《经济学人》双语：新冠如何催生出巨大的印度婚恋市场？
文/Irene-自由英语之路
【本篇内容简述】
【Para1】引入：印度花哨的婚礼，新郎骑着马或豪华摩托车，播放宝莱坞热门歌曲。交通给婚礼队伍让路。印度结婚也是一桩大生意。婚礼行业的收入约为500亿美元。
【Para2&3】新冠对印度婚礼的影响：婚礼被推迟。传统婚礼工作者受影响，苦苦挣扎。在线婚恋服务正在蓬勃发展。每年的收入都同比增长至少20%。婚礼数字化。
【para4&5】4个例子：婚礼平台Matrimony网站，Jeevansathi网站WeddingWishList网站和Wedmagood应用程序。
【Para6】结尾与评论：亲自参加婚礼要检查健康，也可以远程庆祝。服务扩展到在线婴儿淋浴。商业机会并不会在最后一个狂欢者失去动力时结束。
标题：
Online weddings
Updating vows
The pandemic is shaking up India’s love business
网上婚礼
更新誓言
新冠正在动摇印度的婚恋行业
How the pandemic is changing India’s wedding business
Less physical pizzazz, more pixels
新冠是如何改变印度的婚礼行业的？
更少的生理刺激，更高的像素
原文日期：2021年8月21日
Paragraph 1：
INDIAN nuptials can be garish affairs. The groom often rides to the venue on a horse, or a Royal Enfield motorcycle.
印度婚礼是花哨的。新郎通常骑着马或皇家恩菲尔德摩托车前往婚礼会场。
Portable DJ sets, fired up by car batteries, blare out Bollywood hits. Traffic on busy streets is routinely blocked to accommodate wedding processions.
由汽车电池供电的便携式DJ装置，大声播放宝莱坞热门歌曲。为了给婚礼队伍让路，繁忙街道上的交通经常被堵塞或封锁。
Matrimony in India is also big business. KPMG, a consultancy, estimates the wedding industry’s revenues at roughly $50bn. Before the pandemic these were growing by 25% a year.
在印度，结婚也是一桩大生意。咨询公司毕马威（KPMG）估计，婚礼行业的收入约为500亿美元。在新冠流行之前，每年的增长率为25%。
Paragraph 2:
As elsewhere, covid-19 has forced many Indian couples to postpone tying the knot.It may also have changed the way they go about it.
与其他地方一样，新冠迫使许多印度夫妇推迟结婚。这也可能改变了他们的婚礼模式。
With big weddings on hold because of their super-spreader potential, many informal caterers, coconut-water sellers, ice-cream shops, wedding-card printers and flower vendors are struggling as weddings are put off.
大型婚礼因其巨大的感染传播力度而被搁置，许多非正式的餐饮服务商、椰子水销售商、冰淇淋店、婚礼卡片印刷商和鲜花销售商都在为婚礼的推迟而苦苦挣扎。
Online services, by contrast, are thriving. Matrimony.com, one of the biggest, has reported a rise in revenues of at least 20%, year on year, in each of its past four quarters.
相比之下，在线服务正在蓬勃发展。最大的婚恋网站之一http://Matrimony.com报告称，在过去四个季度中，每年的收入都同比增长至少20%。
Shaadi.com, among the oldest such sites in India, has seen a jump in subscribers. And wedding platforms that help families to organize and even conduct weddings online are popping up.
http://Shaadi.com是印度最古老的此类婚恋网站之一，用户数量激增。帮助家庭在网上组织甚至举办婚礼的婚礼平台正在兴起。
Paragraph 3:
Digitization even extends to courtship. Prospective brides and grooms can no longer introduce themselves in person, sometimes perform on stage, and sit for interviews with their pick’s parents across a desk, speed-dating style.
数字化甚至延伸到求偶领域。准新娘和新郎再也不能亲自介绍自己，有时也不要在舞台上表演，也不需要坐在桌子对面，以速配的方式与他们所选的父母面谈。
But in India, where arranged marriagesremain common, parents and matchmakers still have to be involved. And so now does Zoom.
但在印度，包办婚姻仍然很普遍，父母和媒人仍然必须参与其中。现在Zoom也是如此。
Paragraph 4:
Murugavel Janakiraman, boss of Matrimony.com, expects its new video-calling feature for introductions to persist—not least because it deals with the common grouse from customers that their chosen one’s profile picture embellishes reality.
