十四年来，观众们已被美国两档婚恋真人秀节目《单身汉》和《单身女郎》所深深吸引，又或许是感到哑然吃惊。
When the weather starts to warm, viewers instinctively settle down in their couches, ready to watch the latest single lady start her Bachelorette journey. This year’s installment, which kicked off on May 23, stars JoJo Fletcher, a 25-year-old real estate developer from Dallas, Texas.
天气转暖，观众们便会不由自主地靠在沙发上，准备收看最新的单身女郎开始她的寻爱之旅。今年的这一期已于5月23日开播，主角是来自德克萨斯州达拉斯的乔乔•弗莱彻，一名25岁的房地产开发商。
Fletcher, like all the bachelors and bachelorettes before her, is tasked with weeding through 26 contestants to find someone she’ll consent to marry on live television. No pressure or anything.
就像之前所有的单身男女一样，弗莱彻需要对26名选手嘉宾进行淘汰筛选，找出那位她愿意在电视直播中答应嫁的人。节目没有任何压力。
Of course, while most seasons end with a proposal of marriage, very few of the show’s stars have actually gone through with the wedding. But that’s beside the point. What The Bachelor and its spinoff sell is a portrait of romance in the US – one that’s infuriatingly contradictory and, at its core, profoundly old-fashioned.
虽然大多期节目都以求婚场景收场，但真正踏入婚姻殿堂的男女嘉宾却很少。然而，这些已无关紧要。《单身汉》及其衍生节目实际上想展示的是美式浪漫——它自相矛盾令人怒火中烧，而究其根本，它又是极其老套的。
The show’s set-up has all the makings of a super-charged prom. The potential mates arrive one by one in black limos, each hoping to make a swoon-worthy first impression on the titular bachelor or bachelorette. Tuxes and ball gowns are the uniforms of choice. The night creeps by with awkward banter, nervous giggles and the occasional meltdown.
节目的形式就像是一个超燃的毕业舞会。候选的男女嘉宾乘坐黑色豪华轿车接踵而至，每个人都希望让这些“单身汉”或者“单身女郎”对自己一见倾心。男士无尾礼服以及女士舞会礼服都是不二选择。在尴尬的戏谑、紧张的傻笑以及偶尔的崩溃中，相亲之夜悄然而逝。
The only difference is, unlike your average high school prom, the liquor flows freely on these series. Let the alcohol-fueled drama begin.
唯一和高中毕业舞会的不同是，节目中允许酒水随意出现。那么，就让这场酒精助兴的好戏上演吧。
Successful suitors receive a prim red rose and a peck on the cheek at the end of each episode. The rest are sent packing. Back into the limo they go, teary-eyed and whining as they grapple with rejection.
求婚成功的人会在每期节目的最后，收到一支雅致的红玫瑰以及一个印在脸颊上的轻吻。其余的人只能收拾东西回家。坐回到来时的高级轿车中，很多人无法克制住遭拒的情感而含泪抱怨。
In some ways, it’s a very starchy affair, full of the same clichés you might find in a Disney princess movie. Watch any number of seasons, and you’re bound to hear the same lines over and over again: The bachelor or bachelorette at the center of the show is on a “journey to find love”, each convinced that their future spouse “could be inside the next limo”. It’s the search for The One, a perfect “soul mate” that shares his or her values.
在某种程度上，一切看起来十分刻板。这些老套的环节与迪士尼公主电影的某些地方如出一辙。 看过几季后，你总能听到一些台词反复出现：单身男女主人公正在进行一场“寻爱之旅”，每个人都确信他们未来的伴侣“可能就在下一辆高级轿车里”。这是一次对真命天子/天女、拥有共同价值观的完美“灵魂伴侣”的找寻。
The franchise wears its conservative social mores on its sleeves, and yet, it thrives on its contestants’ transgressions. The sexual tension is palpable, what with the romantic dates, the hot tub meet-ups and candle-lit hotel rooms. But should a contestant dare to actually have sex, it becomes grounds for a grim-faced talk with the show’s host.
这档系列真人秀明显带着保守社会习俗的痕迹，然而，它却因选手们不断打破而备受关注。在浪漫的约会、热水浴场边的偶遇，以及烛光摇曳的酒店房间里，两性间的微妙感可想而知。但如果哪位选手真的敢于发生性关系，节目主持人就要找他严肃地聊聊了。
Of course, these moments are the show’s bread and butter: They play to the culture war underway in the United States. The Bachelor franchise may speak the language of old-timey romance, but it delights in the intrigue of today’s “hook-up culture”.
当然，这些时刻都是节目不可或缺的部分：它们迎合了美国当下的文化战争。《单身汉》及其品牌节目可能代表的是旧时代的浪漫，但它却在充斥着复杂“一夜情文化”的今天受到喜爱。
There are plenty of boundaries the show has yet to cross – after all, season after season, its contestants remain mostly white and entirely heterosexual – but what the Bachelor franchise does best is force a cultural conversation
这个节目还需要突破很多的局限性——毕竟，在这么多季中，它的选手嘉宾大部分仍是异性恋的白人——但是节目最成功的一点在于，它推动了关于性和婚姻的文化对话。只有让时间来告诉我们这样的对话是否能继续引人深思。
查看更多关于【双语新闻】的文章
