中國男性的消暑方式「北京比基尼」(雙語)

Summer on the streets of Chinese cities yields a panoply of exotic sights and sounds: old men loudly jousting over mah-jongg tiles, sidewalk barbecues grilling tough-to identify animal parts, and the unmistakable growl of a clearing throat-that ends with an inevitable splat.

　　  夏季，中國城市的街頭充斥著一系列奇異的景象和聲音：老人們熱火朝天地打著麻將、街邊的燒烤攤不知道烤著動物的哪個部位，還有清嗓子的吼聲——最後肯定會吐出一口痰。

　　  But nothing defines China's most sweltering season (or bewilders foreigners) more than the curious sartorial habits of grown men who neatly roll up their shirts to reveal bellies， often in glorious plenitude, without the teeniest hint of shame (nor the teeniest hint of a six-pack).

　　  但是，沒有什麼比成年男性奇特的衣著習慣更能定義中國最悶熱的季節（或更讓外國人疑惑不解）。他們把襯衣整齊地捲起來，露出肚子，通常「內涵」豐富，卻一點也不感到羞愧（也絲毫沒有六塊腹肌的痕迹）。

　　  The exposed midriff, visible in shops, restaurants and hospital waiting rooms, often has a companion flourish, with practitioners rolling up their pants legs to just below the knee.

　  　這些暴露在外的腹部在商店、餐館和醫院候診室隨處可見，通常它還有一個與之搭配的現象：從業人員把褲腿卷到膝蓋正下方。

　　  This, it will be explained upon asking, is a makeshift form of air-conditioning known as the Beijing Bikini. (Others somewhat disparagingly describe the phenomenon as "bang ye," which roughly translates as "exposing yourself like a grandfather.") It is on display anywhere where temperatures sizzle-urban or rural, private space or public sphere, recreational park or commercial shop.

    如果你要問的話，這就是空調的替代形式，叫做「北京比基尼」。（有些人輕蔑地稱此現象為「膀爺」，大致翻譯成「像個老爺子一樣暴露你自己」。）在任何一個炎熱難耐的地方，都會看到這樣的現象——無論城市還是農村、私人空間還是公共領域、休閑公園還是商店。

    Social convention bars women from engaging in similar displays of flesh.

    社會傳統禁止女性以類似的方式袒露身體。
Although adherents, often with cigarette and beer in hand, attest to the Beijing Bikini's cooling health benefits, they face mounting hostility from educated upstarts or busybody bureaucrats who find the summer parade of bulging tummies uncouth and unbecoming of a great nation.

    儘管這些常常手拿香煙和啤酒的「膀爺」追隨者證明了「北京比基尼」確實有降溫的健康益處，卻面臨著越來越多來自於受過良好教育卻傲慢無理的人和好管閑事的官僚的敵意。他們認為，夏天把大肚腩暴露於大庭廣眾之下對一個大國來說顯得既粗俗又不得體。

    Chinese newspapers wage periodic propaganda campaigns against the look, but it endures and is increasingly visible abroad, proudly displayed by Chinese tourists outside New York City art museums, London's Buckingham Palace and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

    中國的報紙開展定期宣傳活動，反對這種裸露，但是這種現象仍在繼續，而且在海外也越來越多見。在紐約藝術博物館、倫敦白金漢宮和巴黎埃菲爾鐵塔外，都能看到中國遊客驕傲地展示著自己的肚子。