Kamalam: India state Gujarat renames dragon fruit 'lotus'

 An Indian state's decision to rename dragon fruit because of the original name's "association with China" has set off a storm of jokes and memes. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said the fruit would now be called kamalam, Sanskrit for the lotus flower. The lotus is sacred to Hindus and is India's national flower.

一个印度邦重新命名火龙果，因为“火龙果”这个名字让人联想到中国，这一决定引发了一场笑话和表情包的盛宴。古吉拉特邦（印度西部的邦）首席部长Vijay Rupani说道现在火龙果应该叫kamalam，莲花的梵语名字。莲花是印度教的圣花，也是印度的国花。

Sanskrit  n. /ˈsænskrɪt/ 梵语（古印度语，属于印欧语系，用于印度教经文撰写，也是很多现代语言的基础）

Relations have nosedived in recent months between India and China, whose troops are locked in a tense stand-off along their long Himalayan frontier. India began cultivating dragon fruit only in recent years and it's now grown in parts of Gujarat too. It belongs to a family of cactus - and is believed to have earned its fearsome name because its pointy outer layer resembles the scales of a dragon. Though it's a tropical fruit native to Central America and is largely imported from South America, many in India associate it with China because of its name.

中印之间的关系去年迅速恶化，双方在喜马拉雅山脉边境陈兵对峙。 印度近几年开始种植火龙果，在古吉拉特邦也有部分种植。火龙果属于仙人掌的一科，人们认为它之所以有这个可怕的名字，是因为它尖尖的外层酷似龙的鳞片。虽然这是原产自中美洲的热带水果，南美是其出口大国，但很多印度人因为其名字将它与中国联系起来。

nosedive/ˈnəʊzdaɪv/  

名词1.急剧下降；急转直下；暴跌•Oil prices took a nosedive in the crisis. 危机期间，石油价格暴跌。2.（飞行器的）俯冲

动词1.(价格、费用等 )骤降；急剧下跌；暴跌•Building costs have nosedived. 建筑费用猛跌下来。2.(飞行器 ) 俯冲

fearsome  adj. 可怕的；害怕的；极大的     cactus /ˈkæktəs/n. [园艺] 仙人掌

Rivals India and China are often described as the elephant and the dragon respectively, and relations between the neighbours have been especially frosty since their armies clashed high in the Himalayas in the summer. The state's decision to rename the fruit was announced on Tuesday by Mr Rupani. The lotus is also the election symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party, to which he and India's PM Narendra Modi belong."The name dragon fruit is not proper, and due to its name one thinks of China. So we have given it the name 'kamalam'," Mr Rupani told the local press.Mr Rupani did not elaborate but that was all the inspiration the internet needed.

印度和中国经常被形容为“大象”和“龙”，自从两国军队今年夏天在喜马拉雅山高地发生冲突以来，这两个邻国之间的关系一直特别冷淡。Rupani周二宣布了给火龙果改名的决定。莲花是印度人民党选举的象征，他和印度总理纳伦德拉·莫迪都是该党成员。Rupani对当地媒体说道：火龙果名字不合适，因为这让我们想到中国。所以重新命名为“莲花”。虽然Rupani并不是特意的，但这是互联网段子手狂欢的盛宴。

the Bharatiya Janata Party：印度人民党

一位推特网友写到：

Military historians worldwide should take note of India's genuinely innovative response to Chinese : officially renaming a Thai fruit. Don't mess with us, is the strong message. We can rename any number of things.— Samit Basu (@samitbasu) January 20, 2021

世界各地的军事历史学家应该注意了！对中印冲突的真正创新反应是:正式为一种泰国水果重新命名。不要惹我们！这是一个强烈的信息。我们可以重命名任意数量的东西。— Samit Basu (@samitbasu) January 20, 2021

In June last year, a deadly clash between Indian and Chinese troops left 20 Indian soldiers dead. Since then, India has also accused China of violating the border consensus by carrying out "provocative military movements". So Indians were quick to poke fun at what they saw as a tame, and even pointless, move.

去年6月，中印边界冲突造成印度20名印度士兵死亡。从此印度指责中国违背边境共识，采取了“激进军事行动”。因此，印度人很快就嘲笑取名这是一种驯服的、甚至毫无意义的举动。

poke fun at：嘲笑 

tame：adj. 驯服的；平淡的；乏味的；顺从的；vt. 驯养；使变得平淡；制服；vi. 变得驯服

And some even felt sorry for the fruit!有些人甚至对火龙果表示歉意！

Also the butt of jokes was the BJP's penchant for renaming things, from cities to roads, a habit that has often seen them being accused of trying to rewrite India's history by trying to erase the mark of centuries of Islamic rule.

另一个笑柄是印度人民党喜欢重命名事物，从城市到道路，这种习惯经常被指责试图通过抹去伊斯兰统治几个世纪的印记来改写印度的历史。

butt    /bʌt/  

动词：1.（人）用头顶撞；2.（动物）用头（或角）顶

1.ˌbutt ˈin (on sb/sth)

(1) 插嘴；打断说话•How can I explain if you keep butting in? 你一直插嘴，我还怎么解释？

(2) 插手；干涉 •I didn't ask you to butt in on my private business. 我没请你干预我的私事。

2.ˌbutt ˈout走开；别管闲事•Butt out, Neil! This is none of your business. 不许插手，尼尔！这不关你的事。

名词：1.（武器或工具的）粗大的一端•a rifle butt 步枪的枪托；2. 烟蒂；烟头；3.（盛液体的）大桶•a water butt 集雨桶；4.屁股 •Get off your butt and do some work! 起来干点活儿吧！5.（头的）顶撞•a butt from his head 被他的头撞的一下

习语 be the butt of sth：受到嘲讽（或批评）；是笑柄（或话柄等）•She was the butt of some very unkind jokes. 她受到了刻薄的嘲弄。

One Twitter user seemed relieved that she could still eat the fruit, given that the government had banned several Chinese apps since June, citing security and privacy concerns.

一名推特用户似乎松了口气，因为她仍然可以吃这种水果，自6月以来政府以安全和隐私为由禁止了几款中国应用。

Thank god they just changed the name. I was expecting a new trend of #boycottdragonfruit� #dragonfruit #Kamalam— Samridhi Sood (@Shubhi0168) January 20, 2021

谢天谢地政府只是想改名字。我还以为会出现#抵制龙果的新趋势。— Samridhi Sood (@Shubhi0168) January 20, 2021

Of course, no list of memes is complete without Game of Thrones, so there were plenty of references to Khaleesi and her dragons!

当然，没有《权力的游戏》的表情包是不完整的，所以很多表情包都提到了卡丽熙和她的龙!

原文链接：https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-55732616