印度新婚夫妇在自家厕所自拍可获政府奖励？

近日，印度中央邦（Madhya Pradesh）官方推出一项为响应“清洁印度”的计划，鼓励经济落后地区的新郎在结婚前修建自家厕所并与厕所自拍合影，随后由新娘将照片提交给政府，就可以申请51000卢比（约5089元人民币）的现金奖励。

Toilet Selfies Are Becoming a Pre-Wedding Ritual in Madhya Pradesh

VICE

Under a new government scheme, brides from economically backward sections are eligible to get Rs 51,000 if they can prove the groom's house has a toilet before the wedding.

ritual

表示“例行公事，老规矩；（尤指）仪式”，英文解释为“a set of fixed actions and sometimes words performed regularly, especially as part of a ceremony”举个🌰：

Coffee and the newspaper are part of my morning ritual.

喝咖啡和读报纸是我早晨必做的事情之一。

eligible

表示“有资格的；合格的；具备条件的”，英文解释为“a person who is eligible for sth or to do sth, is able to have or do it because they have the right qualifications, are the right age, etc.”举个🌰：

Only those over 65 are eligible for the special payment.

只有65岁以上的人才有资格领取这项专款。

groom

groom = bridegroom 表示“新郎”，英文解释为“A groom is the same as a bridegroom”。

Weddings, especially the big fat kinds in India, are not just about legalising love. They're also a way for families to display their party planning capabilities, for brides to show off their shiny new lehengas and for the guests to stuff their faces at the free-flowing buffet. But in an unusual development in Madhya Pradesh, brides and grooms aren't just flexing their eternal love or fancy wardrobes, but also their toilets. 

lehenga

指的是印度人们在节日或婚礼中流行穿的长裙 Lehenga is a form of full ankle-length skirt worn by women from the Indian subcontinent which is long, embroidered and pleated.

stuff one's face

表示“吃得很多，大吃大喝”，英文解释为“to eat a lot”举个🌰：

I've been stuffing my face all morning.

我一上午都在吃个不停。

buffet

表示“自助餐”，英文解释为“a meal where people serve themselves different types of food”举个🌰：

Are you having a sit-down meal or a buffet at the wedding?

你办婚礼想摆桌宴还是提供自助餐？

flex

flex本义表示“屈伸，活动（四肢或肌肉，尤指为准备体力活动）”，英文解释为“to bend, move or stretch an arm or a leg, or contract a muscle, especially in order to prepare for a physical activity”，如：to flex your fingers/feet/legs 活动手指/双脚/双腿。

flex此处为“炫耀”的含义，有个短语叫flex your muscles是“显示实力，炫耀力量（尤指作为警告或威胁）”的意思（to show sb how powerful you are, especially as a warning or threat）；

Flex is a slang term meaning "to show off," whether it be your physique, your belongings, or some other thing you consider superior to others. The act of flexing is often criticized as a power move, considered arrogant and insincere.

Weird flex, but OK

Pre-wedding toilet selfies are becoming all the rage in Madhya Pradesh. This is because of the state's Mukhya Mantri Kanya Vivah/Nikah scheme for the economically backward sections of the society, in which the bride is given Rs 51,000 by the government if she can prove that her to-be husband has a toilet in his house.

be all the rage

表示“风靡一时，非常时兴，十分流行”，英文解释为“to be very popular at a particular time”举个🌰：

Long hair for men was all the rage in the 70s.

在70年代，男人留长发风靡一时。

section

section有“区；地区；地段”的含义，英文解释为“a district of a town, city or county”，此处the economically backward sections即为经济落后地区。

Under the Swachh Bharat scheme, the government is on a mission to ensure everyone has proper loos in their homes to curb people from pissing in public places. But because they can't physically go and verify each and every facility, they've made it mandatory for the groom to show a selfie while standing in the toilet in order to apply for the scheme to aid weddings. Exactly the kind of wedding photographs you want on your big day.

注：“清洁印度”是印度于2014年发起的一项旨在改善印度公共环境卫生的运动。Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) or Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) is a nation-wide campaign in India for the period 2014 to 2019 that aims to clean up the streets, roads and infrastructure of India's cities, towns, urban and rural areas.

厕所相关表达

在黄金马桶艺术品在英国被盗一文中，我们接触了很多厕所相关表达，回顾一下吧：

· loo表示“卫生间，洗手间，厕所”，英文解释为“a toilet; an informal or dialect word for lavatory”举个🌰：

I need to go to the loo (= use the toilet ).

我要去一下洗手间。

厕所的表达除了上文的loo和lavatory，还有如：

· john：a toilet 厕所，盥洗室，举个🌰：

I'm just going to the john - can you wait for me?

我去上洗手间——你能等我吗？

· convenience / public convenience：a public toilet 公共厕所

· bathroom / toilet

·pee，非正式，也是表示“尿，撒尿”，可作名词也可作动词，作名词时可以说：go for a pee/have a pee.

· piss可作动词也可作名词，“撒尿”口语上可以直接说，go for/have/take a piss；piss还有很多其它的含义，作名词时有个短语，take the piss (out of sb/sth) 表示“〔嘲笑或愚弄某人而〕令（某人）生气”，英文解释为“to annoy someone by laughing at them or making them seem stupid”，举个🌰：

The kids always take the piss out of some teachers.

孩子们总是拿某些老师寻开心。

· urine作为名词表示“尿”，英文解释：Urine is the liquid that you get rid of from your body when you go to the toilet. 举个🌰：

The doctor took a urine sample and a blood sample.

医生取了尿样和血样。

其动词形式为：urinate 排尿。

"Imagine a marriage certificate, attached with the photograph of the groom in the toilet. I was told that the Qazi (religious judge) will not read the Nikah unless I provide the photograph,” an anonymous source, who got married at a mass wedding in the city of Bhopal, told the Times of India (TOI).

注：

Nikah：a Musilim marriage.

While many grooms find this practice embarrassing, others point out that it's for the greater good. "The idea of grooms being required to prove they have a toilet before marrying is not a bad thing. The social justice department has not issued any such directive. The implementation of the policy can be better," JN Kansotiya, principal secretary of the department of social justice and disabled welfare, told TOI.

directive

表示“指示；命令；官方指示”，英文解释为“A directive is an official instruction that is given by someone in authority.”举个🌰：

Thanks to a new directive, food labelling will be more specific.

由于官方的一项新指令，食品标签将会更明确具体。

While the scheme requiring grooms to have a toilet has been in place since 2013, the requirement of a toilet selfie is a new clause, along with grooms no longer being given 30 days to construct the toilet before their weddings.

clause

表示“（法律文件等的）条款”，英文解释为“an item in a legal document that says that a particular thing must or must not be done”。

Still, others argue that this scheme is a total shit show for the grooms. “We understand that toilets are an intrinsic part of Swachh Bharat mission, but the process could be better,” Rafiq Qureshi, a municipal corporator and local Congress leader said.

intrinsic

表示“内在的；本质的”，英文解释为“If something has intrinsic value or intrinsic interest, it is valuable or interesting because of its basic nature or character, and not because of its connection with other things.”举个🌰：

Diamonds have little intrinsic value and their price depends almost entirely on their scarcity.

钻石没有多少内在价值，它们的价格几乎完全取决于其稀有程度。

As much as this ritual flushes romance down the toilet, at least it's inspiring people to clean up after themselves.

- END -

LearnAndRecord

2015年2月8日

2019年10月21日

第1717天

每天持续行动学外语