日本人吃馬肉 Hippophagy in Japan

 日本人吃馬肉 Hippophagy in Japan 

● 字源

「hippophagy」由希臘文 hippos（馬）與 phagein（吃）組成，-phagy 表示「食……之習」。「Japan」源自中文「日本」的讀音，經馬來語與葡萄牙語輾轉傳入歐洲。

● 例句

No sooner had historians, whose archives, which recorded that Buddhist taboos against eating four-legged animals, a prohibition that, as the Meiji reforms demonstrate, was lifted only when the state itself promoted meat as a sign of modernity, had long pushed such dishes to the margins, remained silent about regional practice, begun to examine local kitchens than they discovered that raw horse meat, which diners in Kumamoto had sliced thin and eaten with ginger and soy sauce for generations, was neither a relic nor a curiosity but a living tradition that depended on the very customs outsiders found most surprising.

（約 99 字）

● 排列為比較容易閱讀的方式

No sooner had historians,

whose archives,

which recorded that Buddhist taboos against eating four-legged animals,

a prohibition

that,

as the Meiji reforms demonstrate,

was lifted only when the state itself promoted meat as a sign of modernity,

had long pushed such dishes to the margins,

remained silent about regional practice,

begun to examine local kitchens

than they discovered that raw horse meat,

which diners in Kumamoto had sliced thin and eaten with ginger and soy sauce for generations,

was neither a relic nor a curiosity

but a living tradition

that depended on the very customs

outsiders found most surprising.

● 分解為原初的短小句

Historians had begun to examine local kitchens.（No sooner 置於句首，主句倒裝為 had historians begun，還原後為 Historians had no sooner begun ... than ...。）

They discovered something.（than 引導之子句，與 no sooner 呼應。）

The historians' archives remained silent about regional practice.（whose 引導之非限定性關係子句，主詞為 archives，動詞 remained 在長插入之後才出現。）

The archives recorded something.（which 引導之插入關係子句，修飾 archives。）

Buddhist taboos against eating four-legged animals had long pushed such dishes to the margins.（recorded that 後之名詞子句，過去完成式。）

The taboo was a prohibition.（a prohibition 為 taboos 之同位語。）

The prohibition was lifted only when the state itself promoted meat as a sign of modernity.（that 作關係子句之主詞，被動語態，only when 修飾 was lifted。）

The Meiji reforms demonstrate this.（as 引導之插入子句，as 代替前面整個內容。）

Raw horse meat was neither a relic nor a curiosity but a living tradition.（discovered that 後之名詞子句，neither ... nor ... but 並列。）

Diners in Kumamoto had sliced it thin and eaten it with ginger and soy sauce for generations.（which 引導之非限定性關係子句，過去完成式，sliced ... thin 為受詞補語。）

The tradition depended on the very customs.（that 引導之限定性關係子句。）

Outsiders found the customs most surprising.（customs 後省略關係代名詞 that，作 found 之受詞。）

● 文法解析

No sooner ... than 倒裝（No sooner + had + 主詞 + 過去分詞 ... than + 子句）：

No sooner 置於句首時，須倒裝為 had historians begun，than 之後接另一動作，表示「一……就……」。本句 had historians 與 begun 之間隔了近 60 個字，讀者須全程記住 no sooner 仍在等待 than。

雙重插入（historians, whose archives, which recorded ..., remained silent）：

主詞 historians 與分詞 begun 之間，插入 whose archives 子句，其中主詞 archives 與動詞 remained 之間，又插入 which 子句，形成插入中的插入。

同位語與 as 插入（taboos ..., a prohibition that, as ..., was lifted）：

taboos 之後以 a prohibition 作同位語，that 為關係代名詞，作 was lifted 之主詞，as the Meiji reforms demonstrate 插在 that 與 was 之間，as 為準關係代名詞，指前後整個事實。

名詞子句與非限定性關係子句（discovered that raw horse meat, which ..., was ...）：

discovered 後接 that 名詞子句，主詞 meat 與動詞 was 之間，再插入 which 子句，該子句為過去完成式，sliced ... thin 中 thin 為受詞補語。

neither ... nor ... but 與末端關係子句：

neither a relic nor a curiosity 為否定並列，but 之後轉為肯定，a living tradition 為真正的補語。末尾 that depended on the very customs 之後省略關係代名詞，outsiders found most surprising 修飾 customs。

● 參考譯文

歷史學者的檔案記載，佛教禁食四足動物的戒律（誠如明治維新諸項改革所示，此禁令直到國家本身將肉食推廣為現代化象徵才解除）長期將此類菜餚推向邊緣，而這些檔案對地方實際的飲食習慣始終沉默；這些學者才剛開始檢視地方廚房，便發現生馬肉（熊本的食客數代以來將其切薄，佐以薑與醬油食用）既非遺跡，也非奇俗，而是一項活生生的傳統，且仰賴外人覺得最為驚奇的那些習俗而存續。

● 補充說明

句型亮點與文法變化：

No sooner ... than 倒裝： 前幾篇已用過 Seldom、Little、Only after、So ... that、Although、Not only、Not until 等結構，本篇改用 No sooner had ... begun ... than ...，助動詞 had 與分詞 begun 被長插入隔開。

不使用分號： 全句僅以 whose、which、that、as、than、when 等連接詞與關係詞層層推進，單一主幹（No sooner had historians begun ... than they discovered）貫穿到底（中譯為求順暢，才加入括號與逗號）。

多重插入： historians 與 begun 之間、archives 與 remained 之間、that 與 was lifted 之間、meat 與 was 之間，共有四處插入，其中前兩處為插入中的插入。

兩層 which 並用： 同句出現兩個 which 子句，分別修飾 archives 與 meat，容易混淆各自對應的動詞（had long pushed 與 was）。

核心學術字彙與文法重點總結：

關鍵字詞： Taboo（禁忌）、Prohibition（禁令）、Demonstrate（顯示）、Modernity（現代性）、Margin（邊緣）、Regional（地方的）、Relic（遺跡）、Curiosity（奇俗）、Tradition（傳統）。

文法重點： No sooner ... than 倒裝、雙重插入、同位語、as 準關係代名詞、被動語態、neither ... nor ... but、省略關係代名詞。

一點小提醒： 日本確實有熊本、長野、福島會津等地食用馬肉（如馬刺）的傳統，明治初期（1872 年）也確實解除了長期的肉食禁忌，但各地習俗與歷史成因不一，例句為文法示範之概括。例句實際約 99 個英文單字。參考譯文為求順暢，已調整部分分句順序。