最近热播的电视剧《都挺好》（All is well）引起了很多国外媒体的关注，最新一期的《经济学人》China版块也对此进行了报道。《经济学人》很喜欢从中国影视剧入手，分析中国的文化和社会，之前报道的《延禧攻略》和《流浪地球》都是同一套路。

这篇文章有很多精彩的表达，我们可以从中学到如何介绍流行文化，比如一句话介绍《都挺好》就可以说：The show tells the story of a fictional Chinese family torn by internal conflict.

外刊原文

It is no mean feat to be one of the top-ten trending hashtags on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, for 20 consecutive days and counting. “All is Well”, a show on provincial television which premiered(首播) on March 1st, has done just that. The show tells the story of a fictional Chinese family torn by internal conflict. The female protagonist(主人公), Su Mingyu, is barely on speaking terms with her widowed father and one of her two brothers. The father is a nagging crank who expects his two adult sons to bankroll his lavish tastes. This leads to constant bickering(争吵) between the brothers, neither of whom wants to be called unfilial.

Episodes of “All is Well” have been streamed more than 390m times. That exceeds the online viewership of the next most popular television series by 278m. From “The Simpsons” to “Game of Thrones”, dramas about bickering families are common in many countries. But in China, the Communist Party prefers entertainment to be unchallenging. So the questioning of blind attachment to traditional values in “All is Well” is causing a stir. Viewers are transfixed by its rare portrayal of middle-class life, warts and all.

Many Chinese can relate to the Su family’s troubles. The daughter holds a grudge(怨恨) against her father, and especially against her late mother, for having mistreated her while pampering(溺爱) her brothers. As a child she was made to wash her brothers’ clothes. Her parents turned a blind eye when one of her brothers beat her. For many female viewers born before 1979, when China introduced a one-child-per-couple policy (changed to two in 2016), such scenes have brought back painful memories. Some have used social media to share their own tales of sexism within the family.

精读讲解

01

It is no mean feat to be one of the top-ten trending hashtags on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, for 20 consecutive days and counting. “All is Well”, a show on provincial television which premiered on March 1st, has done just that. The show tells the story of a fictional Chinese family torn by internal conflict.

翻译：连续20天登上微博（中国版的推特）热搜榜前十名绝非易事。3月1日在省级电视台首播的电视剧《都挺好》就做到了。这部电视剧讲述了一个被内部矛盾撕裂的中国家庭的虚构故事。

no mean feat 绝非易事

feat  /fit/  n. 功绩，壮举

The Wall Street Journal有一期在谈到思科的转型时，是这样说的：

Turning around a tech giant like Cisco is no mean feat.

思科这样的科技巨人要实现华丽转身绝非易事。

top-ten trending hashtags   十大热搜标签

top-ten 排名前十的

trending   n. 趋势；趋势分析；热门话题

hashtag/ˈhæʃˌtæɡ/  n. 标签

equivalent  /ɪ'kwɪvələnt/  n. 等价物，相等物  adj. 等价的，相等的；同意义的

consecutive /kən'sɛkjətɪv/  adj. 连贯的；连续不断的

provincial/prə'vɪnʃl/  adj. 省的

provincial television  省级电视台

premiere /prɪ'mɪr/  v. 首次上映，首次上演  n. 首次公演

fictional  /'fikʃənl/  adj. 虚构的；小说的

torn/tɔrn/  v. 扯裂，撕开（tear的过去分词）

internal /ɪn'tɝnl/  adj. 内部的

02

The female protagonist, Su Mingyu, is barely on speaking terms with her widowed father and one of her two brothers. The father is a nagging crank who expects his two adult sons to bankroll his lavish tastes.This leads to constant bickering between the brothers, neither of whom wants to be called unfilial.

翻译：女主人公苏明玉和她寡居的父亲以及两个兄弟中的一个关系并不好。剧中的父亲是一个唠叨的怪老头，指望他的两个成年儿子出钱满足他的奢侈的品味。这导致了两兄弟之间持续不断的争吵，他们谁也不想被称为“不孝”。

protagonist/prə'tæɡənɪst/  n. （戏剧、电影、书的）主要人物，主人公；主要人物，领导者

be on speaking terms with与某人关系好。文章中在be后面用了barely这个表否定的副词来修饰，意思是关系不好。

widowed  /'widəud/  adj. 寡居的；鳏居的

nagging  /'næɡɪŋ/  adj. 唠叨的；挑剔的；使人不得安宁的

crank /kræŋk/ n.  someone who has unusual ideas and behaves strangely. 怪人

expect to 期待做

例句：We shall never have friends if we expect to find them without fault .

