2019经济学人考研英文文章阅读十

A hit TV series in China skewers cranky old parents

一部在中国热播的电视连续剧讽刺了脾气古怪的老父母们

Defying the cult of filial piety thrills viewers

对崇尚孝道的反抗令观众们激动不已

It is no mean feat to be one of the top-ten trending hashtags on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter,for20consecutive days and counting.“All is Well”,a show on provincial television which premiered on March1st,has done just that.

连续20天成为微博（中国版的推特）十大热门话题之一并不是一件容易的事。3月1日，在省级电视台首播的电视连续剧《都挺好》做到了。

The show tells the story of a fictional Chinese family torn by internal conflict.The female protagonist,Su Mingyu,is barely on speaking terms with her widowed father and one of her two brothers.

这部电视剧讲述了一个虚构的中国家庭因内部矛盾而走向破裂的故事。女主角苏明玉和她丧偶的父亲以及两个哥哥中的一个关系不和。

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.

父亲是一个挑剔的怪老头，他希望两个成年的儿子能为他奢侈浪费的生活买单。这导致两个兄弟之间争吵不断，他们两都不想被披上不孝的外衣。

Episodes of“All is Well”have been streamed more than390m times.That exceeds the online viewership of the next most popular television series by278m.From“The Simpsons”to“Game of Thrones”,dramas about bickering families are common in many countries.

《都挺好》的剧集播放量已经超过3.9亿次。其在线收视率比排在第二的最受欢迎的电视连续剧高出了2.78亿次。从《辛普森一家》到《权力的游戏》，关于家庭争论的电视剧在许多国家都很常见。

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.

但在中国，娱乐往往是不具挑战性的。因此，在电视剧《都挺好》中，对盲目追求传统价值观的质疑引起了人们的轰动。该剧对中产阶级罕见的写照（不论是缺点还是其他方面）让观众们感到震撼。

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.

许多中国人都能理解苏家的烦恼。女儿对父亲抱有怨恨，对已故的母亲更是怀恨在心，因为母亲溺爱两位哥哥却对她十分刻薄。

As a child she was made to wash her brothers’clothes.Her parents turned a blind eye when one of her brothers beat her.

当她还是个孩子时，就被迫要给她的哥哥们洗衣服。当一个哥哥打她时，她的父母却视而不见。

For many female viewers born before1979,when China introduced a one-child-per-couple policy(changed to two in2016),such scenes have brought back painful memories.Some have used social media to share their own tales of sexism within the family.

对于许多1979年以前出生的女性观众来说，这些场景勾起了她们痛苦的回忆。有些人通过社交媒体分享她们自己家庭中性别歧视的故事。

But the biggest reaction has been to the drama’s critique of filial piety. Even today,the Confucian principle of unswerving loyalty to one’s parents remains hallowed.Many people say the best measure of adherence to this virtue is whether a son takes good care of his parents in old age.