十大奇怪的美国文化传统(上)

Traditions vary widely around the world, and the ways of one society often seem downright wacky to others. American culture and traditions, thanks to the hard work of Hollywood and other arms of the nation's media multiplex, have become well-known in most corners of the map. But that doesn't always mean people in other countries find some of these customs less bizarre than Americans consider theirs.

世界各地的传统都不尽相同，一个地区的风俗对于其他地方来说可能甚为古怪。由于好莱坞和其他媒体的大力宣传，美国文化和传统已经传播到地球上的各个角落。但就像美国人觉得其他地方的传统奇怪一样，其他国家的人也照样会觉得美国的一些传统颇为奇怪。

On the next 10 pages, we'll cover 10 traditions Americans take for granted, but that people in other countries often consider strange at best.

接下来我们将介绍 10 种美国人习以为常、但其他国家的人们会觉得奇怪的传统。

wing Tailgate Parties

10.举办车尾野餐会

When Americans attend sporting events -- and football games in particular -- it's often not enough to simply show up and take their seats. They need to arrive hours in advance to properly prepare for the experience of seeing the game live and in person. Emblazoned in team colors, tailgaters will crowd the stadium's parking lot, grilling food, sipping cold adult beverages, playing lawn games and tossing around footballs.

美国人参加体育比赛（尤其是足球赛）的时候，仅仅出席、落座是远远不够的。他们要提前数小时到场，为现场观赛做准备。参加“车尾野餐会”的人们会穿戴与球队颜色相同的衣饰，挤满体育场的停车场。大家会一起烧烤食物，喝成人冷饮，玩草坪游戏，讨论足球等等。

Many tailgaters take their setup very seriously, and will even haul along stereos, TVs and satellite dishes to enhance the event. When it comes to how early fans arrive to start tailgating, the sky's the limit. Some are out there at the crack of dawn to begin the festivities -- or even the night before to claim a spot! When it comes to the pigskin, the traditions don't stop in the parking lot, however. Check another strange American obsession related to football on the next page.

许多人都很重视野餐会的场地布置，甚至会拖着音响、电视和卫星天线给活动增色添彩。至于这个聚会什么时候开始，没有最早，只有更早！有些球迷在黎明时分就已经到场开始庆祝了——甚至在比赛前夜就开始占位了！除了停车场聚餐之外，美国还有许多与美式足球有关的传统，比如接下来我们要讲的这个。

hing Super Bowl Commercials

9.观看超级碗广告

Television commercials are typically a trial to be borne, but when it comes to Super Bowl commercials, that's not even close to the case. The vast majority of Super Bowl spectators are Americans, and they eagerly await breaks in the big game to see which commercials wow them the most. In the days that follow, those ads are debated and hashed over, rated and discussed, with gusto and ad nauseam, maybe even more than the sometimes lackluster game.

看电视广告通常是很难熬的，但看超级碗的广告就完全相反了。美国人是超级碗比赛最大的观众群体，他们十分期待大赛间隙投放的广告，想看看哪个广告最让人眼前一亮。接下来的几天里，人们兴致勃勃地争论哪支广告最好，并对其进行排名，反反复复，乐此不疲，对广告的兴趣甚至超过了那些有时乏善可陈的比赛。

Which commercials cost the most to make? Which ones were surprisingly cheap? How much were the commercial slots sold for? The potential questions are endless. As for answers, in 2011, one of the most popular commercials was a Doritos ad that cost only about $500 to make. Altogether, around 60 commercials aired throughout the game, with prices up to $3 million for 30-second slots. At $100,000 a second, advertisers are happy to fuel this particular American tradition of advertisement scrutiny.

哪个广告成本最高？哪个成本又低得惊人？这些广告时段价值几何？问题无穷无尽。若要回答这些问题，下面这些数字可能会派上用场。多力多滋广告是2011年最流行的广告之一，拍摄成本只有五百美元。而比赛过程中大约播出了60支商业广告，每30秒价格高达300万美元。尽管广告费高达10万美元/秒，但广告商仍然乐意一掷千金，将这个特殊的美国传统“发扬光大”。

brating the American Dream

8.庆祝美国梦

Although the definition of the American Dream isn't set in stone and has been recalibrated over the years, there's little denying that Americans in general still teach their kids that this dream is one they, too, can enjoy. Whether or not that's a reality is another matter, but that's a question for different day.

