“恐婚”阿根廷年轻人流行花钱参加假婚礼

 　　Although most young Argentinians aren’t even thinking about marriage these days, they seem quite fond of wedding ceremonies. So they’ve come up with a bizarre party trend of fake weddings, where groups of 20- and 30-somethings get together to attend wedding-themed parties complete with fake bride and groom¹.

　　虽然大多数阿根廷年轻人根本没考虑过谈婚论嫁，可他们似乎都还很喜欢参加婚礼。所以他们开启了“假结婚”的奇异潮流，一堆20或者30多岁的年轻人齐聚一堂，参加婚礼主题的聚会，不过新郎和新娘都不是真的。

　　The idea was the brainchild of 26-year-old publicist Martin Acerbi, who, a couple of years ago, organised a fake wedding with four of his friends in La Plata, about 32 miles away from Buenos Aires. “It all started two years ago with a group of friends: we realised we hadn’t been to a wedding in a long time because hardly anybody is getting married anymore,” Acerbi says.

　　26岁的公关马丁?阿克比想出了这一主意，几年前，他与他的四位朋友在距离阿根廷布宜诺斯艾利斯51.5公里远的拉普拉塔组织了一场假婚礼。他回忆道：“一切始于两年前我和一群朋友的经历：由于现在很少有人结婚，我们意识到我们很久没有参加过婚礼了。”

　　阿根廷年轻人流行花钱参加假婚礼

　　To his surprise, the event was a huge success which got him thinking about a new business. The friends went on to found ‘Falsa Boda’, a fake wedding organising company, in November 2013. They rent out real wedding locations, hire caterers, florists³, and DJs, and make everything look like a real wedding. Except, there is no ‘happily ever after’.

　　令他惊讶的是，他们组织的假婚礼获得了空前的成功，这使得阿克比想到了新商机。这几位志同道合的好友于2013年11月成立了一家组织假婚礼的公司Falsa Boda。他们租赁了真正的婚礼举办地点，雇佣了宴席承办者、花匠和DJ，让一切看上去与真正的婚礼一模一样。唯一的差别在于，婚礼过后没有“从此之后的幸福生活”。

　　The bride and groom are hired too, as is a secret boyfriend or spurned⁴ lover who arrives unexpectedly to disrupt the ceremony. There’s a fair bit of drama when the bride or groom abandons the wedding and elopes with the third actor. There’s a different storyline for each event, and sometimes the ‘bride’ even throws her bouquet⁵ to the female guests.

　　新娘和新郎也是雇佣来的，假婚礼上还会有秘密男友或者感觉备受冷落的情人前来闹场。有时新娘或者新郎会抛弃婚礼与第三名演员私奔。每场假婚礼最后都会有不同的故事结局，有时新娘会将捧花扔给女性客人。

　　“These wedding professionals have become our strategic allies, we organise² it like it’s the real thing, except the marriage itself is fake,” Acerbi said. “Our guests get all the fun of a wedding party with none of the commitment, or the problem of finding someone who is actually getting married.”

　　阿克比说：“这些婚礼专家已经成为了我们的战略同盟，我们将它当做一场真正的婚礼来举办，只有婚姻本身是假的。我们的客人可以充分享受这场没有承诺的婚礼的乐趣，就算看中新郎新娘也没有关系，因为他们不是真的结婚。”

　　Each fake wedding event can accommodate 600 to 700 guests, who all pay about $50 to attend. According to Acerbi, the events are mostly targeted at women, who end up buying the majority of the tickets. “The romanticism around weddings is clearly still alive, at least in that respect,” he explained.

　　每场假婚礼能容纳600-700名客人，每位客人需付50美元入场费。据阿克比透露，假婚礼的主要目标是女性，她们购买了大部分入场券。他解释说：“虽然婚姻本身是假的，但婚礼的浪漫氛围并未减少。”

　　32-year-old marketing⁶ manager Pablo Boniface, who recently attended a fake wedding, said: “The girls were euphoric, as if a cousin of theirs was really getting married, but it was just an actress. When the bride arrived, everyone went crazy, pulling out their phones and snapping pictures like she was a Hollywood star.” He agreed that the fake weddings were a big hit because hardly anyone his age ever talks about getting married. “I’m single and so are all of my friends of both sexes. Marriage is something we don’t even think about. It’s a formality that has nothing to do with love.”

　　32岁的市场经理帕布洛?伯尼菲斯最近参加了一场假婚礼，他说：“姑娘们的情绪都很高涨，感觉就像她们的亲戚真的在结婚一样，但其实婚礼上只有演员。新娘入场之后，每个人都很疯狂，拿出他们的手机拍摄照片，感觉她就像一名好莱坞明星。”他承认假婚礼特别受欢迎，因为他的同龄人很少会考虑结婚。“我还是单身，我身边的男女朋友们也一样。婚姻是我们不会考虑的东西。这是一场与爱无关的仪式。”

　　There’s plenty of data to prove Boniface right. 22,000 couples tied the knot in Buenos Aires in 1990, but that number nosedived to almost half that – 11,642 – by 2013. According to government statistics, the people who do get married are much older. So people these days don’t have many opportunities to attend wedding parties, which is why Acerbi’s fake weddings are so popular.

　　不少数据显示1990年布宜诺斯艾利斯有2.2万人结婚，而这一数字到了2013年暴跌至11642人。据政府统计，真正结婚的人年纪都比较大。如今阿根廷的年轻人没什么机会参加婚礼，阿克比的假婚礼才会如此受欢迎。

　　“They are going to see something they don’t do in real life any more,” explained sociologist⁷ Victoria Mazzeo. “The fact is that very few young people get married anymore.”

　　社会学家维多利亚?马泽尔表示：“他们会见识到现实生活中看不到的东西。事实上，现在很少有年轻人结婚了。”

　　And as Boniface pointed⁸ out, it’s apparently⁹ easier to meet someone at fake weddings than at real ones!

　　正如伯尼菲斯指出，很明显去假婚礼结交朋友远比去真婚礼方便。

　　Vocabulary

　　brainchild: 创造性脑力劳动的产物（如思想、发现、发明、计划、艺术品、作品等）

　　publicist: 公关人员

　　spurn: 冷落；一脚踢开

　　euphoric: 情绪高涨的

　　nosedive: 暴跌

1 groom   

vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁

参考例句：

• His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。
• George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

2 organise   

vt.组织，安排，筹办

参考例句：

• He has the ability to organise.他很有组织才能。
• It's my job to organise all the ceremonial events.由我来组织所有的仪式。

3 florists   

n.花商，花农，花卉研究者( florist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The little dressmaker bought an envelope of nasturtium seeds at the florists. 那个个子矮小的女裁缝在花铺里买了一包金莲花种子。 来自辞典例句
• I have more important things to do than petulant florists. 我有比教训坏脾气的花匠更重要的事情要做。 来自互联网

4 spurned   

v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Eve spurned Mark's invitation. 伊夫一口回绝了马克的邀请。
• With Mrs. Reed, I remember my best was always spurned with scorn. 对里德太太呢，我记得我的最大努力总是遭到唾弃。 来自辞典例句

5 bouquet   

n.花束，酒香

参考例句：

• This wine has a rich bouquet.这种葡萄酒有浓郁的香气。
• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。

6 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

7 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

8 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

9 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。