In US-English, a lemon is a vehicle that turns out to have several manufacturing defects affecting its safety, value or utility. Any vehicle with such severe issues may be termed a lemon, and by extension, so may any product with flaws too great or severe to serve its purpose.在美式英語中，lemon指的是在制造過程中有缺陷的車輛，這種缺陷影響其安全性、價(jià)值或?qū)嵱脙r(jià)值。任何有如此嚴(yán)重問題的車輛都可以被稱為“檸檬”，引申來說，任何缺陷太大或太嚴(yán)重而無法達(dá)到其使用標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的產(chǎn)品都可以被稱為“lemon”。

To determine the root of the term “lemon” and its association with sub-par quality, we have to look back to when cars were invented.

要弄清lemon這個(gè)詞的詞根和它劣質(zhì)的意思之間的聯(lián)系，我們必須回到汽車被發(fā)明的時(shí)候。

At the beginning of the twentieth century, “lemon” was used to refer to a dimwit, a defective product, a hustle, and an item that has lower value than it appears. While there’s no official origin of this correlation on record, it’s possible that it referred to the sourness of a bad deal and the face-puckering frustration in brought.

在20世紀(jì)初，lemon被用來指代笨蛋、次品、騙子以及比表面價(jià)值低的物品。雖然這種關(guān)聯(lián)并沒有正式的記錄來源，但它可能是指一筆糟糕的交易帶來的酸味和令人難堪的挫折感。

These uses of the term “lemon” appeared in publications at the turn of the century, so in time it naturally began being applied to automobiles too.

“lemon”一詞的這些用法出現(xiàn)在世紀(jì)之交的出版物上，由此，它自然也開始被用于汽車。

In the 1960s, the correlation truly was cemented. The nation became more attentive to vehicular quality and safety, while Volkswagen printed its notorious “lemon” ad. Shortly after, states began passing what we commonly call “lemon laws.”

在20世紀(jì)60年代，這種相關(guān)性真正得到了鞏固。當(dāng)大眾汽車印刷其臭名昭著的檸檬廣告時(shí)，這個(gè)國家變得更加關(guān)注車輛的質(zhì)量和安全。不久之后，各州開始通過我們通常所說的“檸檬法”。

While the specific connotation of “lemon” continued to evolve into how we use it today, it has become most closely associated with the automobile industry.

盡管“檸檬”的含義擴(kuò)大到我們今天的使用方式，但它其實(shí)與汽車行業(yè)聯(lián)系最為緊密。

?檸檬法（Lemon Laws）是一種美國的消費(fèi)者保護(hù)法，主要是在保障汽車買主的權(quán)益。檸檬法的名稱由來，起源于美國經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家喬治·阿克羅夫教授發(fā)表的論文《檸檬市場：質(zhì)化的不確定性和市場機(jī)制》，在文中阿克羅夫用不同的水果代替不同特性的二手車，以香甜的櫻桃與水蜜桃來譬喻車況優(yōu)良的二手車，而用酸澀的檸檬來譬喻狀況不佳的二手車商品。雖然當(dāng)初阿克羅夫的論文主要是在討論二手車市場的問題，但后來卻被引伸，用來意指出廠后問題百出的瑕疵車，并且以這稱呼延伸，替新車瑕疵方面相關(guān)的消費(fèi)者保護(hù)法命名，稱為“檸檬法”。