Murugavel Janakiraman是http://Matrimony.com的老板，他希望其新的视频通话功能能够持续下去，这不仅仅是因为它能处理客户的普遍的抱怨，而是因为他们选择的个人资料图片是美颜后的图片。
During nationwide lockdowns last year video calls also allowed couples to continue their wooing virtually.
在去年全国范围内的禁封期间，视频通话也让情侣们几乎可以继续他们的线上虚拟恋爱。
Jeevansathi.com, another big matchmaker, saw its number of video meetings rise more than 11-fold. Call duration rose by a factor of ten.
另一家大型婚介网站http://Jeevansathi.com的视频会议数量增长了11倍多。通话时间增加了十倍。
Paragraph 5:
Pre-wedding functions are also increasingly online. Couples seek the blessing of elders by touching the laptop screen in lieu of their feet, says Kanika Subbiah, founder of WeddingWishList.com, a wedding platform.
婚前准备工作也越来越多地在网上进行。婚礼平台http://WeddingWishList.com的创始人卡尼卡·苏比亚说，情侣们通过触摸笔记本电脑屏幕而不是脚跪着来寻求长辈的祝福。
WedMeGood, an app, hosts vendors like makeup artists, photographers, caterers and priests (along with their vaccination status).
Wedmagood是一款应用程序，它为化妆师、摄影师、餐饮服务商和牧师等供应商提供服务（以及他们的疫苗接种情况）。
Paragraph 6:
Some cautious families have arranged visits by health-care workers to guests’ homes to have them tested before they attend a wedding in person. Alternatively, you can celebrate remotely.
客人在亲自参加婚礼之前，一些谨慎的家庭安排了医护人员到客人家中进行检查。或者，你可以远程庆祝。
WeddingWishList has hosted more than 100 weddings in its virtual rooms.
WeddingWishList在其虚拟房间中举办了100多场婚礼。
And the business opportunity does not end when the last reveler runs out of steam. Ms Subbiah has extended her services to online baby showers.
商业机会并不会在最后一个狂欢者失去动力时结束。苏比亚女士已经将她的服务扩展到在线婴儿淋浴。
（恭喜读完本篇，英语阅读量460左右）
【重点词汇】（9个）
pizzazz/pzz/ If you say that someone or something has pizzazz, you mean that they are very exciting, energetic, and stylish.
n. 激情; 活力; 时髦；风度
pixel /pksl/
n. 像素；像素点
nuptial/npl/Someone's nuptials are their wedding celebrations.
n. 婚礼
garish/ɡer/You describe something as garish when you dislike it because it is very bright in an unattractive, showy way.
adj. 炫耀的；过分装饰的；花哨的
matrimony/mtrmni/
n. 结婚，婚礼；婚姻生活
tie the knot
结婚，喜结连理
grouse/ɡras/A grouse is a complaint.
n. 牢骚; 抱怨
embellish/mbl/If something is embellished with decorative features or patterns, it has those features or patterns on it and they make it look more attractive.
v. 修饰；装饰；润色；美颜
in lieu of =in place of
代替
本文出现的“婚恋，婚礼，结婚”相关词汇汇总：（12个）
wedding婚礼
nuptial婚礼
matrimony婚礼
tie the knot结婚，喜结连理
arranged marriages包办婚姻
Prospective brides and grooms准新娘和新郎
courtship求偶，求爱
woo求爱
matchmaker婚介，媒人
love business婚恋行业
wedding business婚礼行业
wedding platform婚礼平台
【重点句子】（2个）
Traffic on busy streets is routinely blocked to accommodate wedding processions.
为了给婚礼队伍让路，繁忙街道上的交通经常被堵塞或封锁。
And the business opportunity does not end when the last reveler runs out of steam.
商业机会并不会在最后一个狂欢者失去动力时结束。
【重点词根】（1+4个）
embellish＝em-进入 + bell-美好 + -ish动词后缀
词根bell- 源自拉丁语 bellus "handsome, pretty, fine."=beaut, fine, 表示“美好”,如：
beautician[bjutn] n. 美容师
beau[b] n. 花花公子, 情郎, 求爱者；喜修饰者
belles-lettres[bel letr] n. 纯文学
belletrist[belletrst] n. 纯文学作品作者
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