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那些你不知道的英国王室生子传统

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  大家都知道,作为世界上最古老的王室之一的英国王室,在英国乃至全球都颇有影响力。究竟在英国皇室生宝宝有什么样的规矩呢?下面是小编为您收集整理的那些你不知道的英国王室生子传统,供大家参考!

  那些你不知道的英国王室生子传统

  As Meghan Markle's pregnancy with Prince Harry, nears its end, the internet has gone into full-blown baby watch. Everyone is predicting the due date, waiting anxiously for Meghan and Harry to emerge from the steps of the Lindo Wing with their new prince or princess wrapped in their arms. But when it comes to the birth of a royal baby, there are many traditions surrounding the pregnancy, both past and modern, that must be followed.

  眼看着哈里王子就要陪着梅根王妃进行分娩了,网络上沸沸扬扬,人们都在对这个即将出生的宝宝翘首以待。几乎所有人都在预测着宝宝到底会在什么时候出生,焦急地等待着梅根和哈里王子抱着他们的新王子或公主走出林多翼台阶(圣玛丽医院产房门口的台阶名称)。但不管是过去还是现在,当涉及到皇室宝宝的出生时,还是有很多关于怀孕需要遵循的规矩。

  Pregnancy Traditions

  怀孕的传统

  Before the royal baby comes into the world, there are a few customary traditions that the royal family uses as a rule-of-thumb. There has been leniency with other royal birthing customs in recent years, but these pre-birth traditions have seemed to withhold the test of time.

  在皇室宝宝出生之前,有一些传统惯例是皇室一直坚持的经验法则。虽然近些年来,英国对王室生育的很多习俗已经变得宽容得多,但以下这些产前习俗还是必须要遵守的。

  1. 婴儿的性别在出生前是不公布的

  Will it be a prince or a princess? Historically, this information was unknown to even the royal parents themselves. Some speculated that Kate Middleton and Prince William knew the gender of Prince Louis before she gave birth, however there is no confirmation of this.

  是王子还是公主?根据以往的历史来看,甚至是宝宝的父母也不清楚。有人猜测凯特·米德尔顿和威廉王子在路易王子出生前就知道他的性别,但目前还没有得到证实。

  2.王室成员通常没有baby shower

  In general, baby showers seldom occur in England, as it is more common for family and friends to join in celebration following the birth of a child. This is no exception for the royal family! Many think that hosting a lavish baby shower could be seen as inappropriate, especially since so many people gather together post-birth with gifts and well wishes for the new parents.

  一般来说,英国很少举行迎婴派对(这种派对是美国的一种习俗),也就是说,在孩子出生之前,家人和朋友会为准妈妈举办一场庆祝活动。这对皇室来说更是不可理喻的!很多皇室成员认为举办一场奢华的迎婴派对是不合适的,尤其是在王妃即将生产之际,这么多人就带着礼物和祝福聚集在一起。

  Baby shower 是起源于美国的一种文化,在无数的美剧和电影里出现过。很多欧美明星辣妈在生孩子之前都会办这样的派对,它是为了迎接即将诞生的宝宝,为准妈妈们送去无数祝福的意思,同时也会为宝宝送上最好的新生礼物。有趣的是梅根王妃将美国的传统带到了英国王室,并且举行了自己的baby shower,为此受到了不少指责。

  3.分娩时间将不会公布

  The public loves to speculate about when the royal baby will arrive, especially because the Royal Palace will not reveal a due date. Social media, paparazzi photos, baby bump size and pregnancy announcements help guide public guesses. It is estimated that Meghan Markle will give birth sometime in April.

  人们都热衷于猜测王室宝宝何时出生,因为英国王室不会透露预产期。社交媒体、狗仔队的照片、孕肚大小和怀孕公告都会引起公众的猜测。据估计,梅根·马克尔将在4月份的某个时候进行分娩。

  复活节为什么吃巧克力兔

  复活节(Easter)是西方的一个重要节日,用来纪念耶稣基督复活(the resurrection of Jesus)。

  在西方教会传统里,春分之后第一次满月之后的第一个星期日即为复活节。东方教会则规定,如果满月恰逢星期日,则复活节再推迟一周。因此,节期大致在3月22日至4月25日之间。

  在这一天,人们不仅要滚彩蛋,还要吃巧克力兔。复活节为什么要吃巧克力兔呢?这要从复活兔说起了。

  As far as holidays go, Easter is second only to Halloween in American candy sales—that’s a lot of chocolate bunnies.

