爱雨者的自白

看到“爱雨者”，我脑海里不禁浮现电影《雨中曲》中的男主淋着大雨，有伞不打，抱着路灯杆，放声高歌，且歌且舞的场景。正常人看来应该觉得他脑子进水了，但正是这种雨水浸染的浪漫让这一幕成为了经典。都说爱斯基摩人用上千种词汇来描述冰雪，“爱雨者”们自然也要为天地之间的点点滴滴写出一本特殊的词典。

By Sredhanea Ramkrishnan

木沐 选 黄湘淇 注

Rain! Well…it’s just a word that denotes the water droplets that form due to condensation of water vapor in the atmosphere which then precipitate and pour down owing to higher density than air and the gravity of earth.

To any meteorologist, it’s just another thing to forecast, to categorize under convectional, cyclonic or orographic type. To lay men, it’s another hurdle that he has to face to reach his office on time, a chafe that gets his clothes all wet, a stupid response of nature that makes roads all puddly and dirty, most of all—a time when his immunity can’t save him from catching a cold. To him there are just two types of rains, the heavy ones and the drizzle.

But the “Rain”oholics don’t seem to agree to either classification.

Like our title suggests we are obsessed or rather addicted to RAINS. We are one of those babies born on a rainy day and wish that we even die on one. Rains are our highs and lows, our buckets of joy. Rain is our best friend and even our wing-man. It is our elixir—our Holy Grail. Let me just cut the chase, jump right to our rain nomenclature.

1. The Mother’s kiss type:

This is the type where a subtle dampness enhances an already chill breeze. The lush green leaves and the ready-to-blossom buds are kissed by dew drops. Every maiden around you is in a great mood as the fresh, mud-scented air fills up her lungs, adding a slight blush to her cheeks. This is one of those times that the nature’s best plowmen—earthworms, emerge out of the soil and get to work. They diet on the minerals of the soil and their gizzards end up churning them and defecating organic manure.

2. The picture perfect type:

This is the kind where the drizzles are to the minimum and do not cloud your DSLR lenses as you try capturing the perfectly formed rainbow above the horizon, birds nesting on tall trees shuddering their feathers or when a heavy spherical rain drop assumes a tear shape as it hangs down the tip of a leaf.

3. The get on the dance floor type:

This is that nostalgic type that gets you back to those childhood days when you jumped on a puddle splattering the muddy water on your brother’s new white shirt. There is a dub-step rhythm in the air and the toads are croaking high pitched melodies that get you to put on your dance shoes and let loose. Even the squiggly little tadpoles in the brown puddles seem to be swimming to the tunes.

4. That’s a relief type:

This is the most unpredictable type. The sun is scorching your skin and your sweat has seeped out through your layers of clothing and you feel like a sultry moron, cursing the weather under your breath. But like God read your mind, he sends you a quickie, a short cold shower restoring all your theistic beliefs.

5. The mission “clean earth” type:

This is my personal favorite . You doubt if you are being hosed down by a fire-truck. The drops aren’t the usual thin, prickly ones, they are huge blobs that could wear your make-up down in minutes. Your roof, the roads and even the slums get cleaned. All you have to do is get your car out of the garage and park it on the streets for a tax and tip-free wash.

6. Don’t you dare step out of your house type:

This is the type where not the actual rain but the storm that accompanies it makes it completely intolerable. The dark grey clouds bump their head against one another like full grown Alpine Ibexes fighting for a billy, resulting in eardrum incapacitating thunders and blinding, streaky lightening. You know if you step out of your houses, umbrellas are going to upturn and lose their purpose and your well pleated skirts are going to leave you impersonating Marilyn Monroe’s pose on “The Seven Year Itch”.

7. The gloom doom type:

This is the type when it’s been drizzling for days together. You wish that it actually gushes down like a water fall and gets it over with. This type of rains usually follows a terrible storm. Schools are shut, play grounds and parks look deserted. Even the street vendors are in no mood to scream out the USP of their products to the passersby. All you wish to do is pull down your shades, get under a quilt and hibernate as dull lightening occasionally illuminate your dark room. These are the rains that invigorate fungal spores that emerge out of the ground as doom shaped mushrooms.

8. And finally, the screw you earthlings type:

This is the type of rains that nature punishes the earth with when we try over-controlling and extinguishing its reserves. It’s the scariest of all. Storms uproot trees, rivers are flooded, oceans rise up and many lives are forsaken.

But, all said and done! The “Rain”oholics still cannot find anything more fascinating and soul-soothing than gazing out of the window on a rainy day, sipping a warm cup of coffee. With deforestation, increased pollution, global warming and sparse rains—We, the “Rain”oholics, are becoming extinct. Please do your part to save our sub-species and our idol “THE RAIN”.

