Reality television：China’s transgender Oprah

来源: http://www.economist.com/news/china/21716633-army-colonel-who-became-woman-she-exemplifies-society-flux-chinas-transgender-oprah

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transgender [,trænz'dʒendə(r)]
n. 跨性别；跨性别者
One reason for this is the stigma experienced by many men who have sex with men and transgender people.  
造成这种情况的一个原因是，许多男男性行为者和变性人遇有耻辱情况。

[1] CHINA’S favourite chat-show host has had an extraordinary career. Jin Xing was the country’s most successful dancer before becoming a colonel in an army entertainment troupe. He won fame in America, where the _New York Times _called him “a Chinese genius”. He trained dancers in Brussels and Rome, before returning to China for a sex-change operation. As a woman, she resumed her career as a ballerina, set up the country’s first private Ballet
Company, ran a bar in Beijing and married a German businessman.

colonel ['kɜːn(ə)l]
n. 陆军上校
Nothing remained of the colonel.  
上校身后毫无遗物。

troupe [truːp]
n. 剧团；一班；一团
vi. 巡回演出
She had to keep bringing forth new ideas in her dance to support her chief positionin the troupe.  
她得不断地创新她的舞蹈，才能继续保住她在剧团中的首席位置。

resume [ri'zju:m, -'zu:m]
n. 履历；个人简历；摘要
vt. 重新开始；重新获得
vi. 再开始
It symptomatizes that they will resume their relations.  
这表明他们将恢复关系。

ballerina [bælə'riːnə]
n. 芭蕾舞女演员，芭蕾舞女
She became a ballerina.  
她成了一名演主角的芭蕾舞女演员。

长难句：
As a woman, she resumed her career as a ballerina, set up the country’s first private Ballet Company, ran a bar in Beijing and married a German businessman.
介词短语：As a woman 作为一个女人
句子主干：she resumed …, set up…, ran… and married…
注释：这句话看着有些长，但是不要怕，因为作者把她做的好多事儿都并列在一起了。As a woman介词短语修饰语，修饰主语she。做的第一件事resumed her career as a ballerina[ˌbæləˈrinə]。第二件事set up the country’s first private Ballet Company，第三件事：ran a bar in Beijing，and后并列了第四件事也是最后一件married a German businessman一句话简练的概括了金星老师接受变性手术之后的4个经历。
大意：作为一个女人，她继续做芭蕾舞者，创建了中国第一个私人芭蕾舞公司，在北京经营了一家酒吧，并嫁给了德国人汉斯。

[2] In a conservative society where even homosexuality is frowned upon, let alone sex-reassignment, her life would seem to place Ms Jin well outside the stodgy mainstream of Chinese broadcasting (she is pictured at her home in Shanghai). Yet Ms Jin, who is 49, is the country’s most popular television judge. She began with a local version of “So You Think You Can Dance” and hit the jackpot with “The Jin Xing Show”, a variety and chat programme with an audience of around 100m. She has appeared with her husband on the Chinese version of “The Amazing Race”, in which couples race each other around the world. Her latest venture, “Chinese Dating”, is in its first season.

conservative [kən'sɜːvətɪv]
n. 保守派，守旧者
adj. 保守的
He listed himself as a conservative.  
他自称是一个保守主义者。

homosexuality ['hɒməʊ,seksjʊ'ælətɪ]
n. 同性恋
"In anthropology, you can't equate third gender with homosexuality," he said.
“在人类学中，你不能将同性恋和第三性别混同，”他说。

frown [fraʊn]
n. 皱眉，蹙额
vt. 皱眉，蹙额
vi. 皱眉；不同意
A frown creased his forehead.  
眉头一皱使他的前额出现很多皱纹。

reassignment [,ri'əsainmənt]
n. 再赋值，[计] 重赋值
The diocese does not deny the copying, but says he probably did not know of thereassignment.  
主教教区没有否认那个记录但是表示它或许对于重新任职一无所知。

stodgy ['stɒdʒɪ]
adj. 平凡的；塞满的；庸俗的
But psychology is at work here: selecting good wholesome fresh food is an upliftingway to start shopping, and it makes people feel less guilty about reaching for thestodgy stuff later on.  
但心理学在这里发挥了作用：在购物之初，选择有益健康的新鲜食品是一种鼓舞方式，并可让人们在稍晚到达油腻食品区时不致感到过于内疚。

jackpot ['dʒækpɒt]
n. 头奖；累积赌注；十分成功
adj. 头奖的；累积赌注的；大笔收入的
But the sound of a jackpot needs no translation.  
但是中头奖的声音无需任何修饰。

