韩国的单人KTV | 外刊精读

学英语，总会有好事发生的。

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本期精读的文章来自The Economist对于韩国KTV行业的一篇报道：Karaoke with colleagues is no longer compulsory in South Korea

以前不少韩国白领在下班后还不得不陪上司和同事去KTV唱歌喝酒，直到深夜才能回家，后来随着社会趋势的转变这种职场文化才逐渐消亡。但KTV行业并没有就此走向没落，针对当代年轻人的需求，单人和多人KTV应运而生并且广受欢迎。

这篇文章出现了不少值得留意的小词用法，我选取了全文进行分析：

开头段介绍了韩国以前一个职场现象：很多公司职员在饭局后不得不陪老板到KTV唱歌，直到凌晨才能回家。

After-work gatherings in South Korea used to follow a pattern. After a boozy dinner and several rounds of beer and soju, a local spirit, the party would decamp to a dingy basement and squeeze onto faded upholstery in an airless room with a karaoke machine.

以前人们在韩国下班后的聚会遵循一种固定的模式。在饭局上喝完几轮啤酒和烧酒（一种当地酒饮）之后，人群会转场到昏暗的地下室房间。这些带卡拉OK机的房间密不透风，这群人就挤在褪色的椅子坐垫上唱歌。

gathering是指“聚会，集会”，比如“家庭聚会”可以说 family gatherings

spirit是熟词生义，意思是“烈酒，酒精”，类似的例子还有《加州旅馆》里面一句歌词：

So I called up the Captain / "Please bring me my wine" / He said, "We haven't had that spirit here since 1969"

There, employees would be pressed into accompanying the boss on the tambourine as he howled his favourite ballads and forced to offer their own renditions, before being allowed to stumble home in the early hours.

老板在KTV里吼着自己喜欢的曲子，而员工被迫用手鼓给他伴奏附和，一直到凌晨他们才得以踉踉跄跄地回到家。

这个句子写得很紧凑，如果让我们来写这个句子，我们可能会写成：

There, employees would be…their own renditions, and then they would be allowed to stumble home in the early hours.

可以看到，这里的关键是使用before进行连接，before在翻译的时候可以处理为“在……之后”。单词这一手法在地道英文写作中很常见，平时可以多加留意。

press somebody into (doing) something意思是“迫使某人做某事”，例如：After the scandal, the CEO was pressed into resigning. 在这一丑闻发生之后，这名CEO被迫离职。

the early hours是指“凌晨”（the time between midnight and morning）

Karaoke parlours, imported from Japan in the early 1990s and originally intended as entertainment for teenagers and families, did brisk business with drunk office workers.

卡拉OK厅于20世纪90年代初从日本引进，最早是作为青少年和家庭的娱乐工具，但它在醉酒办公室白领的光临下生意红火。

句子理解的难点是did brisk business with drunk office workers, 它的基本结构是do business with somebody, brisk是一个形容词，意思是“（生意）兴隆的，红火的”，did brisk business with drunk office workers 字面意思即“与醉酒白领的生意做得很红火”。

第二段介绍了目前职场风气的转变：人们不再热衷于下班后喝酒唱歌。员工对职场性骚扰意识的增强也促进了这一转变。

No more. Changing work patterns and social tastes are pushing noraebang (“singing rooms”, as they are known in South Korea) out of business.

这种情况不再有了。不断变化的工作模式以及社会品味正在让韩国的noraebang（唱歌室）走向停业。

The government recently restricted the working week to 52 hours, cutting the scope for late-night gallivanting.

政府最近将每周的工作时间限制在52小时，这减少了深夜游乐的空间。

gallivant意思是“游荡，闲逛”（to go or travel to many different places for pleasure）

Growing awareness among employers of sexual harassment and other badbehaviour in the dark basements means that more and more dinners wrap up early, or conversation is continued over non-alcoholic drinks at late-night coffee shops.

