#考研第一天#【??24考研英语一高文文猜测????】周思成押题…

??craving freedom, japan’s women opt out of marriage

为啥越来越多的日本女人不愿成婚？

英文外刊

?

the bride wore a birthday cake of a dress, with a scalloped-edge bodice and a large hoop skirt. a veil sprouted from her black bob. moments before the wedding began, she stood quietly on a staircase, waiting to descend to the ceremony.

新娘穿戴一件生日蛋糕般的婚纱，配以一件扇

形紧身胸上衣和一条圈环裙，在她黑色发髻上系着头纱。婚礼初步前，她静静地站在楼梯上，等着下楼步入婚礼现场。

?

“wow,” she thought. “i’m really doing this.”

她想：“哇！我真的要做这件事了。”

?

this was no conventional wedding to join two people in matrimony. instead, a group of nearly 30 friends gathered in a banquet room in one of tokyo’s most fashionable districts last year to witness sanae hanaoka, 31, as she performed a public declaration of her love — for her single self.

这并非一场庆祝两人共结连理的传统婚礼。相反，上一年在位于东京一处时髦区域的这个宴会厅里，近30位兄弟聚在一同，一起见证了31岁的花冈早苗的独身誓词——揭露表达对她自个的爱。

?

“i wanted to figure out how to live on my own,” hanaoka told the group, standing alone on a stage as she thanked them for attending her solo wedding. “i want to rely on my own strength.”

她单独一人站在台上，在谢谢兄弟们来参加她的独身婚礼时对他们说：“我想晓得如何独立日子，我想靠我自个的力气。”

?

today, a growing number of japanese women are postponing or forgoing marriage, rejecting the traditional path that leads to what many now regard as a life of domestic drudgery.

如今，越来越多的日本女人初步推迟或扔掉成婚，回绝走上一条如今被许多人视为一种家庭苦役的路。

?

the percentage of women who work in japan is higher than ever, yet cultural norms have not caught up: japanese wives and mothers are still typically expected to bear the brunt of the housework, child care and help for their aging relatives, a factor that stymies many of their careers.

日本作业女人的比例比曩昔任何时分都要高，可是社会观念却未能跟上：日本的老婆和母亲一般仍被认为要承担家务、照当作人以及照看年迈老一辈的重担，这是阻止许多女人作业打开的一个要素。

?

fed up with the double standard, japanese women are increasingly opting out of marriage altogether, focusing on their work and newfound freedoms, but also alarming politicians preoccupied with trying to reverse japan’s declining population.

不满于这样的两层标准，越来越多的日本女人爽性选择不成婚，转而专心于自个的作业偏重获安适，但这也让那些专心想要改变日自己员降低趋势的政治家们感到担忧。

?

as recently as the mid-1990s, only 1 in 20 women in japan had never been married by the time they turned 50, according to government census figures. but by 2015, the most recent year for which statistics are available, that had changed drastically, with 1 in 7 women remaining unmarried by that age.

日本政府的人员普查数据闪现，在20世纪90年代中期，日本50岁以下没有成婚的女人的比例仅为5%。但到了2015年，即迩来一次进行人员计算的那一年，情况便大为不一样，50岁以下没有成婚的女人的比例已达七分之一。

?

and for women ages 35 to 39, the percentage was even higher: nearly a quarter had never been married, compared with only about 10% two decades earlier.

就35岁至39岁的女人而言，这一比例甚至更高：将近25%的女人从未成婚；比较之下，二十年前的这一比例仅为10%支配。

?

last year, the number of couples getting married hit the lowest level since the end of world war ii, according to government estimates. it was the sixth straight year of decline in the nation’s marriage rate, which is falling at a much faster clip than the drop in japan’s population overall.

据政府估量，上一年成婚的人数降至自第次世界大战结束以来的最低水平。而日本的成婚率现已接连六年呈降低趋势了，降幅甚至跨越了日本总人员的降幅。

?

not surprisingly, the number of births in japan — a country where few people have children out of wedlock — is also tumbling. last year, the number of babies born in the country fell to the lowest level since at least 1899, when record-keeping began.

意料之中的是，在日本这个稀有发生婚外育的国家，生育率也将大幅降低。上一年，日本重生儿数量降至1899年头步记载以来的最低点。

?

local governments, eager to encourage marriage and raise fertility, have started campaigns to bring couples together. “we are working on fostering a mind for marriage,” reads an ad for matchmaking tours and seminars for singles sponsored by the tokyo metropolitan government.

当地政府火急想要鼓舞成婚、前进生育率，由此建议了促进情侣成婚的活动。东京都政府赞助的独身人士婚介之旅及交流会的一则广告上这样写道，“咱们尽力于培育我们的婚姻观念。”

?

but for more and more japanese women — who have traditionally been circumscribed by their relationships with men, children and other family members — singlehood represents a form of liberation.

但关于越来越多的日本女人而言，独身代表着获得解放的一种方法——就传统文明而言，她们一向受困于与丈夫、子孙及其他家庭成员的联络之中。

?

要点词汇：

sprout [spra?t] v. 发芽；长芽；萌发

matrimony [?m?tr?mo?ni] n. 成婚；婚礼

postpone [po??spo?n] v. 推迟，推迟

preoccupy [pri?ɑ?kjupa?] v. 聚精会神

sponsor [?spɑ?ns?r] v. 赞助；建议