我们永远也不会有朋友，如果我们期望他们没有缺点。

bankroll /'bæŋkrol/  vt. 提供资金；提供财务上的资助

lavish /'lævɪʃ/  adj. 浪费的；挥霍的

constant /'kɑnstənt/  adj. 不变的；恒定的；经常的

bickering /'bikəriŋ/  n. 争吵；争论

unfilial /ʌn'fɪlɪəl/  adj. 不孝的

第1段部分简要介绍了《都挺好》的剧情。在介绍该剧在中国热播的情况时，作者并没有罗列收视率等诸多的数据，而是通过“占据微博热搜”这一事实来予以间接说明。这两部分有很多精彩的用法，比如在向别人介绍小说、电影、戏剧等的故事情节时，我们可以借鉴The show tells the story of a fictional Chinese family torn by internal conflict.这个句子。此外be on speaking terms with、nagging crank、bankroll这些单词与用法也都非常精彩。

03

Episodes of “All is Well” have been streamed more than 390m times. That exceeds the online viewership of the next most popular television series by 278m. From “The Simpsons” to “Game of Thrones”, dramas about bickering families are common in many countries. But in China, the Communist Party prefers entertainment to be unchallenging. So the questioning of blind attachment to traditional values in “All is Well” is causing a stir. Viewers are transfixed by its rare portrayal of middle-class life, warts and all.

翻译：《都挺好》剧集的播放量已超过3.9亿次。这个数据超过了第二名的2.78亿次的在线点播量，高居榜首。从《辛普森一家》(The Simpsons)到《权力的游戏》(Game of Thrones)，关于家庭矛盾的电视剧在许多国家都很常见。但在中国，共产党希望娱乐节目不要有挑战性。因此，《都挺好》中对传统价值观盲目依附的质疑引起了轰动。该剧对中产阶级生活的描述，无论是缺点还是其他方面，都极为少有，观众们为之深深吸引。

episode /'ɛpɪsod/  n. （人生的）一段经历；（小说的）片段，插曲；电视连续剧或无线电广播剧的）一集

episode以上几个含义在英语中都很常见，看下面例句：

①That's an episode in my life I'd rather forget!

那是我一生中宁愿忘记的经历！

②The episode of this film sounds good.

这部电影的插曲很好听。

stream原意是“溪流，流动”，这里引申为“（流媒体）点播”的意思。

例句：They also get to stream movies and to borrow a Kindle book each month, for free.

他们还可以观看流媒体电影，每月免费借阅一本Kindle电子书。

exceed /ɪk'sid/  vt. 超过；胜过

online viewership   在线收视率

viewership  /'vju:əʃip/  n.  the number or type of people who watch a particular television programme or television channel （电视节目或频道的）观众人数，观众类型

television series  电视剧

drama  /'drɑmə/  n. 戏剧

entertainment  /ˌɛntɚ'tenmənt/ n. 娱乐；消遣；款待

attachment  /ə'tætʃmənt/  n. 附件；依恋；连接物；扣押财产

stir  /stɝ/  n. 搅拌；轰动     v. 搅动

transfix /træns'fɪks/   vt. 钉住；刺穿；使呆住

portrayal  /pɔr'treəl/  n. 描绘；画像，肖像

wart /wɔrt/  n.〔皮肤上的〕肉赘，疣；包括一切缺点

这段在第一段的基础上，论述了《都挺好》 受欢迎的原因。

04

Many Chinese can relate to the Su family’s troubles. The daughter holds a grudge against her father, and especially against her late mother, for having mistreated her while pampering her brothers. As a child she was made to wash her brothers’ clothes. Her parents turned a blind eye when one of her brothers beat her. For many female viewers born before 1979, when China introduced a one-child-per-couple policy(changed to two in 2016), such scenes have brought back painful memories. Some have used social media to share their own tales of sexism within the family.

翻译：许多中国人都能理解苏家的困境。苏明玉怨恨她的父亲，尤其是她已故的母亲，因为她母亲在溺爱哥哥的同时虐待了她。当她还是个孩子的时候，她被迫给她的哥哥们洗衣服。当她的一个兄弟打她时，她的父母们视而不见。对于许多1979年以前出生的女性观众来说，这样的场景勾起了她们痛苦的回忆，那时中国实行一对夫妻只生一个孩子的政策，直到2016年才允许一对夫妻有两个孩子。一些人在社交媒体上分享了他们家庭里歧视女性的故事。

relate to 涉及，有关；理解

grudge/ɡrʌdʒ/  n. 怨恨；恶意；妒忌

holds a grudge against  对……怀恨在心，grudge后的介词用against

例句：The reason he failed to reach his target is that the boss holds a grudge against him.

他完不成目标的原因是上司对他怀恨在心。

mistreat/,mɪs'trit/  vt. 虐待

pamper /'pæmpɚ/  vt. 溺爱

be made to do被迫去做某事

例句：The little child cannot be made to do such a difficult thing.

不要让这个小孩子来做如此困难的事情。

one-child-per-couple  一对夫妻只生一个孩子

tale  /tel/  n. 故事；传说；叙述

sexism/'sɛk'sɪzəm/   n. （针对女性的）性别歧视；男性至上主义