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按：今天要给大家分享的文章是《经济学人》对于重庆市特有的一种职业——“棒棒”的报道和分析

Porters in Chongqing

Bang bang, I hit the ground

The decline of a great urban institution
Apr 16th 2016 | CHONGQING | From the print edition

生词及表达:
institution: a custom or tradition that for a long time has been an important feature of some group or society.
例句: Even if your parents divorced when you were young, you might strongly believe in the INSTITUTION of marriage.

YU XIAOYAN waits for work in the rain, sitting on a bamboo pole near the centre of Chongqing, a large city in the south-west. A wiry 60-year-old with pepper-and-salt hair, a wispy beard and an air of resignation, he muses: “I’ve been here 20 years, and it’s never been so tough.” He is what locals call a bangbang man.
开篇用生动的笔法描述一个具体的“棒棒”的外貌神态和现实处境，引起读者的兴趣。

生词及表达:
wiry: someone who’s fairly thin and athletic.
例句: He’s small, wiry, tough, full of wisdom and more than willing to lecture me on the complexities of the infantryman’s art. (Wall Street JournalNov 29, 2016)
an air of: 顺从的气场
例句:She has an air of mystery/dignity/quiet confidence.
resignation: the act of giving up (a claim or office or possession) or stepping down from a job or accepting an unpleasant but inevitable situation.
例句: If you left the position due to budget cuts, you’ll probably leave with a feeling of resignation—acknowledging that there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

Bang means stick. Mr Yu is one of the porters who for generations have hauled the worldly goods of Chongqing from the Yangzi and Jialing rivers on which the city sits, and up its precipitous slopes, using only bamboo and string. Everything from wide-screen televisions and blocks of ice to bricks and car tyres is tied to a short pole and hoisted onto willing shoulders. The bangbang brigade is unique to Chongqing and an emblem of the city (also once distinguished for the rarity of bicycles; as China gets richer, they are becoming rarer everywhere). In 2014 when Li Keqiang, the prime minister, paid a visit, he called the bangbang men “a symbol of the Chinese people’s hard-working spirit”.
介绍棒棒的背景信息，揭示其重要作用。

生词及表达:
haul: to move or take something usually big and heavy, and put it somewhere else.
例句: If you’ve ever moved to a new house, then you know that having to haul all your stuff there can really take the joy out of moving into a new place.
worldly goods: worldly goods/possessions意思是literary everything you own所有的物品
precipitous: extremely steep. 例句: “Yeah, it’s surprising,” Brown said of Robinson’s precipitous fall from the starting lineup. (Los Angeles TimesNov 27, 2016)
an emblem of: ……的象征。
例句:Free and universal education qualifies as an emblem of social development.

But the trade is dying. “When I first came,” says Mr Yu, “there were thousands of bangbang men and plenty of work, but not any more.” According to a documentary made in 2015 for state television, the city had over 300,000 stick men in the late 1990s. Now there are only 3,000. “No one with any education would become a bangbang man,” says Mr Yu. “It’s all old people.”
介绍现状，用当事人的话以及统计数据证明棒棒正在消失。

He is right. A study in 2015 of 400 porters by Chen Hong, Liu Dapei and Du Zhongbo of Chongqing Normal University found that two-thirds of them were over 50. “The decline in the profession symbolises the ageing of Chinese society,” says Zhou Xuexin, dean of the Chongqing Economic and Social Development Institute.
用权威机构的调查结果证明棒棒的消失反映出人口的老龄化。

It also reflects improvements in urban infrastructure. When roads were unpaved and buildings lacked lifts, brawn was the only way to move goods up and down the steep hills and into tower blocks. But with better roads and more modern buildings, that is no longer true. Delivery companies with young men on motorcycles have taken over, and the remaining bangbang men are coming to terms with modern technology. They have set up an instant-messaging group to parcel out the available jobs.

指出棒棒的变化背后也反映出的城市基础设施的改进。 随着中国城市化的进展，应该会有越来越多的老的职业的消亡。学会以小见大，透过现象看本质，分析背后的原因并预测将来，通过阅读培养这样的能力才是最重要的。

生词及表达:
come to term with: to become adjusted especially emotionally or intellectually — usually used with with <come to terms with modern life>
parcel out: divide or share something with several people.
例句:France was a deeply reluctant participant in the German-inspired plan to parcel out the migrant flow all over Europe. (New York TimesOct 25, 2016)

For Mr Yu, it is too late. “Most people are going back to their villages,” he says. He turns to write his name, using a finger to draw characters on the wet marble where he sits; the rain soon washes them away.
回到文章开头，用文学化的笔触描述棒棒的失落。最后一句颇具象征意味，暗示着棒棒这一职业终将随着社会发展消逝于历史长河。

From the print edition: China

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