People used to not be able to take a bath every day, right?

2017-04-18 「 1595 words / 3 minute 」
People used to not be able to take a bath every day, right? .jpg
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是的。
Yes.
“倒洗澡水的时候别把孩子也倒掉了”这个说法曾经一度是正儿八经的。
“Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water” is a phrase from an almost-real threat at one time.
洗一次澡需要大量的水,而且肥皂是奢侈品。
A bath required a lot of water, and soap was a luxury item.
可能每个家庭每个月只能洗一次澡。
You might have one bath per family per month.
首先当然是这个家庭的男人,其次是他的妻子,接着小孩子按照长幼顺序洗澡。
The man of the house would be first, followed by his wife, and then the kids in descending order of age.
笑点在最后,小宝宝放进水里可能就看不见了,因为水真的太脏了。
The joke is by the end, you might lose the baby in the water because it was so filthy.
我的祖母,出生于1893年,过去常说那些手缝的、带有精致花边以及细褶的裙子是很美的。
My grandmother, born in 1893, used to say that the dresses were beautiful—hand stitched, delicate lace, pin tucking and all.
她的家族相当富有,她每年都能得到3到4件新礼服。
Her family was quite well off, so she got new dresses (3 or 4) every year.
但是,人们一周最多洗一次澡;而且衣服也只是熨一下,很少洗,因为他们太过精致。
However, people only bathed once a week, at most, and the clothes would be ironed but rarely washed, as they were too delicate.
熨衣服只是将体臭封到衣服里。
The ironing just sealed the BO smells into the fabric.
如果你的衣服沾到泥巴,你会等它干掉,然后尽量把它刷掉。
If you got mud on your clothes, you waited until it dried, then brushed off as much as possible.
她还常说她和她的姐妹虽然穿得光鲜靓丽,但却臭气熏天。
She said she and her sisters always dressed well, but stank.
当欧洲人在16世纪首次访问日本的时候,日本人没办法相信他们居然这么臭。
When Europeans first visited Japan in the 16th century, the Japanese couldn’t believe the stench.
有一件相当著名的事件,一位日本官员在与欧洲使团见面之前强制剥光他们的衣服让他们洗澡,并将衣服烧掉摧毁。
In one famous incident, a Japanese lord had a European delegation forcibly stripped and bathed before he met with them and had their clothes burned.