2021年6月26日期经济学人上有一篇文章，叫Brought to book，讲的是关于整顿校外培训机构的。今天我在公众号“高斋外刊双语精读”上跟大家分享其中一段，一起来积累表达吧！

经济学人原文：Until children reach the age of about 15 in China, education is free. So why is it that more than half of a typical family’s spending goes on it? The answer is cramming classes: a financial burden so great that it is often said to discourage couples from having children at all. Now officials are trying to rein in the industry, in part, it appears, to relieve the pressure on people’s wallets. As the People’s Daily, an official newspaper, reported this month, the market for such services is plagued by “endless chaos”. It listed problems ranging from misleading advertising to high prices and the use of unqualified teachers.

高斋参考译文：在中国，直到儿童15岁左右，教育都是免费的。那么，为什么一个普通家庭有一半以上的支出都用于教育呢？答案是补习班：这对普通家庭来说是一个巨大的经济负担，所以人们常说补习班让一些夫妻根本不敢生孩子。现在官员们正试图管控这个行业，似乎部分是为了减轻人们的经济压力。正如《人民日报》本月报道的那样，校外培训市场乱象频发。该官媒列举了从虚假宣传、课程价格高昂到聘用不合格教师等一系列问题。

第二句：So why is it that more than half of a typical family’s spending goes on it?

那么，为什么一个普通家庭有一半以上的支出都用于教育呢？

1. 固定句型：So why is it that是强调句。例如词典例子：Why is it that for everything, death follows birth? 为什么万物有生就有死呢？还比如这句：But, why is it that people gossip at all? 可是，人们到底为什么要八卦呢？

TED演讲中也用到了这个句型：And yet, why is it that, in creative writing courses today, the very first thing we teach students is write what you know? 然而，为什么在如今的创新写作课程中，最初交给学生的事情就是写下你所知道的？

2. a typical family：typical可以表示“一贯的；平常的；普通的；典型的”，这里意思是“普通的”，a typical family也可以说an ordinary family。

3. Spending：作为名词意思就是“花销；支出”，比如中国日报上的这句：But once you’re comfortable with that, planning your spending for the coming month will require just a few minutes of your time. 不过一旦习惯后，计划次月开支只要你几分钟的时间。

4. Go on sth：表示用于（支付）……。如柯林斯词典中这句：Most of my money goes on bills. 我的钱大部分用来支付各种账单。

第三句：The answer is cramming classes: a financial burden so great that it is often said to discourage couples from having children at all.

答案是补习班：这对普通家庭来说是一个巨大的经济负担，所以人们常说补习班让一些夫妻根本不敢生孩子。

1. 句子结构分析：it is often said to 中it是单数，所以不是指cramming classes，而是指a financial burden，也就是a financial burden is often said to discourage couples from having children at all，但是翻译的时候根据语境灵活翻译为补习班。

Sth is often said to do sth表示人们常说……

2. 同义表达：cramming classes是补习班。同义表达有remedial lessons，after-school classes，after-school tutoring classes，supplemental classes，supplementary tutoring classes，extracurricular classes。

比如路透社上这两句：More than 75% of K-12 students - roughly aged from 6 to 18 - in China attended after-school tutoring classes in 2016, according to the most recent figures from the Chinese Society of Education. 根据中国教育学会的最新数据，2016年中国超过75%的K-12学生（年龄大约在6岁至18岁）参加了课外辅导班。

Competition is so fierce it has given rise to a popular term in parenting circles. Jiwa, or "chicken baby", refers to anxious parents pumping energy boosting "chicken blood" into their children by loading them up with extracurricular classes. 竞争如此激烈，以至于在育儿圈里产生了一个流行词。Jiwa或称“鸡娃”，指的是焦虑的父母通过让孩子上各种课外辅导班，给他们注入增强能量的“鸡血”。

还比如纽约时报上这句：Local parents poured even more into supplementary tutoring classes, music lessons, sports leagues and more. 这里的父母在补习班、音乐课、体育联赛和课外活动上花了很多钱。

Cram很常见，《经济学人精读：高考延期！趁着年轻，好好追梦 | 外刊双语》这篇中有讲：cram for是固定表达，意思是“应付考试；准备考试；临时抱佛脚；死记硬背”，如：She was cramming for her Economics exam. 她正在为应付经济学考试临阵磨枪。

cram for也可以表示“匆忙准备”，如经济学人例句：She had a few days to cram for a hazing most candidates spend years preparing for. 对于大多数候选人需要准备数年的这一问题，她却只能在短短时间内匆忙准备。

还比如经济学人上的这一句：Teenagers have been cramming for years for these tests, which they believe (with justification) will determine their entire future. 学生为高考苦读多年，他们坚信高考会决定自己的一生。

