【按】本文选自11月25日《经济学人》的Special Report版块，分析了性别失衡对中国婚姻造成的灾难性后果。此处为文章前三段的精读解析。

精读说明：

• 每段文字前标有段号，紧接单词解释，建议多看英文释义（这样才能理解得更全面、准确同时能锻炼阅读能力）；

• 接下来是此段的中文翻译，你可以对照看看是否有理解错误的地方；

• 之后是对本段内容及段落结构的解析，附带一些小评论；

• 最后可能有本段出现的语法点或写作知识的拓展。

如果在阅读过程中有任何问题欢迎留言讨论，祝读得开心~

光棍中国

In search of women

A distorted sex ratio is playing havoc with marriage in China

A shortage of brides is bending Chinese society out of shape

distort: to change the shape, appearance or sound of sth so that it is strange or not clear 使变形；扭曲；使失真
对应的是下面的：bend ... out of shape
havoc: a situation in which there is a lot of damage, destruction or confusion 灾害；祸患；浩劫
e.g. Continuing strikes are beginning to play havoc with the national economy. 持续的罢工开始严重破坏国家经济。
e.g. These insects can wreak havoc on crops. 这些昆虫可严重危害农作物。

Nov 23rd 2017

1. IN PI VILLAGE, on the outskirts of Beijing, a man in his late 50s who gives his name as Ren is mixing cement for a new apartment building. As he shovels, he gives an account of bride-price inflation. When he married, his parents gave his wife 800 yuan, which seemed like a lot. Twelve years ago one of Mr Ren’s sons married. His bride got 8,000 yuan. Recently another son married, and Mr Ren had to stump up 100,000 yuan ($15,000). He is likely to be mixing cement well into his 60s.

outskirts: the parts of a town or city that are furthest from the centre (市镇的)边缘地带；市郊
shovel: to lift and move earth, stones, coal, etc. with a shovel 铲；铲起
bride-price: A payment in the form of money, property, or other valuable asset that is made by or on behalf of a prospective husband to the bride's family in certain cultures or societies. 聘礼，彩礼
stump up: If you stump up a sum of money, you pay it, often unwillingly. (常指不情愿地)付钱，掏腰包
well: very possibly

1. 在北京郊区的皮村, 一位快60岁、自称为任（先生）的男人正在为一栋新的公寓楼拌水泥。当他铲（水泥） 时, 他描述了聘礼的通货膨胀。当他结婚时, 他的父母给了他妻子800元, 这在当时看起来很多了。十二年前, 任先生的一个儿子结婚。他的新娘得了8000元。最近另一个儿子结婚了, 任先生不得不掏了10万元 (1.5万美元)的腰包。他很可能会拌水泥一直到他60多岁。

解析
本段以描述一个拌水泥的普通中国男人开篇，让读者通过他的话直观感受到这些年的“聘礼通货膨胀”。这是《经济学人》惯用的手法，可以起到吸引读者兴趣的作用。同样的写法在《山城棒棒军》里也出现过。
最后一句解释了为什么这个老人在拌水泥——很可能正是因为聘礼涨了，为了给儿子娶妻他才必须要工作，而且要工作到60岁以后。

2. Like India, most of China is patrilocal: in theory, at least, a married woman moves into her husband’s home and looks after his parents. Also like India, China has a deep cultural preference for boys. But whereas India has dowries, China has bride prices. The groom’s parents, not the bride’s, are expected to pay for the wedding and give money and property to the couple. These bride prices have shot up, bending the country’s society and economy out of shape.

patrilocal/ˌpætrɪ'ləʊk(ə)l/ : Of or relating to the residence of a husband's kin group or clan. 父系居住的：丈夫家族或部落居住处的
dowry: money and / or property that, in some societies, a wife or her family must pay to her husband when they get married (新娘的)嫁妆，陪嫁
expect: to demand that sb will do sth because it is their duty or responsibility 要求；指望
shoot up: If something shoots up, it grows or increases very quickly. 迅速成长;迅速增加

2. 和印度一样, 中国的大部分地区都是父系居住的: 至少在理论上, 已婚妇女搬进她丈夫的家, 照顾他的父母。也像印度一样, 中国对男孩有着深厚的文化偏好。但是, 尽管印度有嫁妆, 中国却有彩礼。新郎的父母, 而不是新娘的（父母）, 要花钱办婚礼, 并给新婚夫妇钱和财产。这些彩礼迅速增长, 扭曲了该国的社会和经济的形状。

