外刊学习：《都挺好》中国家庭图鉴

【外刊】

今日导读

提到当下最火爆的电视剧，肯定莫过于都市家庭剧《都挺好》，该剧自播出以来，热度持续攀升，几乎每天都能上热搜，引发了一波又一波的全民讨论。剧中暴露的家庭问题也引起了不少共鸣，《都挺好》真的“都挺好”吗？今天我们来看一篇经济学人的文章，一起来看看这部家庭热播剧背后影射的现实问题 。

新闻原文

A hit TV series in China skewers cranky old parents

It is no mean feat to be one of the top-ten trending hashtags on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, for 20 consecutive days and counting. “All is Well”, a show on provincial television which premiered on March 1st, has done just that.

The show tells the story of a fictional Chinese family torn by internal conflict. The female protagonist, Su Mingyu, is barely on speaking terms with her widowed father and one of her two brothers. The father is a nagging crank who expects his two adult sons to bankroll his lavish tastes. This leads to constant bickering between the brothers, neither of whom wants to be called unfilial.

Many Chinese can relate to the Su family’s troubles. The daughter holds a grudge against her father, and especially against her late mother, for having mistreated her while pampering her brothers.

But the biggest reaction has been to the drama’s critique of filial piety. Even today, the Confucian principle of unswerving loyalty to one’s parents remains hallowed. Many people say the best measure of adherence to this virtue is whether a son takes good care of his parents in old age.

In the series, however, the widowed father does not attract much sympathy. He throws tantrums and insists that his eldest son buy him a three-bedroom apartment (the son grudgingly does so). Commentators on social media have taken to calling the father a juying (“giant baby”)—a characteristic common among parents in real life, they say. The Su children do their duty, but the audience is supposed to applaud the resentment they express.

带着问题看讲解

如何理解 no mean feat 这个词组？

剧中女主人公与父亲的关系如何？

文中作者用了哪些形容词来描述剧中的父母？

新闻正文

A hit TV series in China skewers crankyold parents

中国一部热播剧讽刺了脾气暴躁的年长父母

It is no mean feat to be one of the top-ten trending hashtags on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, for 20 consecutive days and counting. “All is Well”, a show on provincial television which premiered on March 1st, has done just that.

在中国版的推特——微博上连续 20 天甚至更久成为十大热门话题之一，是一件很了不起的事，3 月 1 日在省级电视台首播的电视剧《都挺好》就做到了。

The show tells the story of a fictional Chinese family torn by internal conflict. The female protagonist, Su Mingyu, is barely on speaking terms with her widowed father and one of her two brothers. The father is a nagging crank who expects his two adult sons to bankroll his lavish tastes. This leads to constant bickering between the brothers, neither of whom wants to be called unfilial.

该剧讲述了一个虚构的中国家庭被内部冲突撕裂的故事。女主人公苏明玉跟她丧偶的父亲以及两个兄弟中的一个关系不和。这位父亲是个爱唠叨的暴脾气的人，他希望两个成年儿子能供他过奢侈的生活。这导致了兄弟俩之间无休止的争论，因为他们都不想被人说没有孝心。

Many Chinese can relate to the Su family’s troubles. The daughter holds a grudge against her father, and especially against her late mother, for having mistreated her while pampering her brothers.

许多中国人都能理解苏家的困境。女儿对父亲怀恨在心，尤其是对已故的母亲恨之入骨，因为父母虐待自己，却纵容两位哥哥。

But the biggest reaction has been to the drama’s critique of filial piety. Even today, the Confucian principle of unswerving loyalty to one’s parents remains hallowed. Many people say the best measure of adherence to this virtue is whether a son takes good care of his parents in old age.

但观众反响最大的点，则是该剧对孝道的评论阐释。即使在今天，“对父母矢志不渝的忠诚”这条儒家伦理，仍然是神圣的。许多人说，衡量一个人是否坚守孝道的最好方法，是看儿子能否照料好他年长的父母。

In the series, however, the widowed father does not attract much sympathy. He throws tantrums and insists that his eldest son buy him a three-bedroom apartment (the son grudgingly does so). Commentators on social media have taken to calling the father a juying (“giant baby”)—a characteristic common among parents in real life, they say. The Su children do their duty, but the audience is supposed to applaud the resentment they express.

然而，剧中这位丧偶的父亲并没有博得很多同情。他经常大发脾气，坚持要大儿子给他买一套三居室的公寓——儿子不情愿地买了。社交媒体上的评论者开始把这位父亲称为“巨婴”，他们说，这是现实生活中的父母普遍存在的一个特征。虽然苏家的孩子们尽到了他们的职责，但观众应该为他们表达的不满喝彩。

重点词汇

补充词汇知识

trending
adj. 热门的，流行的

hashtag
n. 标签；话题

consecutive
adj. 连续的，不间断的

… and counting
（…总数）仍在持续增加

barely on speaking terms
与…关系不和

nagging
adj. 抱怨的，指责的

relate to sb./sth.
理解某人/某事

hold a grudge
心怀怨恨

late
adj. 已故的

critique
n. 评论阐释

throw tantrums
发脾气

take to doing sth.
开始养成做某事的习惯

长难句解析

Many people say the best measure of adherence to this virtue is whether a son takes good care of his parents in old age.

许多人说，衡量一个人是否坚守孝道的最好方法，是看儿子能否照料好他年长的父母。

这句话比较难。首先，看到它的主语：the best measure of adherence to this virtue.
measure 在这里作名词，表示“判断/衡量”。adherence 是动词 adhere 的名词形式，指“坚守/遵循”，adherence to sth. 是一个固定搭配，表示坚持某种信条或者某项准则；在文章里面，坚持的是 this virtue, 也就是上一句提到的儒家伦理——孝道。所以，主语 the best measure of adherence to this virtue，指“衡量一个人坚守孝道的最佳方法”。接下来，作者引入了 whether引导的表语从句：is whether a son takes good care of his parents in old age. 短语 take good care of sb. 表示照顾好某人；句末的 in old age 是后置定语，修饰前面的 parents，表示“年长的父母”。连起来，这个表语从句表达的是：“儿子能否照顾好年长的父母，这就是衡量一个人能否坚守孝道的最佳方法”。

学习资源

推荐的查音标网站：[图片上传失败…(image-37423a-1554133789728)]

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com（牛津学习者词典）