今日導讀
今年 5 月傀缩,美國疾病控制和預防中心(CDC)發(fā)布的最新報告顯示那先,2020 年美國生育率較前一年下跌 4%,出現(xiàn)“六連降”赡艰,新生兒人數(shù)也創(chuàng)下 40 年以來的新低售淡。一些專家此前曾預測,疫情期間人們居家隔離慷垮,將會帶來一波“嬰兒潮”揖闸,然而這一愿景卻并未實現(xiàn)。近年來料身,推遲甚至放棄生育汤纸,正在成為美國一個重要的趨勢。美國女性的生育觀究竟發(fā)生了怎樣的轉變芹血?這背后又有哪些經(jīng)濟和社會原因贮泞?讓我們和大仔老師一起楞慈,到今天的文章里來看一看吧。
帶著問題聽講解
如何理解 incentive 這個詞啃擦?
social safety net 指的是什么抖部?
根據(jù)文章,為何美國有越來越多的女性推遲生育议惰?
正文
Why American women everywhere are delaying motherhood
為什么美國各地的女性都在推遲生育
Over the past decade, as more women of all social classes have prioritized education and career, delaying childbearing has become a broad pattern among American women almost everywhere.
在過去 10 年里慎颗,隨著社會各階層越來越多的女性把教育和事業(yè)放在首位,推遲生育幾乎已經(jīng)成為美國各地女性的普遍模式言询。
The result has been the slowest growth of the American population since the 1930s. Since 2007, the birthrate for women in their 20s has fallen by 28%.
其結果是美國人口的增長速度達到了 1930 年代以來的最低水平俯萎。自 2007 年以來,20 多歲女性的生育率下降了 28%运杭。
"The story here is about young women, whose births are plummeting," said Caitlin Myers, an economist at Middlebury College who analyzed county-level birth records for The New York Times.
美國明德學院的經(jīng)濟學家凱特琳·邁爾斯為《紐約時報》分析了縣級的生育記錄夫啊,她表示:“這個情況和年輕女性有關,她們的生育率正在急劇下降辆憔∑裁校”
A geographic analysis of Myers' data offers a clue: The birthrate is falling fastest in places with the greatest job growth — where women have more incentive to wait.
對邁爾斯的數(shù)據(jù)進行地理分析可以發(fā)現(xiàn)一條線索:在就業(yè)增長最快的地方,生育率下降得最快——在這些地方虱咧,女性有更多動機去推遲生育熊榛。
In more than two dozen interviews with young women in Phoenix and Denver, some said they felt they could not afford a baby. They cited the costs of child care and housing, and sometimes student debt. Many also said they wanted to get their careers set first and expressed satisfaction that they were exerting control over their fertility — and their lives — in a way their mothers had not.
在對鳳凰城和丹佛的年輕女性進行的 20 多次采訪中,一些人說腕巡,她們覺得自己養(yǎng)不起孩子玄坦。她們提及了托兒服務和住房的成本,有些人還談到了學生債務绘沉。許多人還表示煎楣,她們想先把自己的事業(yè)安排好,并對自己能掌控生育和生活表示滿意——她們的母親沒能做到這樣车伞。
The largest declines in births have been in unintended pregnancies and those to single mothers, Myers found. A major reason women are able to be more intentional about when to have children is better access to birth control. Long-acting reversible contraception has given women new options, and the Affordable Care Act made many of them free.
邁爾斯發(fā)現(xiàn)择懂,意外懷孕和單身母親的生育率降幅是最大的。女性能夠對何時生育孩子擁有更多主動權另玖,主要原因之一是采取避孕措施變得更加容易了困曙。長效可逆避孕方法給了女性新的選擇,而《平價醫(yī)療法案》則免除了其中許多手段的費用日矫。
The lower rate of unplanned pregnancy is a signal that the decline in births — despite the hand-wringing about what it portends for the nation's workforce and social safety net — could be good news for individual women.