解析
本段通过将中国和印度比较，介绍中国妇女随夫居住和喜欢生男孩的传统，进一步指出新郎父母的压力——需要给女方彩礼、办婚礼、给新婚夫妇钱财。（生儿子不容易啊！）

语法小课堂
-ing（现在分词）短语作状语用，含有时间、原因、让步、方式或伴随、结果等意义，但比较含蓄，只能根据上下文仔细琢磨。比如：
Passing through a liquid or solid, sound is changed into heat. 声音通过液体或固体时，就转变为热。（时间状语）
He is standing there, waiting for an assignment. 他正站在那边等待分配任务。（目的状语）
Not having done it, we tried again. 由于没有做成，我们就又试了。（原因状语。not 不能位于 having 后面。否定非谓语动词时，not 均应位于非谓语动词前面。）
We increase the length of the wire, thus (或 thereby) increasing its resistance. 我们增加导线的长度，从而增加了导线电阻。（thus 或 there by 后的 -ing 短语一般表示结果含义。）
Not knowing how to operate the pen computer, he asked Henry for help. 他不知如何操作这台笔控计算机，便请求亨利帮助。（原因状语）
本段最后一句“These bride prices have shot up, bending the country’s society and economy out of shape”中bending ...表示前面主句的结果，即可以理解为：“因为彩礼迅速增长，所以扭曲了该国的社会和经济的形状”

3. The cause, as Mr Ren explains, is a shortage of women. Without human intervention, about 105 boys will be born for every 100 girls: boys and men are slightly more likely to die, so by the time they reach reproductive age the number of men and women should be roughly equal. But many Chinese couples have tipped the scales. Driven partly by China’s now-abandoned one-child policy, they have used ultrasound scans to determine the sex of fetuses and then aborted some of the girls. By 2010 there were 119 boys under five years old for every 100 girls. Two demographers, John Bongaarts and Christophe Guilmoto, estimate that China is missing more than 60m women and girls.

tip the scales or tip the balance : to change a situation so that one person, group, etc., is more able or likely to succeed : to give an advantage to someone or something
e.g. Both candidates are qualified, but her experience tips the scales in her favor.
determine: to discover the facts about sth; to calculate sth exactly 查明；测定；准确算出 （注意，此处不是“决定”的意思）
fetus or foetus: a young human or animal before it is born, especially a human more than eight weeks after fertilization 胎儿；胎
miss: to fail to do, take, make, or have (something)

3）正如任先生所解释的, 原因是妇女短缺。没有人的干预, 每100女孩出生（的同时）大约会有105男孩出生: 男孩和男人死亡的可能性稍微高一些, 因此, 当他们到达生育年龄时, 男性和女性的数量应该大致相等。但许多中国夫妇打破了这种平衡。在一定程度上受中国现在已废弃的独生子女政策的驱使, 他们用超声波扫描来确定 胎儿的性别, 然后堕掉一些女孩。到2010年五岁以下的孩子中每100女孩有119男孩。两名人口学家, 约翰邦戈茨和克利斯吉尔莫托, 估计中国损失了超过6千万妇女及女孩。

解析
本段指出彩礼上涨的根本原因：女孩数量的减少。先是告诉我们没有人为干预的情况，再对比由于中国父母偏好男孩造成的恶果。如果说100个女孩比119个男孩没什么感觉，那么6千万则是一个令人震惊的数字了。愚昧！

语法小课堂：now-abandoned one-child policy
在两个或多个单词组成复合词作修饰语的情况下，一般需要使用连字符以避误解。比如此处如果写出“now abandoned one child policy”，则可能造成abandoned修饰one child的误解。
本文的now-abandoned是形容词或副词+分词构成合成形容词，如：
a good-looking boy 一个帅小伙
a new-born baby 一个新生婴儿
a badly-lighted room 一间光线昏暗的房间
而one-child是用连字符连接数字作形容词，比如10-year-old boy（ten-year-old boy）。以文字形式拼写出来的分数作形容词时也使用连字符，如two-thirds majority，但作名词时则不使用。
如果“形容词—名词”在单独使用情况下为复数形式，在使用连字符时要变单数，如four days与four-day week。如果使用and，or，to连接不同的、连续的、使用连字符的词修饰同一个单词，可以使用“悬垂”连字符，如nineteenth-century and twentieth-century可写成nineteenth-and twentieth-century。

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原文出处：经济学人

翻译：七呵夫

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