近日，#第一批丁克夫妻现状曝光# #步入中年的丁克女性# #丁克家庭该怎样面对养老问题#…… 丁克相关的话题在社交媒体上引发热议。
据了解，《中国生育成本报告2024版》报告显示，0岁至17岁孩子的养育成本平均为53.8万元；0岁至大学本科毕业的养育成本平均约为68万元。
🤔️小作业：
1. What primarily influenced Huang Yulong's decision to have a vasectomy?
A) Medical advice from professionals
B) Influence from a romantic partner who did not want children
C) His childhood experiences and personal beliefs about parenthood
D) Economic pressures and friends' experiences
2. According to the article, what impact does Mr. Huang believe having children would have on his social status?
A) It would elevate his status.
B) It would have no impact on his social status.
C) It would worsen his social status.
D) It would improve his financial stability.
无注释原文：
China Wants More Babies. Some Men Choose Vasectomies.
From: The New York Times, June 1, 2021
Huang Yulong never wanted a baby. As a child, he resented his parents, who left him in the care of relatives while they worked in faraway factories, visiting roughly once a year. He never felt a need to reproduce or pass on the family name.
So, at the age of 26, he had a vasectomy.
“For our generation, children aren't a necessity,” said Mr. Huang, a bachelor in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. “Now we can live without any burdens. So why not invest our spiritual and economic resources on our own lives?”
Mr. Huang, 27, is striving for a lifestyle known as “Double Income, No Kids,” or DINK. The acronym has been around for decades, but only recently entered the mainstream in China, where rising costs and other economic woes have caused many young people to avoid parenthood. The competition for schools and apartments is intensifying. Some couples say they don't want more than one child. Others want none at all.
“If I got married and had a child, I would still belong to the bottom class,” Mr. Huang said, referring to his background as a child of struggling factory workers. “When the time comes, I could also leave my child at home just like my parents. But I don't want that.”
When he was 14, Mr. Huang left Hunan to find work in Guangdong, too. He later fell in love with a woman who wanted children, and he wrestled with the possibility of starting a family. He eventually broke up with her and, in June 2019, went to a hospital in Guangzhou for the vasectomy. He described it as a birthday gift to himself.
For decades, Chinese people were conditioned to have children out of tradition, filial obligation and, ultimately, a fallback for retirement. But an expanding social security net and a proliferation of insurance plans have given people more options.
China now has the world's largest number of single people. In 2018, the country reported 240 million of them, accounting for about 17 percent of the total population. Although the percentage is still smaller compared to the United States, the number has risen by about a third since 2010.
According to a 2018 study published by the Journal of Chinese Women's Studies, the direct economic cost of raising a child from 0 to 17 years is about $30,000, seven times the annual salary of the average Chinese citizen.
Those kinds of numbers are often discussed in DINK forums, which have also become informal dating sites, with some of most popular threads being marriage advertisements.
“Yearning for a world of just two people,” one read. “I really don't like children, I can even say I hate them. I know how difficult it is to raise them! The efforts are not proportional to the gains!”
- ◆ -
注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为纽约时报官方译文，仅供参考
含注释全文：
China Wants More Babies. Some Men Choose Vasectomies.
From: The New York Times, June 1, 2021
Huang Yulong never wanted a baby. As a child, heresentedhis parents, who left him in the care of relatives while they worked in faraway factories, visiting roughly once a year. He never felt a need toreproduceor pass on the family name.
黄玉龙从来都不想要孩子。小时候，他怨恨父母，他们到遥远的工厂打工，把他留给亲戚照顾，大约每年回来看他一次。他从来都不觉得有传宗接代的需要。
resent
resent /rɪˈzent/ 表示“感到愤恨；不满；憎恶”，英文解释为“to feel angry because you have been forced to accept someone or something that you do not like”举个🌰：He resents having to explain his work to other people. 他讨厌非得向人们解释他的工作。
📍词根“sent”来源于拉丁语“sentire”，意思是“感觉”。前缀“re-”表示“再次”，所以“resent”可以联想为“再次感觉到某事”，通常是不愉快的事情。想象每次他人问你同样的问题，你的怨恨情绪就更加强烈。近义词：dislike（不喜欢），同根词：resentment（怨恨），常用短语：resent someone for something（因某事怨恨某人）。
reproduce
reproduce /ˌriː.prəˈdʒuːs/ 1）表示“生殖；生育；繁殖”，英文解释为“When living things reproduce, they produce young plants, animals, etc.”举个🌰：These plants can reproduce sexually and asexually. 这些植物既可以进行有性繁殖，也可以进行无性繁殖。
2）表示“复制；翻印；复写”，英文解释为“to produce a copy of something, or to be copied in a production process”举个🌰：His work was reproduced on leaflets and magazines. 他的作品被翻印在宣传页和杂志上。
So, at the age of 26, he had avasectomy.
