capon 〔供食用的〕阉鸡

abc

capon， “阉鸡”， 比如潘金莲里面：
Yun'ge could not contain his anger at the way old woman Wang had treated him. He took his basket and went to find Wu Da. He had gone through two streets before he met the man for whom he was looking. Wu Da, carrying his buns, was coming towards him. The boy stopped. "It is some time since I saw you last," he said, looking hard at the man. "How fat you have grown."
"Fat?" said Wu Da. "What do you mean? I am just the same as I always was."
"A few days ago," Yun'ge said, "I wanted some chicken food. I went for miles, but couldn't get any. Yet everybody tells me you have lots of it at your house."
"I keep neither geese nor ducks," Wu Da said. "Why should I have chicken food?"
"So you say," Yun'ge retorted, "but what makes you so much like a capon? Why! If you were held topsy-turvy, you would never turn a hair; you'd keep quite cool if you were being boiled in a cauldron."
"This is an insult, you young scoundrel," Wu Da cried. "My wife has not run off with anybody's husband. What makes you call me a capon?"
"Indeed?" the boy said. "So your wife has not run off with anybody's husband, hasn't she? Perhaps I should have said she has run off with somebody's husband."
"Who is the man?" Wu Da cried. "Tell me."
上面这段话，选择《金瓶梅》的英语版。


《水浒传》写的潘金莲和西门庆，有点不一样。网上有文章介绍了上面这个对话的时代背景。
金莲和西门庆，通过王婆的撺掇，两人厮混在一起了。那个时候，武大郎还被蒙在鼓里，后来武大郎抓奸不成，还被西门庆踢成重伤。
武大郎躺在床上养伤期间，潘金莲干脆公然去找西门庆。武大郎气得半死，就用武松来威胁她，结果不但没能唬住潘金莲，反而丢了性命。
武大郎之所以会被害死，其实很大程度上要归咎于卖梨的郓哥。
郓哥从别人口中得知，西门庆和潘金莲勾搭在一起了，就在王婆的茶铺里。郓哥第一时间知道后，并没有想着告诉武大郎，而是希望借此问西门庆要几个钱。但是，王婆不让郓哥进屋，郓哥骂不过，还被王婆打了，于是才想通过武大郎来报复王婆。
郓哥找到武大郎后，还是没直言相告，而是拐弯抹角骂武大郎，说他老婆偷汉子。
武大道：“……倒骂得我好！我的老婆又不偷汉子，我如何是鸭？”郓哥道：“你老婆不偷汉子，只偷子汉。”——《水浒传》
郓哥说找武大郎买麦稃，武大郎说不养鸭子，没有麦稃。郓哥就说，你家里没有麦稃，怎么吃得肥嘟嘟的，把你煮在锅里也没气。武大郎一听，这才明白，郓哥骂自己是鸭子。郓哥之所以骂武大郎是鸭子，就因为潘金莲出轨西门庆了。
为什么潘金莲出轨了，武大郎要被骂是鸭子呢？答案在北宋人的笔记中。
浙人以鸭儿为大讳，北人但知鸭羹虽甚热亦无气。后至南方，乃知鸭若只一雄，则虽合而无卵，须二三始有子。其以为讳者，盖为是耳，不在于无气也。——《鸡肋编》
《鸡肋编》是北宋人庄绰记录史迹旧闻、各地风士以及一些传闻琐事的一本书，尽管是文人笔记，但是内容却很考究，其价值堪比周密《齐东野语》。
这本书里说到，鸭群之中，如果只有一只公鸭子与母鸭子交合，那么是无法生蛋的，必须有两三只鸭子，才能够下蛋孵卵，传宗接代。
在动物界，这种现象或许正常，但是在人类眼中，这种现象就太狗血了。用人类的眼光来看，每只公鸭子都是被绿了的。所以，人们就用鸭子来暗指那些老婆出轨，自己戴了绿帽子的男人。所以，浙地之人，以鸭子为忌讳。
引文中，还说到，鸭子汤虽然很热，但是没有气。所以，郓哥在骂武大郎是鸭子时，也说到了武大郎吃得肥也就罢了，煮在锅里还没气。说武大郎煮在锅里没气，其实还是在暗指武大郎是鸭子，因为鸭子汤就是没有气。
为何鸭子汤没有热气呢？可能是鸭子脂肪多，煮了之后油漂在汤上面，热气无法透出来，所以就没有热气了。
还有一种可能，是和鸭子的种类、性别和颜色有关。
中国有一种绿头鸭，外形大小，身体毛色和家鸭基本一样，但是，雄性绿头鸭的嘴和头部颜色明显。众所周知，在动物界中，基本都是雄性漂亮，因为雄性需要通过竞技来寻求配偶。这种竞技，就是通过漂亮的大尾巴，或者颜色鲜艳的器官来表现的。

当然，这个帖子的主要内容，是学习一个单词。
capon
capon / ˈkeipɔn; ˈkeipən; NAmE -pɑːn /
noun
   a male chicken that has been castrated (= had part of its sex organs removed) and made fat for eating
   阉鸡(育肥以供食用)

capon

---

ca∙pon / ˈkepɑn ; ˈkeɪpən /
◙noun [C]
1. a male chicken that has had its sex organs removed to make it grow big and fat
• 〔供食用的〕阉鸡

ca·pon
I. \ˈkāˌpän also -_pən\ noun
(-s)
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English capūn, probably from Old North French capon, from Latin capon-, capo; akin to Greek koptein to smite, cut off, skaptein to dig, Lithuanian skopti to hollow out with a knife, Russian shchepat' to split, Old Slavic kopati to dig, skopiti to castrate
1. : a castrated male chicken — compare poularde
2. : a castrated male rabbit
II. transitive verb
(-ed/-ing/-s)
: castrate, caponize

capon对应的西班牙语书写相同：
capón, pollo castrado


….........

---

学英语，哪里免费下载英语的各种学习资料和英语著作？

免费下载实用权威英语资料，请到桐木舟网站(https://domzh.com)免费下载，各种英语著作，英语学习资料。

abc

topsy-turvy
topsy-turvy  / ˌtɔpsi ˈtəːvi; NAmE ˌtɑːpsi ˈtəːrvi /
adjective
   (informal)in a state of great confusion
   乱七八糟的；杂乱无章的；颠三倒四的:
   Everything's topsy-turvy in my life at the moment.
   现在我的生活中一切都被打乱了。