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‘Mermaid’ Subculture Relates to Many Things

时间:2022-07-19 05:59:13

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(单词翻译)

Mermaid1’ Subculture Relates to Many Things

Around the world, people of many backgrounds are taking an interest in mermaids2.

Mermaids are imaginary sea creatures that are half woman and half fish.

The 1989 Disney film, The Little Mermaid, increased the popularity of mermaids and "merfolk," the word for imaginary men and women who live under the sea and have fish tails.

Today's merfolk are finding others to share their interests in "pods" or local groups of mermaids. They are creating magazines, going to gatherings4 called mermaid conventions, and spending a lot of money on their mermaid costumes. They are creating a multimillion dollar industry.

Why mermaiding?

Freedom and acceptance are why a lot of people are drawn5 to mermaiding.

Che Monique is the founder6 of the Society of Fat Mermaids based in Washington, D.C. The group supports mermaiding that does not judge people on the appearance of their bodies. Monique said the activity of mermaiding has changed people's lives although it might seem really silly to others.

"I'm a 300-pound Black mermaid in America over 35, and hopefully that tells somebody they can do whatever they want to do." Monique added, "I think there's room under the sea for all of us."

Some people enjoy the costumes or mermaid tails. The tails are colorful and glittering. Images on social media of the tails have helped to increase mermaid popularity.

When mermaiding first became well-known, tails cost a lot of money — up to $6,000 — because they were made for each person's body. They also weighed up to 23 kilograms. Tails now cost less than $100 because of their increased popularity and low-cost materials.

Thirty-one-year-old Marielle Henault is the chief executive of AquaMermaid. The company runs mermaiding schools in Canada and the United States. She sells mermaid tails to merfolk all over the world. She has 20 tails that she owns herself.

"When you put your mermaid tail on at the beach or pool, you become a superstar," Henault said, "Kids and adults, everybody's happy to see a mermaid!

How do they swim?

Swimming as a mermaid requires the use of a special kind of equipment called a monofin. Users place both feet into the fin3 so they can swim. The mermaids must also learn a special kind of swimming method called a dolphin kick. Using this method, a person moves both feet together like a dolphin. They must also equalize the pressure in their ears as they swim under water.

There are events and competitions like the World Mermaid Championship, which was last held in China in 2019. In the state of New York, the yearly Coney Island Mermaid Parade recently took place.

Henault wants to help get mermaiding into the Olympics, possibly as a demonstration7 sport. Recently, mermaids have created their own "Merlympics" in Britain and Europe.

Mermaiding and diversity

Mermaiding is popular with some transgender people. These are people who believe their true identity is the sex other than the one they were at birth. Some of them identify with the character of Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Ariel felt trapped as a mermaid and sought life among humans.

Mermaid Nymphia is a professional mermaid and a transgender adult. Nymphia said The Little Mermaid is popular with some of the LGBTQ community because Ariel wants to change into a human.

"With transgender and nonbinary merfolk, they often connect with that mentality9 where you're not quite sure which world you belong in," Nymphia said.

Many people have found acceptance in the mermaid community.

Tabora, from the Philippines, is transgender and teaches at a mermaiding school called DIVERSity by SeaReynang Pengki.

"As transgender, it's a transition. It's like in the sea, everything evolves. The fish evolve, the coral evolves," Tabora said.

Dangers of mermaiding

However, safety concerns are increasing, from strangers on the internet, people selling false products, and swimming safety problems.

Kelly Hygema is the creator of a social media group that supports internet safety for mermaids. She said that it is important to always have someone you can trust with you while you are in the water with a tail.

"With your legs bound, you can't really run away, so it's important to have that set of legs there to make sure you're OK," Hygema said.

Some groups have raised safety concerns over the tails. In 2018, the Royal Life Saving Society of Western Australia studied the effects of mermaiding on 25 children. It found that the majority of them had experienced a decrease in swimming ability of 70 percent with the monofins and 60 percent with the tails.

In the United States, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said, in the past four years, it has received three incident reports involving mermaid tails, one involving a five-year-old girl becoming trapped underwater. The girl had put her arms and legs in the tail. She went to the hospital after the incident.

Lauren Metzler is the founder of Sydney Mermaids. She recently received a mermaid certification, a kind of official approval. Her goal is to teach inexperienced mermaids how to swim underwater and avoid sinking.

The importance of community

For many merfolk, the pastime is all about being part of a community and having fun, especially after COVID-19 restrictions10.

Merman Maui said, "I have a new family with all these people."

Metzler, who hopes to train mermaids, said people should open up their imaginations. "The sky — or ocean floor — is the limit of what you can do with mermaiding," she said.

Words in This Story

costume –n. clothes that are worn to try to look like something different

silly –adj. not serious, meaningful, or important

glittering – adj. shining brightly

character – n. a person who appears in a story, book, play, movie, or television show

LGBTQ –acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer

norm – n. behavior that is usual or expected

nonbinary – adj. describing someone whose gender8 identity is not completely male or female

mentality – n. a person's opinions or way of thinking

transition – n. to act of changing from one state or condition to another

evolve – v. to undergo evolutionary11 change

bound – adj. restricted or tied up with rope or some other material


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 mermaid pCbxH     
n.美人鱼
参考例句:
  • How popular would that girl be with the only mermaid mom!和人鱼妈妈在一起,那个女孩会有多受欢迎!
  • The little mermaid wasn't happy because she didn't want to wait.小美人鱼不太高兴,因为她等不及了。
2 mermaids b00bb04c7ae7aa2a22172d2bf61ca849     
n.(传说中的)美人鱼( mermaid的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The high stern castle was a riot or carved gods, demons, knights, kings, warriors, mermaids, cherubs. 其尾部高耸的船楼上雕满了神仙、妖魔鬼怪、骑士、国王、勇士、美人鱼、天使。 来自辞典例句
  • This is why mermaids should never come on land. 这就是为什么人鱼不应该上岸的原因。 来自电影对白
3 fin qkexO     
n.鳍;(飞机的)安定翼
参考例句:
  • They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。
  • The aircraft has a long tail fin.那架飞机有一个长长的尾翼。
4 gatherings 400b026348cc2270e0046708acff2352     
聚集( gathering的名词复数 ); 收集; 采集; 搜集
参考例句:
  • His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
  • During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次,其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。
5 drawn MuXzIi     
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的
参考例句:
  • All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
  • Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。
6 Founder wigxF     
n.创始者,缔造者
参考例句:
  • He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
  • According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说,罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。
7 demonstration 9waxo     
n.表明,示范,论证,示威
参考例句:
  • His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
  • He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。
8 gender slSyD     
n.(生理上的)性,(名词、代词等的)性
参考例句:
  • French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语,所有的名词都有性。
  • Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。
9 mentality PoIzHP     
n.心理,思想,脑力
参考例句:
  • He has many years'experience of the criminal mentality.他研究犯罪心理有多年经验。
  • Running a business requires a very different mentality from being a salaried employee.经营企业所要求具备的心态和上班族的心态截然不同。
10 restrictions 81e12dac658cfd4c590486dd6f7523cf     
约束( restriction的名词复数 ); 管制; 制约因素; 带限制性的条件(或规则)
参考例句:
  • I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
  • a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制
11 evolutionary Ctqz7m     
adj.进化的;演化的,演变的;[生]进化论的
参考例句:
  • Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
  • These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

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