26岁的时候，他做了输精管结扎手术。
vasectomy
vasectomy /vəˈsek.tə.mi/ 表示“输精管切除术”，英文解释为“the medical operation of cutting the tubes through which a man's sperm move, in order to stop his partner getting pregnant”
“For our generation, children aren't a necessity,” said Mr. Huang, abachelorin the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. “Now we can live without any burdens. So why not invest our spiritual and economic resources on our own lives?”
“对我们这一代来说，其实小孩不是必需品，”住在南方城市广州、仍然单身的黄先生说。“而且我们现在又是可有可无的，所以还不如把那些经济精力时间拿来去做自己的生活。”
bachelor
bachelor /ˈbætʃ.əl.ər/ 表示“独身男子，单身汉”，英文解释为“a man who has never married”
bachelor's degree /ˌbætʃ.əl.əz dɪˈɡriː/ 表示“学士学位”，英文解释为“a first degree at college or university”
📍词根“bachelor”源自中世纪拉丁语“baccalarius”，最初指小农场的主人。后来指未婚男士，也用于指学士学位。
Mr. Huang, 27, is striving for a lifestyle known as “Double Income, No Kids,” or DINK. Theacronymhas been around for decades, but only recently entered the mainstream in China, where rising costs and other economicwoeshave caused many young people to avoid parenthood. The competition for schools and apartments isintensifying. Some couples say they don't want more than one child. Others want none at all.
现年27岁的黄先生正在努力追求一种被称为“丁克”(DINK)的生活方式。DINK是英文Double Income, No Kids（有两份收入，没有孩子）的首字母缩写，已经存在几十年了，但直到最近才进入中国主流社会，不断上涨的生活成本和其他经济问题让许多年轻人不想要孩子。择校和买房竞争不断加剧。一些夫妇说他们只想要一个孩子。另一些人则一个都不想要。
acronym
acronym /ˈæk.rə.nɪm/表示“首字母缩拼词，首字母组合词，首字母缩略词”，英文解释为“an abbreviation consisting of the first letters of each word in the name of something, pronounced as a word”举个🌰：AIDS is an acronym for "Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome". AIDS （艾滋病）是 Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome（获得性免疫缺损综合征）的首字母缩拼词。
📍词根“acro-”意味着“高处，尖端”，而“-nym”意味着“名字”，所以“acronym”指的是由几个词的首字母组成的词。
📍acronym和initialism都是由首字母缩写形成的词，但它们之间有一个主要的区别：Acronym（首字母缩略词）：可以作为一个单词来发音。例如：NASA（National Aeronautics and Space Administration，美国国家航空航天局），它读作 /ˈnæsə/，像一个单词一样。而Initialism（字母缩略词）：同样由一系列单词的首字母组成，但每个字母都单独发音，而不是合成一个单词的发音。例如：FBI（Federal Bureau of Investigation，美国联邦调查局），它读作 /ˌɛfˈbiːˈaɪ/，每个字母分开发音。
📍简而言之，如果你将缩写作为一个单词来发音，那么它是一个acronym；如果你逐个字母发音，那么它是一个initialism。
woes
woe /wəʊ/的复数形式woes，表示“麻烦；问题；困难”，英文解释为“the troubles and problems that sb has”举个🌰：Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
而woe作不可数名词时，表示“悲伤；悲哀”，英文解释为“extreme sadness”举个🌰：Her face was lined and full of woe. 她满脸皱纹，一副悲伤的表情。
intensifying
Intensifying作为形容词时，意思是“加强的”、“增强的”或“激化的”。它用来描述某事物正在变得更加强烈、更加严重或更加剧烈的过程或状态。这个词常用于描述天气、情绪、竞争、争论等方面的加剧或激化。举个🌰：They are facing intensifying competition in the market. 他们面临着市场竞争的加剧。
intensify /ɪnˈten.sɪ.faɪ/ 作动词，表示“加强，增强；强化”，英文解释为“to become greater, more serious, or more extreme, or to make something do this”举个🌰：I jump, intensifying the pain in all my muscles. 我跳起来，浑身的肌肉更加疼痛了。
“If I got married and had a child, I would still belong to the bottom class,” Mr. Huang said, referring to his background as a child of struggling factory workers. “When the time comes, I could also leave my child at home just like my parents. But I don't want that.”
