托福閱讀機(jī)經(jīng)背景：美國剩男剩女婚姻觀

In the U.S., fewer and fewer young people are getting married, the U.S. Census Bureau reports.
　　“剩男剩女”現(xiàn)象已日漸成為普遍現(xiàn)象，越來越多中國城市里工作生活的年輕人因?yàn)楦鞣N原因晚婚，而根據(jù)美國人口普查局的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，更多的美國年輕人晚婚或是選擇不婚。

　　Among 25-to-34 year olds, 45 percent are married. (By comparison, in 2000, 55 percent of Americans in that age group were married; in the 1960s, more than 80 percent were.)
　　現(xiàn)在25歲至34歲之間的年輕人結(jié)婚率為45%。(跟2000年相比，處于同一年齡階段的美國年輕人結(jié)婚率為55%，而在20世紀(jì)60年代，結(jié)婚率則高達(dá)80%以上)

　　In an interview with NPR's Melissa Block, Andrew J. Cherlin, author of The Marriage-Go-Round: The State of Marriage and the Family Today, said that, "for college-educated young adults, this is a story of postponing marriage."
　　《婚情調(diào)查：當(dāng)今美國婚姻與家庭狀況》一書的作者安德魯•J•切爾林在接受NPR電臺(tái)記者梅林薩•布洛克的采訪中說道：對念過大學(xué)的年輕人來說，晚婚現(xiàn)象是很常見。

　　They want to finish graduate school, maybe have a couple of years as a law firm associate, and then get married. So, they're waiting longer and longer until they have the rest of their lives in order before they get married.
　　在那些年輕人畢業(yè)之后，他們可能還會(huì)合法同居多年，然后才會(huì)選擇結(jié)婚。所以，這些年輕人在他們今后的生活還未穩(wěn)定前是會(huì)一直堅(jiān)持推遲結(jié)婚的打算。

【免費(fèi)咨詢熱線：400-618-0272】

　　For people without a college degree, some of them are postponing too, but some of them will never make it to the alter. We really will see probably a decline in the lifetime percentages of ever marrying for them.
　　一些沒在大學(xué)讀書的人仍然會(huì)選擇推遲結(jié)婚。但其中可能還有一些人會(huì)一直堅(jiān)持晚婚的決定。我們也將會(huì)看到在這群人當(dāng)中出現(xiàn)結(jié)婚率下降的趨勢。

　　According to Cherlin, increasingly, many Americans get married when it makes sense financially.
　　據(jù)切爾林說，許多美國人會(huì)選在他們具備一定經(jīng)濟(jì)能力后才結(jié)婚。

　　They don't think they have what it takes economically to get married, but they're not willing to wait to have a kid, and so they have one.
　　由于美國年輕人考慮到當(dāng)前他們還不具備結(jié)婚的經(jīng)濟(jì)條件，但又不想推遲要小孩的計(jì)劃。因而他們選擇在結(jié)婚前就生小孩。

　　That has become even truer recently, during the economic recession, he said.
　　切爾林還說，在當(dāng)前經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)的環(huán)境下，這種晚婚現(xiàn)象在美國已經(jīng)尤為突出了。

　　There is something hidden in the statistics, Cherlin noted. More and more unmarried couples are living together, so they count as single people.
　　另外切爾林指出，這些數(shù)據(jù)還并沒有完全顯示出實(shí)際的真實(shí)情況。因?yàn)橛性絹碓蕉嗟哪贻p人未婚同居，所以這類人也被算作是單身人群。

　　That may illuminate another interesting piece of data: 41 percent of births in the U.S. in 2008 were out of wedlock. According to Cherlin, many of those children probably were born to cohabitating, but unwed couples.
　　以上現(xiàn)象也許可以用來解釋這樣一組有趣的數(shù)據(jù)：在2008年，美國有41%新出生的嬰兒都是屬于非婚所生的。據(jù)切爾林說，這其中有許多嬰兒都是由那些同居的人而非那些尚未結(jié)婚的夫婦所生。

精彩專題推薦 >>