自去年以来，有关广场舞噪音扰民的新闻频繁出现在报端。就在最近，还曝出一则"广场舞致大熊猫心律不齐"的新闻，让人匪夷所思。老年人的"美酒"缘何成了周围人的"毒药"？本期双语内容带您一起梳理这一公共性难题。
傍晚的北京龙潭公园，大妈们汇聚到一起，彼此热情地打着招呼，然后排成队，伸展双臂准备开跳。
They gathered shortly before dusk in Beijing's Longtan Park, most of them older women who greeted each other warmly before lining up and raising their arms in preparation for their dance.
行李箱大小的扩音器骤然响起，短时间内已汇集了100多人的大妈队伍，步调一致地舞了起来。天色逐渐变暗，她们跟随流行歌曲的节拍，时而舞动手臂，时而转动身体。
A suitcase-size speaker crackled to life, and the women – who soon number more than 100 strong – start to move in unison. As the light fades, they flap their arms and twirl to the beat of a pop song.
这就是每天傍晚和清晨都在首都各个公园、广场、甚至地下通道上演的场景。事实上，无论在何处她们都能找到跳舞的地方。
It's a scene repeated at dusk and at dawn across the capital, in parks, squares, even below underpasses. In fact, just about anywhere they can find the space to dance.
而且这种情况不只发生在北京。据估计，目前全国跳广场舞的人有一亿，而且随着老龄化的深入，这一数字还会迅速增加。
And not just in Beijing. By one estimate there are now 100m public dancers in China, and the number is growing rapidly as the country ages.
对这些大妈来说，广场舞不仅有利于健康，还能让她们从中找到自己的"小伙伴"。
For these grannies, "Guangchang Wu", or plaza dancing, is not only good for their health but also good for companionship.
身材匀称的51岁教师范英说："跳舞能强身健体，我就是个例子！"她还补充道："而且跳舞能让我开心。"范英在北京一所国际学校任教。
"If you are dancing you can keep fit. Look at me!" said Fan Ying, a trim 51-year-old teacher at a Beijing international school. "And it makes me happy," she added.
跳广场舞的人主要为年龄在40到65岁之间的妇女，她们中有许多人是退休人员，通常独自在家，没有儿女的陪伴，因而渴望有一个爱好来放松解闷，需要找到一个可以栖身的"社团"。
Many of those dancers, who are typically female and between ages 40 and 65, are retirees and often alone at home without children's company. These pensioners crave a hobby to blow off some steam and need a community to join them.
波兰社会学家齐格蒙特·鲍曼曾说："社团是一个温暖的地方，一个安逸舒适的场所。它就像一个可以躲避大雨的屋顶，一个冰天雪地时可以暖手的火炉。"对老年人来说，广场舞组织无疑扮演了这样一个社团的角色。
"Community is a warm place, a cozy and comfortable place. It is like a roof under which we shelter in heavy rain, like a fireplace at which we warm our hands on a frosty day," said Zygmunt Bauman, a Polish sociologist. For senior citizens, a dancers' group is no less than a community.
但对反对者来说，这些"跳舞大妈"则是城市的灾难，威胁了社会的和谐宁静。
Yet to their critics these "dancing grannies" are a scourge on the city, a threat to peace and tranquility.
在一些人口集中的城市，跳舞大妈们正在遭受城里人的抵触。年轻住户强烈要求她们调低音量。
In China's crowded cities, the "dancing grannies" are facing an urban backlash. Younger residents are demanding they turn down the volume.
年轻人们自称快要被吵闹的噪音逼疯了。QQ用户"只是回忆"称："跪求国家立法，公共场合限制时间跳广场舞。"
Youngsters say they are almost driven crazy by the loud noise. "I beg on my knees for the country to make a law limiting plaza dancing time in public places," said QQ user Just For Memory.
范英辩解道："这里是公园，又不是小区。不过我也告诉她们要小点声。学校考试那会儿，我们就停跳了三天。"
"It's a park, not an (apartment) complex," said Fan defensively, "But I do advise them to keep the volume down. We stopped dancing for three days during school exams."
一位喜欢早起的匿名大妈在接受《中国青年报》采访时表示："我们会把噪音降低，但大家在早晨8点也该起床上班了。年轻人为什么不能早点儿起呢？"
"We'll keep the noise down, but people should be up and going to work by 8 am," one early-morning granny anonymously told China Youth Daily. "Why can't young people just get up earlier?"
[冲突升级]
事实上目前的情况是，大妈们除了专心跳舞，还得时刻提防周围的动静。
In fact, the situation is that these dancers have every reason for keeping a wary eye overhead, in addition to the dancing.
成都的跳舞大妈最近刚受到"水弹"的攻击。甚至还有更糟的：据央视报道，在武汉，"一大坨粪便"从一扇窗户内倾泻而出，落在了大妈们头上。
Dancer grannies in Chengdu have been bombarded with water-bombs – and worse. China Central Television reported on what it called "a large amount of poop", hurled out of one window and onto the heads of dancers in Wuhan.
另据《中国青年报》报道，北京一位愤怒的施先生朝天鸣枪，还放出三条藏獒，也是为冲散在他家楼下广场上跳舞的大妈们。
While China Youth Daily described how one exasperated Beijing man identified simply as "Shi" fired a shotgun into the air and unleashed three Tibetan mastiffs on a group of women dancing in a square below his apartment.
广场舞俨然成为中国媒体今夏的热门话题之一，按《中国青年报》的说法，成了一个"全国性问题"。
It has become one of the big stories of the summer for the Chinese media – a "national issue", trumpeted China Youth Daily.
[各方观点]
大妈需要娱乐，年轻人需要安静。那到底是谁的问题呢？警方显示出了难得的克制，他们试图从中进行调解。而学者们则认为是市政规划的问题，没能给公众活动留出充裕的空间。
Grannies need entertainment; youngsters need quietness. Whose fault is it then? The police have shown uncharacteristic restraint and they have tried to mediate. Academics blame bad urban planning for failing to set aside sufficient space for public activities.
多个城市已推出各自的解决方案。西安出台了限制广场舞新规——禁止在晚10点后、早8点前跳广场舞。深圳市横岗街道则分别对广场舞的选址、时间控制和噪音等问题进行了详细规范。
Several cities have suggested their own solutions. Xi'an is proposing a new law to curb the dancers by banning them from performing between 10 pm and 8 am. Shenzhen's Henggang subdistrict has launched detailed instructions on the places, time, speaker volume and other restrictions to regulate plaza dancing.
[非舞不可]
大妈们誓言不管怎样都将继续跳舞。
The dancing grannies have vowed to carry on regardless.
现在学期结束了，范英每天晚上都要去跳舞。她们那一队人晚上9点半多一点就散了。她们先拍一张合照，然后各自回家。大家都笑容满面的。
Fan Ying dances every evening now the school term has ended. Her group winds down shortly after 9:30 pm. They pose for some group photographs before going their separate ways. They are all smiles.
【结语】
古希腊三大悲剧诗人之一索福克勒斯曾说过：谁也不会像老人那样热爱生活。作为年轻人，我们不可能知道老年人的想法和感受。或许对他们中的某些人来说，无法想象生活中没了广场舞会变成什么样。
No man loves life like him who's growing old, said Sophocles, one of three ancient Greek tragedians. As youth, we can not know how age thinks and feels. Maybe, for some of them, it's hard to contemplate life without dance.
内容来源：ChinaDaily双语手机报（回复“免费体验”查看免费阅读30天使用方式）