3. 同义表达：discourage意为“阻止，使气馁，打消……念头，不允许”。在外刊或新闻报道中经常使用。常用Discourage sb from doing sth，同义表达是deter sb from doing sth，dissuade sb from doing sth，比如“打消了夫妻生孩子的想法”就可以有以下几种说法，如《“三孩政策”来了，网友却说“民不聊生”！| 经济学人精读》这句：

The high cost of housing and education, as well as the crushingly long work hours common in many companies, deter young couples from having any more than one child, or reproducing at all. 住房和教育成本高昂，许多公司普遍存在超长的工作时间，这些打消了年轻夫妻生一个以上孩子或者生孩子的想法。

还比如《人口普查：为什么越来越多的人不愿意生孩子？| 经济学人精读》中这句：Instead, soaring housing and educational costs are dissuading couples from having more children, while many young people are choosing not to get married in the first place. 然而，由于房价和教育成本飙升，一些夫妻不得不放弃生更多孩子的想法，而许多年轻人一开始就选择不结婚。

今天我看路透社的时候还看到这个，The cost of raising a child in urban China, with education accounting for a big chunk of that, has deterred many would-be parents. 可见，deter many would-be parents也可以表达“打消夫妻生孩子的想法”这个意思。

第四句：Now officials are trying to rein in the industry, in part, it appears, to relieve the pressure on people’s wallets.

现在官员们正试图管控这个行业，似乎部分是为了减轻人们的经济压力。

1. 句子结构分析：it appears算插入语。这句主干是Now officials are trying to rein in the industry in part to relieve the pressure on people’s wallets. 其中to relieve the pressure on people’s wallets是目的。

2. in part：相当于partly。

3. 语法解析：插入语在高斋外刊精读翻译班有详细讲解，这里分享其中两个经济学人例句：Meteorologists scrambled to explain what was going on. But the most likely explanation, most accept, is that fires burning far away in the rainforest are to blame. 气象学家纷纷试图对此作出解释，但是大多数人认为，最可信的解释是，来自遥远亚马孙雨林的熊熊大火才是罪魁祸首。Graduates, it seems, are too snooty to take them. 而毕业生似乎心高气傲，看不上这些工作。

4. 固定表达：rein in意为控制；放慢；止住。在高斋外刊精读翻译班中有讲过经济学人中的一句案例：Bestselling books predicted dystopian outcomes in which society split into a wealthy, robot-owning plutocracy and an unemployed underclass, and repressive governments would be needed to rein in social discontent. 畅销书预言了废托邦的结局——社会分裂为拥有机器人的富豪统治者和失业的下层社会，需要政府镇压来控制住社会不满。但机器人并没有抢走所有的工作。

5. Relieve的同义词是ease，lighten，其中parents’ wallets很形象，还比如经济学人中这句：One aim is to ease the pressure on parents’ wallets. 一个目的是减轻父母的经济压力。

第五句：As the People’s Daily, an official newspaper, reported this month, the market for such services is plagued by “endless chaos”.

正如《人民日报》本月报道的那样，校外培训市场乱象频发。

1. market for：注意介词是for，常见的还有center for，表示用于……流通等活动的地方。介词for或of这种情况下一般翻译为“的”或者省译，所有直接说“校外培训市场”。

2. 固定表达：be plagued by表示被……所困扰\折磨，比如CATTI一笔真题中说乔治六世口吃的这句...the debilitating stutter that had plagued the king since childhood，这里顺便推荐电影《国王的演讲》。

经济学人中运用该表达的例句如下：Floods have always plagued Jakarta, but in recent years they have become more severe. 雅加达向来备受洪水困扰，但近些年情况愈加严峻。

本文没有直接翻译为“校外培训市场因无休止的混乱而困扰”，这样译文就会很生硬，一般我们常说“校外培训市场乱象频发”。

第六句：It listed problems ranging from misleading advertising to high prices and the use of unqualified teachers.

该官媒列举了从虚假宣传、课程价格高昂到聘用不合格教师等一系列问题。

1. It：指the People’s Daily, an official newspaper.

2. ranging from：在作problems的后置定语，表示从……到……。比如《为什么蛋壳公寓爆雷是必然的？| 外刊双语精读》这句：At Danke’s headquarters in Beijing, protesters said they were chasing late payments ranging from Rmb200m ($31m) renovation fees to Rmb5,000 cleaning bills. 在蛋壳的北京总部，抗议者们表示他们正在追讨逾期欠款，从2亿元人民币的装修费到5000元人民币的清洁费不等。

今天就分享这么多！希望大家喜欢，多点赞多分享！