考研英语阅读理解中的文章，很多来自一些外刊杂志方面的题材。接下来，北京文都考研网为扩宽2020考研学子的知识面，整理了考研英语经济学人外刊:中国的宠物热潮，供考生参考。
2020考研英语经济学人外刊:中国的宠物热潮
Once denounced as bourgeois vanity, pets are big business in China
过去，养宠物被指责为资产阶级的虚荣心，而在今天的中国，宠物是一门大生意
Every year is the year of the dog
每年都是狗年
Today’s pet boom is being fuelled by a generation that barely remembers the privations of the past. City-dwelling young professionals born in the 1980s and 1990s account for 70% of spending on pets, according to Goumin.
中国如今的宠物热潮是由几乎不记得过去贫困生活的一代人所推动的。据狗民网统计，生活在城市里的80后和90后职业人士贡献了中国宠物消费的70%。
Theirs is a richer China, where the old emphasis on community has been replaced by a greater sense of individualism.
他们生活在一个更加富裕的中国，过去所强调的集体主义意识已经被一种更强烈的个人主义意识所取代了。
Many of them are also lonelier than earlier generations, having been lured away from their families and friends by jobs in big cities.
这一代人中的许多人比前几代人更孤独，他们被大城市的工作所吸引，背井离乡远离了家人和朋友。
“The air is bad outside and it’s so easy to stay in and watch things on the internet,” says Wang Xiaoyang, a café-owner in her 20s who moved to Beijing from her hometown in Inner Mongolia. She is one of more than 200m unmarried Chinese in their 20s or 30s.
20来岁的咖啡馆老板王晓阳(她从家乡内蒙古来到了北京)说：“外面的空气质量很差，很容易让人宅在家中上网。”中国有两亿多二三十岁的未婚女性，她是其中之一。
“I live alone, so it’s nice to have little Liuyi waiting all happy to see me when I get home,” she adds, as she flicks through photos of other cats on her iPhone.
她一边在iPhone上翻看着其他猫咪的照片，一边说道：“我是一个人住，所以当我回到家看到小六一高兴的等着我回来时，那种感觉很好。”
Owners like to splurge on their pets. They spend an average of more than 5,000 yuan a year on pet paraphernalia, according to Goumin—more than the average college graduate in China earns in a month.
人们很舍得给他们的宠物花钱。据狗民网统计，人们每年平均花费5000多元用于购买宠物用品，这甚至比中国大学毕业生的月平均工资还高。
Tiny, stuffed-toy-like Pomeranians and Japanese Shiba Inu are big sellers thanks to their popularity among stars of Chinese social media, says a pet-shop assistant in Beijing.
北京一家宠物店的店员说，由于受到中国网红们的喜爱，博美和日本柴犬在中国很畅销。
A Pomeranian puppy can fetch as much as 18,000 yuan, although those who risk buying one online might pay only 2,000. Corgis, French bulldogs and huskies are also in vogue.
一只博美可以卖到1.8万元，而那些冒险从网上购买的人可能只用花2000元就能买到一只。柯基、法斗和哈士奇也很受欢迎。
Not all Chinese welcome pets on the streets. A recent video of a woman being pushed by a man after she kicked his dog away from her child sparked fury about pet owners’ failure to restrain their animals.
并非所有中国人都欢迎人们在街上遛狗。最近的一段视频引发了人们对狗主人未能管好自家狗的愤怒，视频中一名妇女在将一条狗踢离自己的孩子后遭到了一名男子(狗主人)的推攘。
Since then the south-western city of Wenshan has imposed a ban on dog-walking from 7am to 10pm. Jinan, in the east, has introduced a points system for pet-owners.
在那之后，中国西南部城市文山市就开始禁止人们在早上7点到晚上10点间遛狗了。东部城市济南则为狗主人引入了积分制度。
Those committing offences such as failing to register their dog or letting it off the lead in public lose points. If enough points are lost the pet can be confiscated.
那些犯了错(比如没有将狗登记，或者没有在公共场所牵着他们的狗)的人会被扣分。扣分到一定程度时，他们的宠物将被没收。
Many Chinese see the proliferation of pets as a symptom of a bigger crisis. China is ageing rapidly. Although the one-child policy was replaced with a two-child rule in 2016, and has been further eased since, the birth rate is still falling.
许多中国人认为宠物数量的激增预示着一场更大的危机的到来。中国正在迅速老龄化。尽管独生子女政策在2016年被二孩政策取代了，并在那之后又进一步放宽，但出生率仍在下降。
On Zhihu, an online forum, many ask why young people choose raising pets over their Confucian duty of raising children.
在网络论坛“知乎”上，许多人提问：为什么许多年轻人宁可养宠物也不愿意承担儒家思想中养儿育女的责任。
“We must encourage the younger generation to think more about the prosperity of the motherland,” argues one teacher.
一位老师说：“我们必须鼓励年轻的一代更多地为祖国的繁荣昌盛着想。”
Drawing an analogy with pet-loving but stagnant Japan, they fear dog days are on their way.
类比喜欢宠物但在经济上停滞不前的日本，他们担心中国的三伏天也即将到来。
[重难点词汇]
denounce [dɪ'naʊns] vt. 谴责;告发;公然抨击;通告废除
bourgeois [,bʊr'ʒwɑ] n. 资本家;中产阶级的人 adj. 资产阶级的;中产阶级的;贪图享受的
splurge [splɝdʒ] vi. 挥霍;卖弄 n. 挥霍;炫耀 vt. 挥霍;夸耀
confiscate ['kɑnfɪsket] vt. 没收;充公;查抄 adj. 被没收的
以上是北京文都考研网给出的“2020考研英语经济学人外刊:中国的宠物热潮”，希望对备考2020考研英语的考生有所帮助!祝2020考研顺利!
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