Ji, Y. (2015). Between tradition and modernity:“Leftover” women in Shanghai. Journal of Marriage and Family, 77(5), 1057-1073.
Introduction 11
Since the turn of the new millennium, single, educated women in China’s major cities have found themselves increasingly castigated as “leftover” women if they are not yet married by their late 20s. Anxious parents brave public embarrassment to gather in parks, displaying photographs of their daughters and listing their economic prospects in the hope of finding them a husband. Popular discourse, however, frames these unmarried women as selfish, picky, and only interested in men with financial resources. The issue of “leftover” women warrants headlines and feature stories in Chinese newspaper, popular magazines, and TV reality shows. International media such as BBC News, The New York Times, The Economist, and CNN have also covered the issue.
很长的一段关于社会热点话题剩女，在社会上引起的反响。这就是一种非常深入生活的，侧面强调重要性的方式，….women have found themselves castigated as…. Castigate 是惩罚，谴责的意思，若不是对英语很了解的人，这种单词真是不敢用。 后面分别描述了anxious parents brave…, popular discourse frames….. 然后用….warrants headline and feature stories in Chinese newspaper, 还有international media ….have also covered the issue….. 其实用新闻焦点来描述一个社会问题是一个很好的方法。 注意，用the issue….warrant 这个单词我也不是特别了解，查了一下，有两种意思1. “a legal document that is signed by a judge, allowing the police to take a particular action”2. “an official document giving someone the right to do something” 授权和给予权力的意思更多些吧。
Unfortunately, academics have yet to accord the phenomenon much attention. Only a limited account of quantitative research has investigated the effect of education on Chinese women’s marriage timing, with only one study directly examining the so-called “leftover” women. Qualitative research investigating the issue is similarly scarce, but here too the few studies that exist are largely descriptive or have focused on mate choice strategy or the empowerment of the single experience. Little is known about the dynamics underlying these women’s marriage decisions. It is thus urgent to investigate and conceptualize these educated women’s constraints and struggles in regard to marriage formation in the rapidly changing context of China, which is understood by many of its own citizens as transitioning from tradition to modernity.
后面这长长的一段就是在讲学术上对这个领域的忽视，我们的研究是多么的及时和迫切。满满的套路啊， 然而还是先把套路学会再说吧。注意语气词，unfortunately, academics….has yet to….是还没有的意思哦。Accord … attention 应该就是pay attention 的意思吧，然后是一个简易的literature review, only a limited account of quantitative research have investigated …..with only one study directly examining the ……qualitative research investigating …is similarly scarce, but here too few studies that exist are largely descriptive or….little is known about ….. 请注意only a limited account of, Scarce, too few studies…这种不重复并列的词汇。
It is thus urgent to investigate and conceptualize …. 这是我们需要做的事情，注意动词，in a rapidly changing context of China, which…….特点是transition from tradition to modernity, 所有和传统与现代相关的topic 都可以强调这一背景。
Research indicates that marriage is still early and nearly universal in China, in spite of three decade of rapid industrialization, urbanization, and expansion of mass education after the economic reform initiated in the 1980s. what interesting is that the pace of educated Chinese women delaying or forgoing marriage is actually much slower/lower compared to equally educated men and equally educated women in other Asian societies.
用research indicates 开始literature review, what is interesting is that ….讲述一个有趣的中国现象， 注意compared to equally…. Equally 的用法很有趣。
At the same time, alongside rapid economic reformation and modernization, China has witnessed a resurgence of patriarchal Confucian tradition in recent years. According to this tradition, women are valued in terms of the gender equality in China, with women participating the labor force en masse since even the preformation Maoist period and receiving more and more education in the post-reformation period. The return of patriarchal tradition seems to be at least partially accountable for the now stalled, if not declining, status of gender equality in China.
此外，又讲述了与这个economic reformation and modernization 相反趋势的resurgence of patriarchal Confucian tradition. 后面详细介绍这一传统，即是 according to this tradition, ……后面在进一步点明这种return/ resurgence的影响， the return of partriarchal tradition seems….. 说明影响，可以用这样的词汇，be accountable for …. 而不要总是用 influence, affect 这样的词。
In this research I investigated how China’s so-called “leftover” women draw on and integrate elements of both tradition and modernity as they pursue their own ambitions and negotiate various constraints vis-à-vis marriage and their careers.
在这样的两股矛盾的趋势背景之下，作者紧接着就开始介绍她的研究问题。Investigate 是她用得比较多的一个小词。
In doing so, this study challenges the linear narratives of progress and / or convergence claimed by modernization theories, which would predict that, through economic modernization, the “tradition” family mode in non-western contexts will transition to the western “modern” family code. I use the terms tradition and modernity here in a deliberate but qualified way in order not only to critique the naturalization of the concepts and their assumptions but also to capture their resilient currency and meaning in people’s everyday efforts to make sense of a society undergoing rapid change.
这就是作者要做的事情，我想作者比较高明的地方，不在于说就研究说研究，而是在说这个研究对于理论的意义是什么。这种与理论，尤其是与大理论的对话，是好杂志中意的一种形式，虽然我并不完全认同这种强迫说人家理论不懂得变通的作法，任何理论都是会依据情境而变得，很多作者总是把理论说得很僵硬很愚蠢，然后再说我这个文章可以贡献这个理论，哎，内心想得是幼稚，但是又能怎样呢，这也许是另外一种对话吧。
注意this study challenge …..claimed by modernization theories, 后面继续介绍这个theory， which predict that …… I use …. To critique the naturalization of the ….. to capture the resilient currency and meaning , 注意一些描述theory 的词汇，linear narrative of….progress or convergence … 通畅来说，描述抽象东西是最难得，这名中国作者总体语言表达能力还是很强的。
The issue of “leftover” women warrants headlines and feature stories in Chinese newspaper, popular magazines, and TV reality shows.
本句中warrant的用法很普通啊，就是确保的意思。翻译：“剩女”问题总能确保它自己在中国的报纸、流行杂志和电视真人秀节目上占据头条的位置和新闻特写的栏目。
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