非計劃懷孕率的降低表明赂弓,出生率下降雖然給國家的勞動力和社會保障網(wǎng)絡造成了令人擔憂的影響,但對女性個體來說卻可能是個好消息哪轿。
重點詞匯
motherhood
/?m?e.?.h?d/
n. 母親身份
詞根詞綴:-hood(表示“狀態(tài)”或者“時期”)
相關詞匯:childhood(n. 童年)
相關詞匯:likelihood(n. 可能性)
英文釋義:the state of being a mother
例句:I don't feel ready for motherhood yet.(我覺得我還沒準備好當媽媽盈魁。)
prioritize
/pra????r.?.ta?z/
v. 優(yōu)先考慮(處理)
相關詞匯:prior(adj. 在先的,先前的)
相關詞匯:priority(n. 當務之急窃诉,優(yōu)先處理的事)
例句:The vaccination programme is a priority in the fight to prevent the spread of COVID-19.(在防止新冠疫情擴散的斗爭中杨耙,疫苗接種計劃是當務之急赤套。)
搭配短語:to prioritize A over B(優(yōu)先考慮 A 而不是 B)
例句:He prioritizes work over everything else.
childbearing
/?t?a?ld?ber.??/
n. 生育
相關詞匯:bear(v. 忍耐;生育珊膜;開(花)容握;結(果實))
例句:She has borne two children.(她生育了兩個孩子。(borne 為 bear 的過去分詞))
搭配短語:to bear fruit(結出果實车柠;取得成果)
例句:Eventually her efforts bore fruit and she got the job she wanted.(bore 為 bear 的過去式)
搭配短語:the trend towards later marriage and childbearing(晚婚晚育的趨勢)
plummet
/?pl?m.?t/
v. 暴跌剔氏,急劇下降;(突然而迅速地)墜落竹祷,栽下
例句:She plummeted to the ground.(她栽倒在了地上谈跛。)
例句:The stock market plummeted.(股市暴跌。)
incentive
/?n?sen.t??v/
n. 激勵塑陵,刺激
英文釋義:a thing that motivates or encourages one to do something
例句:Bonus payments provide an incentive to work harder.(獎金能夠激勵人更加努力工作感憾。)
cite
/sa?t/
v. 提及(原因);引用令花,引述
搭配短語:to cite the dictionary
英文釋義:to mention something as a reason
例句:They voted to remove a photo of the reigning monarch from their common room, citing Britain's colonial history.(他們投票決定將在位君主的肖像移出了公共休息室阻桅,理由是它象征著英國的殖民歷史。)
fertility
/f??t?l.?.t?i/
n. 生育能力兼都,繁殖力嫂沉;(土地的)肥力
相關詞匯:fertile(adj. 肥沃的,多產的俯抖;能生育的输瓜,可繁殖的)
reversible
/r??v??.s?.b?l/
adj. 可恢復原狀的,可逆的
相關詞匯:reverse(v. 顛倒芬萍,使倒轉;逆轉搔啊,徹底轉變)
例句:Writing is reversed in a mirror.(鏡子里的字是倒過來的柬祠。)
英文釋義:to change something completely so that it is the opposite of what it was before
搭配短語:to reverse the trend of global warming(逆轉全球變暖的趨勢)
例句:Biden's executive order reversed Trump's ban on the two apps.(拜登的行政令撤銷了特朗普對這兩款手機應用的禁令。)
contraception
/?kɑ?n.tr??sep.??n/
n. 避孕负芋,避孕方法
詞根詞綴:contra-(表示 against or opposite漫蛔,“與……相反”)
相關詞匯:contradict(v. 反駁,駁斥)
相關詞匯:conception(n. 受孕旧蛾,懷孕)
近義表達:birth control
portend
/p??r?tend/
v. 預示莽龟,預告(壞事)
英文釋義:to be a sign that something bad is likely to happen in the future
例句:Those thick, black clouds portend a storm.