长难句：
In a conservative society where even homosexuality is frowned upon, let alone sex-reassignment, her life would seem to place Ms Jin well outside the stodgy mainstream of Chinese broadcasting (she is pictured at her home in Shanghai).
介词短语：In a conservative society介词短语作整个句子的状语
定语从句：where even homosexuality is frowned upon, let alone sex-reassignment,定语从句作society的后置定语。
主干：her life would seem to place… outside the mainstream
介词短语：of Chinese broadcasting作mainstream的修饰语
注释：In a conservative society，在一个保守的社会，哎呀，感觉不太友好啊，好好看看这句话说了啥In a conservative society 怎样保守的社会呢？你看where引导的定于从句要进一步说明了where even homosexuality is frowned upon, let alone sex-reassignment, 先把从句中的难词搞清楚，再理解哈，homosexuality同性恋，sex-reassignment性别重新分配，哎呀变性这表达，你看到现在换了多少了transgender，sex-change，这里又搞出个sex-reassignment，英语同意替换那真是博大精深啊。到底说咱社会咋啦：说咋连同性恋都要frowned upon皱眉，不接受，let alone更憋说变性了。说完了社会背景，要说正事儿啦，在这么恶劣的背景下，her life would seem to place Ms Jin well outside the stodgy mainstream of Chinese broadcasting (she is pictured at her home in Shanghai). 还是先来看句子的主干，her life would seem to place her outside the stodgy mainstream，主干的意思就是她的生活似乎是把她给搁在主流之外了。当然我们很多同学就疯了，老师stodgy不认识啊，要死了，句子读不懂，不要慌，人都说了in a conservative society，所以这里mainstream主流趋势的特征肯定和其所在的society社会特征差不多，即社会都这样了，主流不就这样嘛，所以stodgy就是conservative啊，保守的啊。of Chinese broadcasting是介词短语修饰mainstream。
大意：中国这个保守的社会，对于同性恋都无法接受呢，更别说变性了，金星老师的经历使得她与平庸的国内主流节目那是格格不入啊。
霞姐吐槽：哎呀妈呀，这作者可别乱说了，我朝人民那是相当潮好不好，咱啥没见过啊，我们可包容了。。。。。。

[3] Ms Jin’s story reflects remarkable changes in Chinese society since her childhood. She joined the army at the age of nine and endured a training regime that, as she puts it, would count as child abuse in the West. During her surgery, an oxygen shortage damaged her left leg so badly that doctors thought she would be lucky to walk again. Gruelling retraining enabled her to resume dancing within a year.

remarkable [rɪ'mɑːkəb(ə)l]
adj. 卓越的；非凡的；值得注意的
Remarkable economic results have been achieved.  
取得了显著的经济效益。

regime [reɪ'ʒiːm]
n. 政权，政体；社会制度；管理体制
The dictator banned all newspapers and books that criticized his regime.  
独裁者取缔批评他政权的报刊书籍。

surgery ['sɜːdʒ(ə)rɪ]
n. 外科；外科手术；手术室；诊疗室
The nurse prepped the patient for surgery.  
护士为病人作好外科手术前的准备。

gruelling ['ɡruəliŋ]
n. 惩罚；痛打
adj. 折磨人的；繁重累人的；使人精疲力尽的
v. 累垮；惩罚（gruel的ing形式）
He can point to his performance on the campaign trail—a gruelling test of fitness.
他可以指出他竞选活动一路来的表现，这可是对体能严苛的考验啊。

[4] Those struggles with adversity have helped Ms Jin win favour among older
Chinese, a more conservative cohort that is also, surprisingly, her biggest fan base. Many of them, too, have suffered enormous hardship—during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, and the famine that followed the Great Leap Forward of the late 1950s, in which tens of millions died. Even those born after 1980—roughly half the population—know well what their elders endured.

struggle ['strʌg(ə)l]
n. 努力，奋斗；竞争
vt. 使劲移动；尽力使得
vi. 奋斗，努力；挣扎
This is an uncompromising struggle.  
这是一场毫不调和的斗争。

adversity [əd'vɜːsɪtɪ]
n. 逆境；不幸；灾难；灾祸
Could you stand adversity?  
你能经得住不幸吗?

