双语：平分家务的夫妻离婚率高

2012-09-30 00:00:00来源：中国日报英语点津

　　Divorce rates are far higher among “modern” couples who share the housework than in those where the woman does the lion’s shareof the chores, a Norwegian study has found.
　　挪威一项最新调查表明，共同分担家务的“现代”夫妇的离婚率比妻子承担绝大部分家务的夫妇高得多。

　　In what appears to be a slap in the facefor gender equality, the report found the divorce rate among couples who shared housework equally was around 50 per cent higher than among those where the woman did most of the work.
　　调查报告显示，共同分担家务的夫妇离婚率比妻子承担绝大部分家务的夫妇高出50%。这好似给了性别平等的理念当头一棒。

　　“What we’ve seen is that sharing equal responsibility for work in the home doesn’t necessarily contribute to contentment,” said Thomas Hansen, co-author of the study entitled “Equality in the Home”.
　　研究报告的合著者托马斯-汉森说：“从调查可以看出，在家里共同分担家务并不一定会提高婚姻满足感。”这份报告名为《家庭生活中的平等》。

　　The lack of correlation between equality at home and quality of life was surprising, the researcher said.
　　汉森表示，夫妻关系的平等和生活质量几乎没有关系，这很令人吃惊。

　　“One would think that break-ups would occur more often in families with less equality at home, but our statistics show the opposite,” he said.
　　他说：“人们可能认为一些男女更不平等的家庭离婚率更高，但是结果截然相反。

　　The figures clearly show that “the more a man does in the home, the higher the divorce rate,” he went on.
　　而且很明显，“丈夫在家做的家务越多，夫妻离婚率越高。”

　　The reasons, Mr Hansen said, lay only partially with the chores themselves.
　　汉森说，这与家务事本身仅有部分关系。

　　The deeper reasons for the higher divorce rate, he suggested, came from the values of “modern” couples rather than the chores they shared.
　　他表示，双方分担家务的家庭离婚率更高的深层原因来自于“现代”夫妻的价值观，而不是他们分担的家务劳动。

　　“In these modern couples, women also have a high level of education and a well-paid job, which makes them less dependent on their spouse financially.” Mr Hansen said.
　　他说：“在现代夫妻中，女性的受教育水平也很高，工作收入也不错，这就降低了她们对于伴侣的经济依赖。”

　　They can manage much easier if they divorce,” he said.
　　他说：“如果她们离婚的话，也能更从容地应对。”

　　Norway has a long tradition of gender equality and childrearing is shared equally between mothers and fathers in 70 per cent of cases.
　　在挪威，男女平等的观念由来已久。在70%的家庭中，夫妻二人会共同承担抚养子女的义务。

　　Vocabulary:

　　lion’s share: 最大的一份，最好的一份

　　a slap in the face: 侮辱，公然责备，当头一棒

本文关键字: 夫妻关系