Vocabulary

1. 这个词语是指在大气层中水蒸汽冷凝而成的水滴，因密度大于空气，且受地心引力吸引而冷凝下落。denote: 表示，指示；water droplet: 水滴；due to: 由于；condensation: 冷凝；凝结；water vapor: 水蒸汽；atmosphere: 大气层；precipitate: 冷凝成为雨或雪等；owing to: 由于；density: 密度；gravity: 地心引力。

2. meteorologist: 气象学家；forecast: 作预测；categorize: 分类；convectional: 对流的；cyclonic: 气旋的；orographic: 地形的。

3. 对外行人来说，雨是他及时到达办公室要克服的一个障碍，一个让他衣服全湿的烦扰，一个自然界的蠢反应，让道路变得坑洼泥泞，肮脏不堪，最气人的是，雨下在他的免疫系统脆弱到容易得感冒的时候。lay men: layman的复数，外行，门外汉们；hurdle: 障碍；chafe: 烦扰；puddly: 多水坑的，泥泞的；immunity: 免疫系统。

4. drizzle: 细雨，毛毛雨。

5. oholics: 表演者；classification: 分类。

6. be obsessed: 对……沉迷；be addicted to: 对……上瘾。

7. highs and lows: 高潮与低谷；buckets of joy: 一桶桶的欢乐，比喻充满欢乐。

8. wing-man: 帮手。

9. elixir: 万能药；Holy Grail: 圣杯。

10. cut the chase: 直截了当地说；nomenclature: 术语表，术语集。

11. subtle: 隐约的，淡淡的；dampness: 潮湿，湿气；enhance: 加强；chill: 寒冷的；breeze: 微风。

12. lush: 葱翠的，茂盛的；ready-to-blossom: 含苞待放的；bud: 芽，花蕾；dew drop: 露滴。

13. maiden: 少女；in a great mood: 心情大好；mud-scented: 带有泥土芬芳的；blush: 红润。

14. plowmen: 庄稼汉，耕耘者；earthworm: 蚯蚓；emerge out of: 从……冒出来。

15. diet: 进食特定食物；minerals: 矿物质；gizzard: 胃；end up: 结果是；churn: 搅拌，搅动；defecate: 排泄；organic manure: 有机肥。

16. 这类是蒙蒙细雨，当你试着捕捉地平线上完美成形的彩虹；在高树上筑巢鸟儿，颤动着它们的羽毛，或当一滴凝重的球形雨滴在叶尖垂下，形成泪珠的形状时，不会模糊你的单反镜头。cloud: vt.使……模糊；DSLR lenses: 单反镜头；capture: 捕捉；nest: 筑巢；shudder: 抖动；feather: 羽毛；spherical: 球形的；assume: 呈现。

17. nostalgic: 怀旧的；splatter: 使水等飞溅；muddy: 泥泞的。

18. dubstep: 回响贝斯，有黑色徘徊低音特色的一种电子音乐；rhythm: 节奏，韵律；toad: 蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆；croak: 呱呱地叫；high pitched: 高音调的；melody: 旋律，曲调；let loose: 释放，放松。

19. squiggly: 弯弯曲曲的；tadpole: 蝌蚪；to the tunes: 和着曲调。

20. unpredictable: 出乎意料的。

21. 太阳炙烤着你的皮肤，你的汗水从层层的衣服下渗出，你感觉像个汗流浃背的傻瓜，低声咒骂着天气。scorch: 把……烧焦；seep: 渗出；sultry:　汗流浃背的；moron: 傻瓜，白痴；curse: 咒骂；under one’s breath: 低声说话，压着嗓子。

22. quickie: 迅速做成的事，匆匆完成的事，文中指一场雷阵雨；restore: 恢复；theistic: 有神论的。

23. personal favorite: 个人最爱。

24. be hosed down: 被用水管浇；fire-truck: 消防车。

25. prickly: 如针刺般的；blob: 水滴；wear sth. down: 这里指使……面目全非。

26. slum: 陋巷，脏乱的地方。

27. tax and tip-free wash: 免税免小费的冲洗。

28. Don’t you dare step out of your house: 你敢出口看看。

29. intolerable: 无法忍受的。

30. 深灰色的云朵，就像为一只公山羊争斗的成熟高山野山羊们，用头相互碰撞着，产生震耳欲聋的雷声和使人眩目的一道道闪电。bump one’s head against: 把某人的头撞在……上；full grown: 发育完全的；Alpine Ibex: 高山野生山羊；billy: 公山羊；eardrum: 鼓膜，耳膜；incapacitating: 使……不能适应的；blinding: 使人眩目的的；streaky: 这里指一道道的。

31. 你知道如果你走出房子，雨伞会往上翻，失去它们的作用，而你好端端的百褶裙也会让你上演玛丽莲•梦露在《七年之痒》中的姿势。upturn: 向上翻；pleated: 起褶的；impersonate: 扮演，模仿；Marilyn Monroe: 玛丽莲•梦露（1926-1962），美国演员；“The Seven Year Itch”: 《七年之痒》，梦露的代表作之一，她的经典造型来自该片——站在行人道地铁通风口上，任凭风儿将裙子吹起、然后轻轻用手压住。

32. gloom: 忧郁，阴暗；doom: 厄运，灾难。

33. gush down: 冲刷而下；get it over with: 把一切都了结了。

34. deserted: 被遗弃的。

35. vendor: 小商小贩；scream out: 大声喊出；USP: Unique Selling Proposition，独特的销售主张，使商品宣传对象从商品群中突出出来的宣传突破口；passersby: 过路人。

36. shades: 百叶窗；quilt: 被子；hibernate: 休眠，避寒；illuminate: 点亮。

37. invigorate: 使活跃；fungal spore: 真菌孢子；doom shaped: 灾难形成的；mushroom: 蘑菇。

38. screw you earthlings: 去你的凡人。

39. over-control: 过度控制；extinguish: 毁灭；reserve: 储备。

40. uproot: 连根拔起；be forsaken: 被抛弃的。

41. fascinating: 令人着迷；soul-soothing: 慰藉灵魂的；gaze: 凝视；sip: 抿，小口喝。

42. deforestation: 采伐森林；sparse: 稀少的；extinct: 灭绝。

43. sub-species: 亚种；idol: 偶像，崇拜物。