“我如果也结婚生子还是底层人吧，”黄先生说道，他指的是自己作为打工子女的背景。“到时候我还是会像我父母一样把小孩（留在）家里待着吧。我不想啊。”
When he was 14, Mr. Huang left Hunan to find work in Guangdong, too. He later fell in love with a woman who wanted children, and hewrestledwith the possibility of starting a family. He eventually broke up with her and, in June 2019, went to a hospital in Guangzhou for the vasectomy. He described it as a birthday gift to himself.
黄先生14岁时也离开湖南去广东打工。后来他爱上了一个想要孩子的女子，他对生孩子的问题想了很多。他最终与那名女子分了手，并于2019年6月去广州一家医院做了结扎手术。他形容这是送给自己的生日礼物。
wrestle
wrestle /ˈres.əl/ 表示“（尤指作为运动）（与…）摔跤，角力;（将…）摔倒”，英文解释为“to fight with someone (especially as a sport) by holding them and trying to throw them to the ground”举个🌰：He has wrestled professionally for five years. 他从事职业摔跤已有5年了。
wrestle with sth 表示“努力解决；艰难对付”，英文解释为“to try very hard to deal with a problem or to make a difficult decision”举个🌰：He wrestled with the decision for several weeks, wondering what he should do. 他为作这个决定苦苦思索了几个星期，不知道该如何是好。
For decades, Chinese people wereconditionedto have children out of tradition,filial obligationand, ultimately, afallbackfor retirement. But an expanding social security net and aproliferationof insurance plans have given people more options.
几十年来，中国人生孩子主要是出于传统、尽孝，以及退休后有依托的考虑。但不断扩大的社会保障网和各种各样的保险计划给了人们更多的选择。
condition
condition /kənˈdɪʃ.ən/熟词僻义，作名词，除了表示“情况，状况”，condition本身可以表示“疾病”，英文解释为“any of different types of diseases”如：to suffer from a heart/skin condition 患有心脏/皮肤病。
📍out of condition 可以表示“身体状况不佳，不在状态”（not healthy enough for hard physical exercise, as a result of not taking part in sport or other physical activities）。
作动词，1）表示“训练；使习惯于；使适应；使（人或动物）形成条件反射”，英文解释为“to train or influence a person or animal mentally so that they do or expect a particular thing without thinking about it”如：a conditioned reflex/response 条件反射/反应。表示“
2）对…具有重要影响；影响（某事发生的方式）”，英文解释为“to have an important effect on sb/sth; to influence the way that sth happens”举个🌰：Gender roles are often conditioned by cultural factors. 文化因素常常对性别的角色有着重要的影响。
filial
filial /ˈfɪl.i.əl/ 表示“子女的”，英文解释为“of a son or daughter”如：filial duty/respect/affection 子女的义务/尊敬/亲情。
obligation
obligation /ˌɒb.lɪˈɡeɪ.ʃən/ 表示“义务；责任；职责”，英文解释为“the fact that you are obliged to do something”举个🌰：If you have not signed a contract, you are under no obligation to (= it is not necessary to) pay them any money. 如果你没有签合同，你就没有义务付给他们钱。
词根“-lig-”来自拉丁语“ligare”，意味着“绑定，约束”。前缀“ob-”通常表示“向前”或“对面”，在这里加强了绑定的感觉。想象你看到一个人被一份重要文件“绑定”，这份文件代表了他的职责。近义词：duty（职责），同根词：obligatory（义务的），常用短语：fulfill an obligation（履行义务）。
fallback
fallback /ˈfɔːl.bæk/ 作形容词，表示“（计划等）应变的，退一步的”，英文解释为“A fallback plan or position can be used if other plans do not succeed or other things are not available.”举个🌰：Do we have a fallback position for these negotiations? 这些谈判我们有应变方案吗？
作名词，表示“应变计划；退路”，英文解释为“A plan or course of action that is ready to be used in an emergency if other things fail”
fall back短语，表示“（常指因恐惧而）后退，后撤；撤退”，英文解释为“to move back suddenly from someone or something, often because you are frightened”举个🌰：She fell back in horror/disgust. 她惊恐地/厌恶地往后退。
📍“fall back”其中“fall”意味着“跌落”，“back”表示“向后”，字面意思是在需要时退后或返回到安全或原始位置。联想在一场战役中，士兵撤退到他们的后备阵地。近义词：reserve（预备），常用短语：use as a fallback（作为后备使用）。
proliferation
proliferation /prəˌlɪfəˈreɪʃn/表示“扩散；激增；涌现；增殖；大量的事物”，英文解释为“the sudden increase in the number or amount of sth; a large number of a particular thing”如：a proliferation of personal computers 个人电脑的激增。
China now has the world's largest number of single people. In 2018, the country reported 240 million of them, accounting for about 17 percent of the total population. Although the percentage is still smaller compared to the United States, the number has risen by about a third since 2010.