员工越来越意识到存在于昏暗地下室中的性骚扰以及其他不良行为，这意味着越来越多的晚上聚餐早早结束，或是更多的会面转移到深夜咖啡馆进行，在那里人们可以一边喝无酒精饮料一边聊天。

behavior这个词使用的时候要注意：它在绝大多数情况下都是单数形式，只有在涉及到心理学、社会科学和教育学等领域的学术论文中有时候才会使用复数。为了避免丢分，在考场作文中尽可能使用其单数形式。

wrap up这个短语有多个含义，其中最常见的一个是“把……包裹起来”，这里它的意思是“结束，完成”，并且我们可以说：somebody wraps the meeting up，也可以直接说：the meeting wraps up

conversation is continued over non-alcoholic drinks 这里over这一介词用得很巧妙，它的意思是“在……的同时”(during something, or while doing something)，比如：We sat over our wine and talked. 意思是“我们坐下来一边喝葡萄酒一边聊天”。

这一句也给我们提供了一个好用的句式：Growing awareness among…means that… XX人群中不断提升的XX意识意味着…… 比如“消费者对塑料污染意识的提升意味着公司必须减少产品外包装”，可以说：

Growing awareness among consumers of plastic pollution means that companies should try to reduce product packaging, or they may face public backlash.

第三段介绍了目前卡拉OK行业在日本和韩国的衰退。

Nearly 33,000 of them survive (down from a peak of more than 35,000 in 2011). But more than 1,400 shut in 2018, and 650 went during the first quarter of this year alone.

这些卡拉OK厅中有接近33000家还在营业（从2011年最高峰超过35000家减少到目前这个数量）。但2018年有超过1400家关门，今年仅第一季度就有650家倒闭。

…and 650 went during the first quarter… 这里相当于...and 650 went (shut) during the first quarter…

Similar trends are afoot in Japan, the home of karaoke, where desperate owners have reportedly resorted to renting out their unused parlours as temporary offices during the daytime.

卡拉OK之乡日本也出现了类似的趋势，据报道绝望的业主不得已只能在白天将他们不用的店铺租出去做办公室。

somebody resorts to doing something是一个固定搭配，意思是“某人不得已只能做某事”，比如我们可以说：Having spent all his money, he had to resort to asking his parents for help.

第四段介绍了当前针对个人和多人卡拉OK服务的兴起。

Karaoke is not dying. South Koreans are relieved that their careers no longerhinge on jangling a tambourine for their tone-deaf bosses. But many still like to use their newly won spare time for singing.

卡拉OK并未消亡。韩国人感到宽慰的一点是，他们的职业生涯不再依赖于为他们的音盲老板摇鼓助兴，但很多人仍然利用他们刚争取来的自由时间去唱歌。

hinge on类似于depend on，意思是“依赖于，取决于”，比如我们可以说：

Whether students can be admitted to a good university hinges on their scores in the national higher education entrance exam.

tone-deaf可以用来形容人五音不全，音盲。

Newly won意思是“刚刚争取来的”，于此相关还有一个短语hard-won，即“来之不易”的，例如：She was not going to give up her hard-won freedom so easily. 她不会这么轻易地放弃得来不易的自由。

Unlike old-school karaoke parlours, they tend to be above ground, well lit and colourfully decorated.

与老式卡拉OK厅不同，这些新的卡拉OK房间往往位于地面，光线充足同时内部装饰多彩。

old-school在这里含义是“旧式的”，同时它也可以用来形容人“老派，传统”。

Rather than pay hourly rates of between 15,000 and 20,000 won ($12-17), users can sing individual songs for as little as 500 won.

用户最低只需要花500韩元就能唱单曲，而不用每小时花15000到20000韩元（相当于12到17美元）。

在写作中我们可以用rather than来代替instead of, rather than后面可以接动词原形，也可以接现在分词形式。比如韦氏词典的这条例句：Rather than using dried herbs, he picked fresh ones from the garden.

结尾段调侃了韩国人的KTV音乐品味。

The move towards belting out tunes on one’s lonesome does not seem to have affected musical preferences.

人们倾向于选择单独去KTV大声唱歌，但这一点似乎并不影响他们的音乐偏好。

belt out意思是“大声唱，大声演奏”（If you belt out a song, you sing or play it very loudly），on/by one’s lonesome也是一个固定搭配，意思相当于alone，比如：He sat by/on his lonesome at the dinner table. 他在餐桌旁孤零零地坐着。

Apart from current hits, the noraebang charts are dominated by old-school ballads and cheesy Western pop staples.

除了当前的流行曲子之外，KTV房间的音乐榜单被经典情歌和俗气的西方流行金曲占据。

the charts专门指“（唱片销量的）排行榜”，top the charts即“登上排行榜榜首”，例如：They topped both the US singles and album charts at the same time. 他们同时荣登美国单曲榜和专辑榜榜首。

staple这个单词有多个含义，最常见的含义是“订书钉；主食”，它在这里指的是“某样广泛流行的事物”，pop staples可以理解为“流行金曲”。