尽管美国梦的定义并不是一成不变的，近年来也不断调整，但很少有人否认，大多数美国人都会教育孩子说，美国梦是他们每个人的美国梦。这是否属实另当别论，但这不是我们今天要讨论的话题。

At an emotional level, the American Dream evokes feelings of freedom to avenues of opportunity and equal access to paths of prosperity for anyone willing to work hard to achieve it. At a more practical level, many argue that achieving the American Dream has become equated with consumerism and ownership instead of the more purist notions at its core. Regardless of where the truth lies, it's still a national tradition to pass down the idea that the American Dream is achievable in each generation.

从情感角度来说，美国梦唤起了那些为实现美国梦而努力工作的人追求自由的热情，同时也让这些人相信他们在通往繁荣的道路上享受平等的权利。但从更实际的角度看，许多人认为，实现美国梦已经逐渐等同于消费主义以及居者有其屋，其核心已不再是单纯的一种信条理念。无论真相如何，将“每一代人都可以实现美国梦”的观念传承下去仍旧是美国的一大传统。

ing "Trials of the Century"

7.开展“世纪大审判”

Americans love sensationalism, and their media is happy to give it to them, couched in familiar and impossibly exaggerated language. That's why, for example, every couple of years a new "Trial of the Century" takes place in America. All past "Trial of the Century" court cases are collectively forgotten, as the new one proves to be so much more distasteful, repugnant, abominable (insert appropriate adjective!) than the last.

美国人酷爱耸人听闻，美国媒体也乐于配合，常用那些夸张至极的语言使公众哗然。因此，每过几年便会有一个新的“世纪大审判”在美国诞生。每一次的诉讼案件都比上一次的更恶劣、更让人痛心疾首，以至于之前的“世纪大审判”统统被人们抛之脑后。

Often these trials involve celebrities themselves -- this is true from Fatty Arbuckle to O.J. Simpson to former President Bill Clinton -- but oftentimes the trials make celebrities (however willing or unwilling) out of ordinary citizens. Casey Anthony's court case is a good example of a recent "Trial of the Century" that launched a regular person into the intense glare of the media spotlight. Her fame brought her mostly public shaming, but the American public also went out of their way to roast her on social media sites. Chances are, though, that a few years from now, the stage will just be set for the next "Trial of the Century" to commence.

“世纪大审判”经常发生在名人身上，比如罗斯科·阿巴克尔、O.J.辛普森以及美国前总统比尔·克林顿，但大多数时候，“世纪大审判”会把一个普通人变成名人(不论他们愿意与否)。 最近的一次“世纪大审判”中，一个普通人——凯西·安东尼就被媒体推到了风口浪尖，成为了公众关注的焦点。但她的“名声”所招致的大都是社会的谴责，同时美国公众也不遗余力地在社交网站上对她进行攻击。尽管如此，这样的情形并不会持续太久，几年过后便会有新的“世纪大审判”出现并取而代之。

in Chunkin

6.扔南瓜比赛

Each year, as corn stalks tower toward the sky and leaves turn yellow, orange and red, folks in the United States often flock to farms in order to attend fall festivals. Most of the goings on at these festivals are pretty tame if a little odd-sounding from an outside perspective. Families often participate in activities like going on hayrides, picking out pumpkins, walking through corn mazes, sampling cider, petting barnyard animals, that sort of thing.

每年，在玉米秸秆直冲天际，树叶变成黄色、橙色或红色的时候，美国人民就会成群结队地前往农场庆祝秋季节。这些庆典上的大部分节目其实都很平常，不过在局外人看来可能有一点点古怪。通常，一家人会一起乘坐干草车，挑选南瓜，穿越玉米地迷宫，品尝苹果酒，与农场动物玩耍，诸如此类。

But what really singles out some of these fall celebrations is the desire harbored by the visitors to witness pumpkins -- harmless lumpy gourds -- blasted into the air and launched great distances across acres of sprawling farmland. There are several ways this can be accomplished to satisfy a crowd, whether it's through the use of air cannons, catapults, trebuchets or machines using torsion and centrifugal force. Pretty much the only one who doesn't end up having a good time is the pumpkin.

这些节目之所以会出现在我们的清单上，是因为其中的扔南瓜比赛，游客们都兴致勃勃地想要看谁能把南瓜投掷得最远。为了满足这群观众，空气炮、弹射器、投石机、还有利用扭力和离心力的机器，通通可以派上用场。最后，大家都玩得十分尽兴，除了南瓜。

审校：瑶瑶Yvonne 来源：前十网