cohort ['kəʊhɔːt]
n. 一群；步兵大队；支持者；同生群
It is that the cohort of retired leaders is burgeoning.  
那就是一群数量正在迅速增加的退休领导人。

famine ['fæmɪn]
n. 饥荒；饥饿，奇缺
War brings death and famine.  
战争带来死亡和饥荒。

roughly ['rʌflɪ]
adv. 粗糙地；概略地
That is roughly half of its capacity.  
这大约是其容量的一半。

Identity crises

[5] The tension between Ms Jin’s persona as a patriotic Chinese, and the one she displays as a globetrotter with a foreign husband (in January she joined the global elite at the World Economic Forum in Davos), is one that is widely understood among her compatriots. They have become the world’s great travelers. Over 100m got visas for holidays abroad last year, more than the citizens of any other country. Ms Jin describes herself as having been “a little Chinese boy thirsting for the West”. She writes of dreaming about Coca-Cola and freedom in Paris, or surreptitiously reading porn magazines and cruising gay bars in Greenwich Village. In her memoir, “Shang hai Tango”, she says that in the gay communities of New York, she feels herself to be “a traveller in a foreign land twice over”—as a woman in a man’s body and as a Chinese person abroad (who happens to be, she might have added, ethnic Korean).

persona [pə'səʊnə; pɜː-]
n. 人物角色；伪装的外表
For each set, you must designate one primary persona; the others are all secondary.
对每个组，您必须指派一个主要角色，其他的都是次要的。

patriotic [ˌpætrɪˈɒtɪk]
adj. 爱国的
He led them in launching a patriotic movement.  
他领导他们开展了一场爱国运动。

globetrotter ['ɡləub,trɔtə]
n. 环球旅行者；世界观光旅行家
Thankfully, there’s a new e-book in town, The Art of Solo Travel, by seasonedglobetrotter, Stephanie Lee.  
令人欣慰的是，世界观光旅行家斯蒂芬妮▪李出了本新的电子书《独自旅行的艺术》。
visa ['viːzə]
n. 签证
vt. 签发签证
The visa expires next month.  
签证下月到期。

surreptitiously [,sʌrəp'tiʃəsli]
adv. 偷偷地；秘密地；不正当地
Some tools surreptitiously re-spawn themselves even after users try to delete them.
有些工具甚至可以在被用户设法删除后又偷偷再生出来。

memoir ['memwɑː]
n. 回忆录；研究报告；自传；实录
The president's memoir disinterred a past era.  
总统的回忆录重现了一个过去的时代。

ethnic ['eθnɪk]
adj. 种族的；人种的
This susceptibility might not be due merely to ethnic genetic differences.  
这种易感性可能不仅仅是由于民族遗传差异。

长难句：
The tension between Ms Jin’s persona as a patriotic Chinese, and the one she displays as a globetrotter with a foreign husband (in January she joined the global elite at the World Economic Forum in Davos), is one that is widely understood among her compatriots.
句子主干：The tension is one
介词短语：between A and B介词短语修饰主语tension
定语从句：that is widely understood among her compatriots定语从句修饰one
注释：我们先来看The tension between A and B中 A 是什么Ms Jin’s persona as a patriotic Chinese（自己为爱国人士）；B是什么the one she displays as a globetrotter with a foreign husband（她和自己外国老公成为世界观光旅游couple）尤其括号里（in January she joined the global elite at the World Economic Forum in Davos今年1月份，她还加入了达沃斯论坛的全球青年领袖）。其实把句子主干搞清楚就是the tension is widely understood among her compatriots对于这两点之间的紧张感，国内的同胞都表示很理解。

She writes of dreaming about Coca-Cola and freedom in Paris, or surreptitiously reading porn magazines and cruising gay bars in Greenwich Village
句子主干：she writes of A or B
A: dreaming about Coca-Cola and freedom in Paris
B：reading porn magazines and cruising gay bars in Greenwich Village
注释：这样的句子其实就是并列结构的使用，关键就在于要搞清楚哪里在并列，注意观察，这句话的谓语动词是writes，整个句子呢可以简化为she writes of A or B,后面的一长串surreptitiously reading porn magazines and cruising gay bars in Greenwich Village，就是事件B和前面的dreaming about Coca-Cola and freedom in Paris并列，有的同学有疑问了，为什么不直接是三个doing之间的并列呢，非得把B事件中堆俩doing，因为从句义上看，前面金星老师是梦想的美国的开放和法国巴黎的自由，但是后面的，哈哈，金星老师也对小黄书和城市中的gay bar有浓厚的兴趣，从语境上就能够看出来前后感觉明显的不同~

