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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.在美式英语中，lemon指的是在制造过程中有缺陷的车辆，这种缺陷影响其安全性、价值或实用价值。任何有如此严重问题的车辆都可以被称为“柠檬”，引申来说，任何缺陷太大或太严重而无法达到其使用标准的产品都可以被称为“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这个词的词根和它劣质的意思之间的联系，我们必须回到汽车被发明的时候。

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世纪初，lemon被用来指代笨蛋、次品、骗子以及比表面价值低的物品。虽然这种关联并没有正式的记录来源，但它可能是指一笔糟糕的交易带来的酸味和令人难堪的挫折感。

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”一词的这些用法出现在世纪之交的出版物上，由此，它自然也开始被用于汽车。

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世纪60年代，这种相关性真正得到了巩固。当大众汽车印刷其臭名昭著的柠檬广告时，这个国家变得更加关注车辆的质量和安全。不久之后，各州开始通过我们通常所说的“柠檬法”。

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.

尽管“柠檬”的含义扩大到我们今天的使用方式，但它其实与汽车行业联系最为紧密。

❖柠檬法（Lemon Laws）是一种美国的消费者保护法，主要是在保障汽车买主的权益。柠檬法的名称由来，起源于美国经济学家乔治·阿克罗夫教授发表的论文《柠檬市场：质化的不确定性和市场机制》，在文中阿克罗夫用不同的水果代替不同特性的二手车，以香甜的樱桃与水蜜桃来譬喻车况优良的二手车，而用酸涩的柠檬来譬喻状况不佳的二手车商品。虽然当初阿克罗夫的论文主要是在讨论二手车市场的问题，但后来却被引伸，用来意指出厂后问题百出的瑕疵车，并且以这称呼延伸，替新车瑕疵方面相关的消费者保护法命名，称为“柠檬法”。