「讀外刊學考研詞彙」The truth about family estrangement(10)

2021-02-12 蟲洞Vivian

微博:@考蟲Vivian老師

備註:加 * 的單詞是考研詞彙,原文中給出備註的詞彙不需要掌握哦。

說明:本篇文章選自《紐約時報》(The New York Times)。關於排版,我們把重點詞/難詞放在了英文原文後面,輔助大家理解原文。接著才是中文翻譯。避免原先有些同學在自己嘗試翻譯時眼睛老是瞄到中文翻譯的情況~

「There was a rigidity about family in the post-war generation」 in the UK, she says. People saw their family relationships in terms of concepts of duty and self-sacrifice, which sometimes meant people putting up with emotional or physical abuse – or not perceiving it.

rigidity /riˈdʒidəti/ n. 僵化;堅硬

in terms of/ in… terms 談及;就…而言;在…方面

*concept /ˈkɔnsept/ n. 概念;觀念

*self-sacrifice n. 自我犧牲

put up with sb./sth. 容忍;忍受

她說:「戰後一代的英國家庭觀念僵化。」他們認為,家庭意味著責任和自我犧牲。即使有精神虐待或身體虐待,他們也會默默忍受,有時候甚至沒有覺察。

For siblings, mismatched values and expectations also play a role. But parental favouritism is another significant factor.

sibling /ˈsibliŋ/ n. 兄;弟;姐;妹

*parental /pəˈrentl/ adj. 父親的;母親的;父母的;雙親的

*favoritism; favouritism /ˈfeivəritizəm/ n. 偏愛;偏袒

兄弟姐妹之間產生的隔閡,也有價值觀不同和期望差距的原因。但重要的因素還是父母的偏愛。

Estrangement’s upsides

家庭關係疏離的益處

While it could be easy to see estrangement as solely negative, the reality is more complicated. Just as traditional taboos against divorce can keep women tethered to abusive and exploitative marriages, a dogmatic belief in the sanctity of families can keep people suffering needlessly.

*upside /ˈʌpsaid/ n. (糟糕局面的)好的一面,光明的一面,正面

*solely /ˈsəulli/ adv. 僅;只;唯;單獨地

taboo /təˈbu:/ n. (文化或宗教習俗方面的)禁忌,忌諱,戒律

tether /ˈteðə(r)/ v. 拴(牲畜)

exploitative /ikˈsplɔitətiv/ adj. 剝削的;榨取的

dogmatic /dɔɡˈmætik/ adj. 自以為是的;教條的;武斷的

sanctity /ˈsæŋktəti/ n. 神聖不可侵犯;神聖性;聖潔性

*suffer /ˈsʌfə(r)/ v. (因疾病、痛苦、悲傷等)受苦,受難,受折磨

人們很容易發現家庭關係疏遠消極的一面,但事實要比較複雜。正如反對離婚的傳統觀念會使女性深陷虐待和被剝削的婚姻束縛一樣;將家庭觀念奉為神聖會讓人們承受不必要的痛苦。

「Some of the clinical literature would say, actually, estrangement is maybe the best way to deal with these types of relationships,」 says Gilligan. 「If [relationships] are this conflictual, if they’re causing this much anguish… maybe this is the healthiest way for parents and adult children to deal with that.」

*clinical /ˈklinikl/ adj. 臨床的;臨床診斷的

*literature /ˈlitrətʃə(r)/ n. (某學科的)文獻,著作,資料

anguish /ˈæŋɡwiʃ/ n. 劇痛;極度痛苦;苦惱

吉利根說:「實際上,一些臨床文獻表示,疏遠能最有效地解決關係中存在的問題。如果這種關係已經變得衝突不斷,或是已經相當令人痛苦……減少聯繫和來往是最好的解決方式。」

—to be continued...

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