  就节假日而言,复活节的糖果销量在美国仅次于万圣节:其中有很多是巧克力兔。

  Easter—the most spiritually significant holiday of the Christian calendar—has always been heavily associated with symbolic foods, from lambs to egg-rich celebratory breads. Rabbits, however, are not mentioned in the scriptures that recount Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. And chocolate, a New World food, was not even accessible to the masses until the mid-1800s. So how did chocolate bunnies come to dominate the Easter basket scene? It’s a thoroughly modern mash-up of commerce, confectionery, and immigration.

  复活节在__历法中是最具有精神象征意义的节日,它一直与象征性的食物紧密联系,从羊羔肉到放很多鸡蛋的复活节面包。然而,在圣经中描述耶稣受难到复活的文字里并没有提到兔子。巧克力作为一种新世界的食物,直到19世纪中叶才广泛供应给民众。那么巧克力兔是如何占据复活节食篮的呢?这是现代商业、糖果和移民混合作用的结果。

  The observance of Easter includes some elements adapted from pagan traditions celebrating cycles of new life in the springtime, and one of those is the rabbit, an animal known for its crazy-high fertility.

  复活节的庆祝活动汲取了异教徒庆祝春天开始新生命轮回的一些传统元素,其中之一就是兔子,一种以高繁殖能力著称的动物。

  pagan['peg?n]: adj. 异教的;异教徒的

  Ostara, the Germanic pre-Christian fertility goddess, apparently kept a hare as a sidekick. The word for “Easter” (Ostern, in German) is derived from her name, and her namesake festival was held around April. Germans came to embrace the fictional character Oschter Haws (or osterhause), a rabbit who delivered eggs to children at Easter.

  奥斯塔拉(Ostara)作为前__时代日耳曼民族的生育女神,养了一只野兔作为伙伴。复活节这个名词就是来源于她的名字(在德语里是Ostern),她的同名节日大概在四月份举行。后来德国人开始接纳虚构的角色“复活兔”,这是一只在复活节给孩子们送鸡蛋的兔子。

  sidekick['sa?dk?k]: n. 伙伴,老朋友

  The Easter Bunny Museum in the now-defunct Center for Unusual Museums in Munich showcased examples of 19th century Easter rabbits made of cardboard, wood, or fabric, and some had removable heads to allow for hiding candy inside (these would be the forerunners to chocolate bunnies).

  位于慕尼黑的复活节兔子博物馆(该博物馆所属的特殊博物馆中心现已关闭)展示了一些19世纪复活节兔子的样例,这些兔子由纸板、木头或布制成,有些兔子的头部是可以拆卸的,可以把糖果藏在里面。这些兔子可能是巧克力兔的前身。

  At the same time, the middle classes of the Western world began enjoying the chocolaty fruits of progress. The Industrial Revolution changed chocolate from a costly drink to a cheap solid food. The craft of making the smooth-textured solid chocolate we’re familiar with today requires many steps, and those were not possible without mechanization; the first eating (as opposed to drinking) chocolates appeared in Europe in the mid-1800s.

  与此同时,西方中产阶级开始享受巧克力这一社会进步的果实。工业革命将巧克力从一种昂贵的饮品变为廉价的固体食品。制作我们今天所熟悉的质地丝滑的固体巧克力需要很多步骤,没有机械化是不可能实现的。第一批能吃(而不是喝)的巧克力19世纪中期出现在欧洲。

  The chocolate bunny had yet to cross the Atlantic, though. The Pennsylvania Dutch imported the Oschter Haws, or Easter Hare, who delivered colored eggs to good children. One of the better-known early sightings of chocolate rabbits in America was in 1890, when Pennsylvania shopkeeper Robert L. Strohecker featured a five-foot chocolate rabbit in his drugstore to attract business at Easter. And after that long journey, chocolate rabbits of more manageable proportions eventually became an Easter staple.

  不过当时巧克力兔还没有横渡大西洋。宾夕法尼亚州的殖民者引进了复活兔的概念,也就是会给好孩子送彩蛋的兔子。复活节兔早期在美国最著名的一件事是1890年宾夕法尼亚州的商人罗伯特·L·施特罗埃克尔在他的杂货店里摆了一只5英尺(约合1.52米)高的巧克力兔子在复活节招揽生意。经过长期的发展,巧克力兔的尺寸变得更加合适,最终成为了复活节的一种主要食品。

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