原标题：中国男性消暑方式——“北京比基尼”
Summer on the streets of Chinese cities yields a panoply of exotic sights and sounds: old men loudly jousting over mah-jongg tiles, sidewalk barbecues grilling tough-to identify animal parts, and the unmistakable growl of a clearing throat-that ends with an inevitable splat.
夏季，中国城市的街头充斥着一系列奇异的景象和声音：老人们热火朝天地打着麻将、街边的烧烤摊不知道烤着动物的哪个部位，还有清嗓子的吼声——最后肯定会吐出一口痰。
But nothing defines China's most sweltering season (or bewilders foreigners) more than the curious sartorial habits of grown men who neatly roll up their shirts to reveal bellies， often in glorious plenitude, without the teeniest hint of shame (nor the teeniest hint of a six-pack).
但是，没有什么比成年男性奇特的衣着习惯更能定义中国最闷热的季节（或更让外国人疑惑不解）。他们把衬衣整齐地卷起来，露出肚子，通常“内涵”丰富，却一点也不感到羞愧（也丝毫没有六块腹肌的痕迹）。
The exposed midriff, visible in shops, restaurants and hospital waiting rooms, often has a companion flourish, with practitioners rolling up their pants legs to just below the knee.
这些暴露在外的腹部在商店、餐馆和医院候诊室随处可见，通常它还有一个与之搭配的现象：从业人员把裤腿卷到膝盖正下方。
This, it will be explained upon asking, is a makeshift form of air-conditioning known as the Beijing Bikini. (Others somewhat disparagingly describe the phenomenon as "bang ye," which roughly translates as "exposing yourself like a grandfather.") It is on display anywhere where temperatures sizzle-urban or rural, private space or public sphere, recreational park or commercial shop.
如果你要问的话，这就是空调的替代形式，叫做“北京比基尼”。（有些人轻蔑地称此现象为“膀爷”，大致翻译成“像个老爷子一样暴露你自己”。）在任何一个炎热难耐的地方，都会看到这样的现象——无论城市还是农村、私人空间还是公共领域、休闲公园还是商店。
Social convention bars women from engaging in similar displays of flesh.
社会传统禁止女性以类似的方式袒露身体。
Although adherents, often with cigarette and beer in hand, attest to the Beijing Bikini's cooling health benefits, they face mounting hostility from educated upstarts or busybody bureaucrats who find the summer parade of bulging tummies uncouth and unbecoming of a great nation.
尽管这些常常手拿香烟和啤酒的“膀爷”追随者证明了“北京比基尼”确实有降温的健康益处，却面临着越来越多来自于受过良好教育却傲慢无理的人和好管闲事的官僚的敌意。他们认为，夏天把大肚腩暴露于大庭广众之下对一个大国来说显得既粗俗又不得体。
Chinese newspapers wage periodic propaganda campaigns against the look, but it endures and is increasingly visible abroad, proudly displayed by Chinese tourists outside New York City art museums, London's Buckingham Palace and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
中国的报纸开展定期宣传活动，反对这种裸露，但是这种现象仍在继续，而且在海外也越来越多见。在纽约艺术博物馆、伦敦白金汉宫和巴黎埃菲尔铁塔外，都能看到中国游客骄傲地展示着自己的肚子。（爱语吧作者:summer）
实习编辑：李孟洁
