美语情景对话 第1254期:What do you think of arranged marriage? 你怎么看包办婚礼?

David: Hello, my name is David and I'm from Kenya.

大卫：大家好，我是大卫，来自肯尼亚。

Vitalis: Hello, my name is Vitalis. I'm from Uganda. Arranged marriage still exists in my country. Some few tribes still do it. And, well, it's not bad. If you think in the cultural perspective of preserving the culture. Yeah, letting the culture stay, it's not bad, but personally, I think it's not good.

维塔利斯：大家好，我是维塔利斯，来自乌干达。包办婚姻在我们国家依然存在。一些部落仍然在实行包办婚姻。如果从保护文化的角度来看，我觉得那还不错。让文化保留下来，这不是坏事，不过我个人认为包办婚姻并不好。

David: Would you ...

大卫：你能……

Vitalis: From a guy's perspective, look. How do want to you get married to somebody you've never known. You don't know much about. I think it's not so cool.

维塔利斯：从男性角度来说，怎么会想和根本不认识的女性结婚呢？你并不了解那名女性。我认为那样不好。

David: I think arranged marriages nowadays is looked in two perspectives. You can know someone for a very long time, but you don't have any intentions of getting married to them, but the families, they know each other and you know they think these two would fit each other and live like a nice couple, so they tend to bring them together, and the other one is, you not knowing someone, they are just as surprised as going to marry this one. This is final. So which one do you think?

大卫：我认为现在要从两个方面来看待包办婚姻。你可能和某个人认识很长时间了，可是并不想和那个人结婚，而互相认识的两家人认为这两个人可能在一起会合适，能成为一对好夫妻，所以他们会把那两个人撮合到一起；另一方面，你不认识那个人，对要和那个人结婚感到惊讶。而这就是最后决定。你倾向于哪种？

Vitalis: I think the latter one, is not so cool because I mean, you know don't anybody and you're being forced to get married to someone one you don't know. It's not very good, though there is this pressure.

维塔利斯：我认为后者不太好，因为两个人互相不认识，要被迫和不认识的人结婚。这不太好，虽然他们面临着压力。

David: Would you prefer the other one?

大卫：你倾向于前者？

Vitalis: Well, you know, it's not so cool. I don't prefer any.

维塔利斯：你知道，那也不太好，这两种我都不喜欢。

David: Arranged marriages?

大卫：包办婚姻？

Vitalis: Sure.

维塔利斯：对。

David: But we can't lie that it's still being practiced in Africa.

大卫：我们不能说谎，现在非洲依然存在包办婚姻。

Vitalis: Yeah, it's still being practiced in Africa.

维塔利斯：对，目前非洲仍在实行包办婚姻。

David: Arranged marriages is still being practiced in Africa, especially in the rural areas. They still practice arranged marriages, and sometimes it works out for the best but sometimes ... you know at least give someone a chance to make the decision.

大卫：包办婚姻依然存在于非洲，尤其是农村地区。那些地方仍然实行包办婚姻，有时包办婚姻可能会产生好结果，但是有时……你知道，至少要给人们做决定的机会。

Vitalis: I think so, giving somebody a chance to explore and at least find a choice of himself. A choice for himself is better, because it gives the women a chance to find somebody they love. It doesn't reduce the women to just instruments of getting married. At least it gives them ...

维塔利斯：我同意，给人们探索的机会，至少要让人们自己做出选择。自己做选择更好，因为这使女性有机会找到她们爱的人。不只是把女性当成结婚的工具。至少要给他们……

David: That opportunity to make their decisions, right?

大卫：让他们自己做决定的机会，对吧？

Vitalis: Yeah, sure.

维塔利斯：对，没错。

David: Yeah, so at least we can agree that we wouldn't like arrange marriages but we know it still exists.

大卫：我们都不喜欢包办婚姻，至少我们在这一点上达成了一致，不过我们都知道包办婚姻现在依然存在。

Vitalis: Yeah, they still exist and still ...

维塔利斯：对，依然存在……

David: It exists.

大卫：仍然存在。

译文属仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载

重点讲解：
1. get married 结婚；
例句：Nowadays there are fewer extrinsic pressures to get married.
现在来自外部的结婚压力少了。
2. each other 彼此；互相；
例句：The new neighbours were getting to know each other.
新邻居之间正在互相了解。
3. work out (如期）发生；进展(顺利)；
例句：I hope it will work out well.
我希望进展顺利。
4. for the best （综合考虑起来）是最好的；
例句：In the long run, it was for the best.
长远来说，这是最好的。