[6] In Belgium she feels haunted by the Chinese words she sees on signs in the streets; their calls, she writes, “get louder and louder”. She looks at a Ming vase at a market in Brussels and feels “ashamed” of Chinese who live abroad and have “only contempt” for their ancestral heritage.

vase [vɑːz]
n. 瓶；花瓶
The maid bumped the vase off the table.  
女仆把花瓶从桌面撞落了。

contempt [kən'tem(p)t]
n. 轻视，蔑视；耻辱
He interpreted the silence as contempt.  
他把这沉默看做轻蔑的表示。

ancestral [æn'sestr(ə)l]
adj. 祖先的；祖传的
As descendants of these successful women, modern women carry with them thesexual psychology — the ancestral wisdom — that led to the success of their femaleforebears.  
作为这些成功女性的后代，现代女性们与生具有性心理学，这一祖传的智慧是她们女性祖先成功的关键。

长难句：
In Belgium she feels haunted by the Chinese words she sees on signs in the streets; their calls, she writes, “get louder and louder”.
并列句：SVO; SVO.
SVO 1:  she feels haunted by the Chinese words
定语从句：she sees on signs in the streets这个定语从句修饰Chinese words
SVO 2: their calls “get louder and louder”
插入语：she writes这是插入结构，SVO 2的正常表达是；she writes that their calls get louder and louder。
注释：注意第一句的表达，在比利时，金星老师觉得haunted by the Chinese words she sees on signs in the streets; Haunted这个词很有意思，一般就是闹鬼的意思，后来表达就是被各种东西搞的好烦。被啥搞的很烦呢，街头的中文标示，类似那种请勿喧哗，请安静之类的，分号后面说their calls, she writes, “get louder and louder”.把she writes这个插入语删掉就可以理解了，这里的their指的是Chinese words，它们的召唤 get louder and louder，她被国外的中文提示烦死了。对此她心里很生气，怒国人之不争吧~

[7] China has several cultural figures who are better known in the West than at home. Ms Jin could have been another. But she chose to return home for her sex-change surgery, at some personal risk since the procedure was almost unknown there. “I was born in China,” she says. “It is in China I must be reborn as a woman.”

surgery
[ˈsɜ:rdʒəri]
n.
外科学，外科手术; 手术室; 诊所; 诊断时间;
His father has just recovered from heart surgery
他父亲刚刚从心脏外科手术中康复过来。

[8] Xi Jinping, China’s president, presents himself as a staunch defender of “traditional” Chinese culture, and warns of the danger of Western “infiltration”. His preferences were clear in a recent official directive, which calls for the protection of China’s “cultural security”. But like most of her compatriots, Ms Jin is happy to take what she wants from both China and the West.

staunch [stɔːn(t)ʃ]
adj. 坚定的；忠诚的；坚固的
vt. 止住；止血
Messy rescues of Citigroup and Bank of America have failed to staunch their losses.
对花旗和美洲银行棘手的营救并没有止住他们的亏损。

infiltration [,ɪnfɪl'treɪʃən]
n. 渗透；渗透物
And what concerns do you have about their infiltration as we move forward?
随着我们的向前推进，您对他们的军事渗入有何看法？

directive [dɪ'rektɪv; daɪ-]
n. 指示；指令
adj. 指导的；管理的
As president, he will learn that he sends out a directive and nothing happens.
作为总统，他将知道如果他发出一个指令，但却什么也不会发生。

compatriot [kəm'pætrɪət; -'peɪt-]
n. 同胞；同国人
adj. 同胞的；同国的
Benitez hopes Maxi will settle quickly with the help of compatriot Javier Mascheranoand former Atletico team-mate Fernando Torres.  
贝尼特斯希望马克西能在同胞马斯切拉诺和前队友托雷斯的帮助下迅速融入球队。

