Part 3 Some Marriage Traditions 西方婚俗趣談

Dialogue Script 對話原文

Lisa: I have surprising news for you.
Billy: What's that?
Lisa: Barbara is getting married.
Billy: Well, isn't that simply wonderful! My best wishes to her. Who's the lucky guy?
Lisa: Jason. He proposed last Saturday night at the formal dance.
Billy: My, how romantic! When is the big day?
Lisa: This August.
Billy: Will it be a church wedding or a civil wedding?
Lisa: Well, Barbara is a catholic. So, there will be a church wedding.
Billy: Good. So Barbara will be a bride. She will be very beautiful in her wedding gown.
Lisa: She's hoping I'll be her maid of honour.
Billy: Did you promise her?
Lisa: Yes, I did. It'll be my first time.
Billy: Who did Jason ask to be his best man?
Lisa: My boyfriend, Tom.
Billy: That's very interesting. The groom's best man is the maid of honour's boyfriend.
Lisa: And they will go to a large restaurant for the reception after the wedding ceremony.
Billy: That will be very expensive for the father of the bridegroom, won't it?
Lisa: No, the bride's family is responsible for the entire wedding——arrangements, costs, etc.
Billy: That's why many American fathers joke they would rather hold the ladder for their daughter to climb down and elope than pay for a wedding.

講解：

1. The giving of an "engagement" ring was first practiced when the groom "purchased" his bride. By giving a token, such as a ring, he pledged to marry her in return for her dowry and social status, among other things. The tradition of giving a diamond began with the Italians. It was believed that diamonds were created from the "flames of love" and represented everlasting love.

The Wedding Kiss dates back to Roman times. The kiss was to seal the marriage legally between the couple and must be witnessed by another person. In addition to the groom not being allowed to see the bride before the ceremony, the veil was also used to protect the bride from being seen by evil spirits and jealous suitors. To this day, it is considered bad luck for the groom to see the bride on her wedding day before the ceremony.

The rowdy bachelor parties were the invention of the Spartan Soldiers. It became customary for the groom to feast with his friends the night before the wedding, often celebrating his last night of freedom by getting severely drunk (not much has changed it seems). In modern times, women have decided they also want their night of fun, so now it is traditional for women to have Stagette or Bachelorette parties as well.

西方婚禮中的許多風(fēng)俗都有獨(dú)特的象征和內(nèi)涵，這里我們向大家介紹一些。首先是贈送鉆戒，《圣經(jīng)》中說，在遠(yuǎn)古時(shí)代，男子向女子求婚所用證物就是指環(huán)。9世紀(jì)時(shí)，教皇尼古拉一世頒布法令，規(guī)定男方贈送婚戒給女方是正式求婚不可缺少的程序。

新娘禮服的色彩代表著傳統(tǒng)，也有其特定的含義，例如白色代表純潔的童貞。美國、英國新娘選用黃色禮服則象征愛神和富足。另外，新娘在婚禮當(dāng)天佩戴頭飾的習(xí)俗由來已久，古代女子在適婚年齡都頭戴花環(huán)，以區(qū)別于已婚婦女，象征著童貞。西方女子在結(jié)婚時(shí)也有戴面紗的習(xí)俗，最初，新娘戴面紗是年輕和童貞的象征，而信奉天主教的新娘戴面紗則代表純潔。因此，許多新娘趕赴教堂舉行婚禮時(shí)都選擇戴雙層面紗。新娘的父親將女兒交給新郎后，由新郎親手揭開面紗。

最后，根據(jù)習(xí)俗，婚禮以新人的親吻宣告結(jié)束。這一吻富有深刻的含義：通過接吻，一個(gè)人的氣息和部分靈魂留在另一個(gè)人體內(nèi)，愛情使他們合二為一。

2. 在這段對話中，Lisa告訴Billy，Barbara要結(jié)婚了。然后Billy說，Well, isn't that simply wonderful! 哇，那簡直是妙極了！

3. 接下來Billy又問，Will it be a church wedding or a civil wedding?那么church wedding不用多說，就是教堂婚禮；而civil wedding則是指不舉行宗教儀式的世俗婚禮，公證婚禮。

4. 由于Barbara是個(gè)天主教徒，所以要舉行教堂婚禮。在這里有幾個(gè)詞要講一下，首先是wedding gown，大家一定能猜得出，它的意思是“結(jié)婚禮服”；另外，通過對話，我們知道了男、女儐相應(yīng)該怎么說，男儐相是best man，而女儐相則是maid of honour。

5. That's why many American fathers joke they would rather hold the ladder for their daughter to climb down and elope than pay for a wedding. 這句話的意思是，這就是為什么在美國，很多做父親的開玩笑說他們寧可扶著梯子讓女兒爬過去私奔，而不愿為她的婚禮付款。