted.
这种聪明才智值得举杯庆贺。

语言点拨

这句话是作者的评价,ingenuity 和 toast 这两个词均能体现出作者的态度。

ingenuity 的意思是 the ability to invent things or solve problems in clever new ways “独创力、足智多谋”,such ingenuity 指的就是上文酒吧老板在酒吧和公路之间修建一个迷宫的做法。 

 

toast 是“干杯、为…敬酒”的意思,迪士尼CEO罗伯特·艾格在其自传《一生的旅程》中记录了自己在乔布斯癌症晚期和他共进晚餐的场景,里面就出现了toast这个词,有兴趣的同学可作为扩展阅读看一看:

In the summer of 2011, Steve and his wife, Laurene, came to our house in L.A. to have dinner with Willow and me. He was in the late stages of cancer by then, terribly thin and in obvious pain. He had very little energy, and his voice was a low rasp (沙哑、刺耳的声音). But he wanted to spend an evening with us, in part to toast what we’d done years ago. We sat in our dining room and raised glasses of wine before dinner. “Look what we did,” he said. “We saved two companies.”
2011年的夏天,史蒂夫和妻子劳伦来到我和薇罗在洛杉矶的家里,和我们共进晚餐。当时的他已经进入了癌症晚期,形销骨立,浑身剧痛。他身体羸弱至极,声音低沉沙哑。但即便如此,他还是想要跟我们共度一晚,为了庆祝我们几年前的合作。我们坐在餐厅,在晚餐之前举杯相庆。“看看我们的成果吧,”史蒂夫说,“我们拯救了两家公司。”
toast what we’d done years ago: 庆祝我们几年前的成就

写作中我们在肯定一项政策或做法时,就可以套用这个句型:XX is to be toasted.

敲黑板

关于“酒”的表达:

统称:alcohol, booze

高度酒、烈酒:spirits, liquor(包括Chinese Baijiu、whisky、brandy等)

葡萄酒:wine

啤酒:beer

禁酒令:

alcohol bans

alcohol prohibition

调侃某人“嗜酒如命”:

sb is always keeping his beak wet.

写作:

可以用 XX is to be toasted 表示对某项措施或做法的肯定、赞扬

句法:

big and small 可放在名词后面,修饰前面的名词(后置)

“find sth+形容词/分词/名词/介词”的用法,表示“认为sth如何”

其它表达:

at the brink/verge of 在…的边缘

watering-holes 酒吧

ingenuity 独创力、足智多谋

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