[9] On the face of it, she embodies everything that is untraditional. Her rejection of being a man flies in the face of Confucian culture. The television manner for which she is famous—a blunt, cut-the-crap sassiness—is the opposite of stereotypical feminine deference. Yet her life as a woman has not been a simple rebellion against convention. By adopting three children and marrying (albeit a foreigner), she created around herself what she calls “a real Chinese family”. The values she espouses are old-fashioned even in China. In her new dating game, the contestants may not choose a match without their families’ permission; indeed, it is the families who interview the contestants’ prospective partners—resulting in rampant sexism, with women being asked about children and men about money. This has been too much for some viewers; online commentators have slammed the format as chauvinist and “retro”. But Ms Jin’s popularity suggests many young people believe that tradition should not be discarded.

blunt [blʌnt]
adj. 钝的，不锋利的；生硬的；直率的
vt. 使迟钝
Wine can blunt the senses.  
酒会使感觉迟钝。

crap [kræp]
n. 废话；废物；屎；拉屎
vi. 掷骰子；拉屎
They treat me like crap.  
他们待我像废物一样.

stereotypical [,steriə'tipikl]** **
adj. 老一套的；陈规的
That means India is without an old Wall Street staple: Women who feel they mustact like the stereotypical male banker to advance.  
这意味这在印度没有那种华尔街的陈规陋习：女性行动必须像一个老掉牙的男银行家那样。

rebellion [rɪ'beljən]
n. 叛乱；反抗；谋反；不服从
At last the rebellion was crushed down.  
叛乱最终被镇压下去。

albeit [ɔːl'biːɪt]
conj. 虽然；即使
You are to be given one method of communication with your rival, albeit indirectcommunication.  
你得到了一种和你的对手交流的方法，尽管只是一种间接交流。

espouse [ɪ'spaʊz; e-]
vt. 支持；嫁娶；赞成；信奉
On one hand we espouse free markets and the premium of economic choice.
一方面，我们信奉自由市场和珍视经济本身的选择。

contestant [kən'test(ə)nt]
n. 竞争者；争辩者
Column 5 displays only one contestant—the winner of the entire tournament.
第 5 列只显示了一个竞争者 — 整个锦标赛的获胜者。

commentator ['kɒmənteɪtə]
n. 评论员，解说员；实况播音员；时事评论者
Instead of deciding the real issue the commentator would chop logic.  
这位评论家不去解决实质问题，而总是咬文嚼字。

[10] In her memoir, Ms Jin talks about two historical figures whom she calls role models. One is Sai Jinhua, a prostitute who became the mistress of the imperial envoy to Germany and used her knowledge of the language to save the Qing emperor from German troops sent to crush the Boxer
Uprising in 1900. (Jealous officials jailed her for her pains.) Ms Jin notes approvingly how Sai “rebelled” against what had appeared to be her destiny as a pauper.

prostitute ['prɒstɪtjuːt]
n. 妓女
adj. 卖淫的；堕落的
vt. 使沦为妓女
Unless, of course, you are a working prostitute.  
当然，除非你是正在工作的妓女。

imperial [ɪm'pɪərɪəl]
n. 纸张尺寸；特等品
adj. 帝国的；皇帝的；至高无上的；威严的
From then until the Song, she held this prominent position not only in the Daoist pantheon but also in the imperial register and in literature and art.  
从那时一直到有宋，她占据的这一突出位置，不仅表现在道教神系中，而且反映在帝国典载、文学和艺术之中。

envoy ['envɒɪ]
n. 使者；全权公使
The envoy bore back to us this good news.  
使者给我们带回了这个好消息。

pauper ['pɔːpə]
n. 乞丐；穷人；靠救济度日者
Mozart died in 1791 and was buried in a pauper's grave at Vienna's St. Mark'sCemetery.  
莫扎特于1791年逝世，当时他被埋在维也纳圣马克墓地的一个贫民坟墓里。

[11] The other model, more surprisingly, is Jiang Qing (Madame Mao), one of the Cultural Revolution’s most reviled figures, who cheered on the Red Guards as they tortured and killed her enemies. Ms Jin calls her “full of charm and intelligence” and the creator of “major masterpieces” during that period (Jiang Qing oversaw the production of operas about the Communist Party’s early days). It is a sign of how much China is changing that its cast of heroines encompasses not only the heroic harlots and villainous empresses of the past, but also a transsexual conservative talk-show host.

revile [rɪ'vaɪl]
vt. 辱骂；斥责
vi. 辱骂；谩骂
Some Muslim communities in East Africa revile dogs because they believe that caninesate the body of the Prophet Muhammad.  
一些东非的穆斯林团体会辱骂狗，因为他们相信是它们吃了先知穆罕默德的尸体。

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