中国现在是世界上单身人数最多的国家。中国2018年的单身人数为2.4亿，约占总人口的17%。尽管单身人口的比例与美国相比仍然较低，但自2010年以来，已经增长了约三分之一。
According to a 2018 study published by the Journal of Chinese Women's Studies, the direct economic cost of raising a child from 0 to 17 years is about $30,000, seven times the annual salary of the average Chinese citizen.
《妇女研究论丛》2018年发表的一项研究估算，把孩子从0岁养育到17岁所需的直接经济成本为19.10万元，是中国公民平均年收入的7倍。
Those kinds of numbers are often discussed in DINKforums, which have also become informal dating sites, with some of most popularthreadsbeing marriage advertisements.
这些数字是丁克吧里经常讨论的内容，丁克吧也起着非正式的约会网站的作用，上面一些最受欢迎的话题是征婚广告。
forum
forum /ˈfɔː.rəm/ 1）表示“（互联网上的）论坛”，英文解释为“a place on the internet where people can leave messages or discuss particular subjects with other people at the same time”举个🌰：Discussion forums are a way of contacting people with similar interests from all over the world. 各种交流讨论的论坛可以把世界各地兴趣相同的人联系起来。
2）表示“（尤指讨论与公共利益相关的问题的）论坛，讨论会”，英文解释为“a situation or meeting in which people can talk about a problem or matter especially of public interest”如：a forum for debate/discussion 进行辩论/讨论的论坛。
thread
thread /θred/ 1）作名词，表示“（互联网上的）帖子，话题”，英文解释为“a connected group of pieces of writing on the internet, where people are talking about a particular subject”举个🌰：I was so glad to find this thread, and to know that lots of people have the same problem as me! 我很高兴看到这张帖子，发现很多人也有我同样的问题！
2）表示“线”，英文解释为“(a length of) a very thin fibre”如：needle and thread 针线；或者表示“（光、烟等）线状物，线状体”，英文解释为“a long, thin line of something such as light or smoke”举个🌰：A thin thread of light made its way through the curtains. 一缕光线透过帘子照进来。
3）作动词，表示“穿线于；使穿过”，英文解释为“to put something long and thin such as string or thread through a narrow hole or into a small space”如：to thread a needle 穿针；
4）表示“穿成串；串在一起”，英文解释为“to join two or more objects together by passing sth long and thin through them”如：to thread beads (onto a string) （在绳子上）把珠子串起来。
“Yearningfor a world of just two people,” one read. “I really don't like children, I can even say I hate them. I know how difficult it is to raise them! The efforts are notproportionalto the gains!”
“向往二人世界，”其中一条写道。“真心不喜欢小孩子甚至说厌恶，也太懂得培养一个孩子的不容易！付出和收获不成正比！”
yearning
yearning /ˈjɜː.nɪŋ/ 表示“渴望，切盼，渴求”，英文解释为“a strong feeling of wishing for something, especially something that you cannot have or get easily”举个🌰：I suppose it's because I live in a city that I have this yearning for open spaces. 我想是因为我居住在城市里，所以才会如此渴望开阔的空间。
proportional
proportional /prəˈpɔː.ʃən.əl/ 表示“与…成比例的”，英文解释为“If two amounts are proportional, they change at the same rate so that the relationship between them does not change.”举个🌰：Weight is proportional to size. 重量与大小是成比例的。
- 词汇盘点 -
resent、reproduce、vasectomy、bachelor、acronym、woes、intensifying、wrestle、condition、filial、obligation、fallback、proliferation、forum、thread、yearning、proportional
- 词汇助记 By ChatGPT -
Bachelor Joe resented his intensifying woes; filial obligations and reproduction pressures. After a vasectomy, his condition sparked threads in a forum acronymed 'FALLBACK,' wrestling with the yearning and proliferation of proportional life choices.
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