美国国家公共电台 NPR--A Houston woman describes the cultural tradition behind her multi-generational home

A Houston woman describes the cultural tradition behind her multi-generational home

Transcript¹

Jennifer Moreno lives in her parents' house, where she cares for her disabled mom and a brother living with autism. Sharing a home in adulthood² has deepened her sense of her parents as individuals.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

Over the coming weeks, we're hearing from young adults living in multigenerational households, people in their 20s and 30s living with their parents and grandparents. For many families, it's a cultural tradition. It's a custom that's also broadened in recent years. To understand why, let's hear the story of one woman in Houston. Here's NPR's Claire Murashima.

CLAIRE MURASHIMA, BYLINE³: Growing up in Houston, Jennifer Moreno and her dad often butted⁴ heads. He was always in survival mode, and she was more level-headed. He'd get frustrated⁵ when she'd translate his Spanish for others, what she had to do frequently - when she was paying the renters insurance, for instance, or handling her brother's Social Security paperwork. Jennifer went away for college but moved home after graduating. Then, her grandmother started staying with the family intermittently⁶. Before Jennifer's grandmother died, she told stories about her son, Jennifer's dad, that he'd never shared.

JENNIFER MORENO: He's not just my dad. He was also, you know, somebody's son. He was also somebody who grew up in rural Mexico and had all these random⁷ adventures that I didn't realize he had.

MURASHIMA: Learning about his past has helped them form a deeper relationship, and it helped Jennifer and her dad finally see each other as adults. And that's a big deal to her because living with her parents is about more than just housing. It's her full-time⁸ job.

Jennifer is 29 and looks after her brother, who was diagnosed with autism late in his childhood. After her mom had a fall at home, Jennifer also became her full-time caregiver and took over her duties as a head of household. She makes sure everyone's awake in the morning, cooks them dinner every night, and everything in between. On top of that...

MORENO: (Speaking Spanish).

MURASHIMA: That's Jennifer warming up her vocal⁹ cords for one of her side hustles¹⁰. When she's not looking after her mom and brother, she freelances as a writer and translator to help make ends meet. Her family lives paycheck to paycheck.

Natasha Pilkauskas is an associate professor of public policy at the University of Michigan. She studies children living in multigenerational households.

NATASHA PILKAUSKAS: In terms of multigenerational households, the kind of people who tend to live in them tend to have fewer economic resources. It's also much more common amongst nonwhite families.

MURASHIMA: These setups are also higher among immigrant families like Jennifer's, whose parents both came to the U.S. from Mexico.

PILKAUSKAS: It's very surprising to me in some senses that it hasn't kind of plateaued so far.

MURASHIMA: A 2021 Pew Research study found that 1 in 4 Americans live in multigenerational households, which they define as two or more adult generations living under the same roof. It's been on the rise for the past 50 years, and this trend is growing fastest among those between ages 25 and 34.

Jennifer was never explicitly¹¹ asked to look after her mom and brother.

MORENO: It's kind of like they avoided the subject because they didn't want to force that idea on me. They were just kind of hoping that I'd willingly take care of them.

MURASHIMA: Pew also told us that almost a quarter of people 25 to 34 living multigenerationally (ph) say that caregiving is a major reason for their living arrangement.

MORENO: At the end of the day, I took on the role because I felt like that's what I had to do in terms of I'm the only person my mom trusts with her care. And it seemed really mean to not be there for her.

MURASHIMA: So until the day comes when they no longer need her care, Jennifer is staying put in her parent's home.

Claire Murashima, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF APERTIF'S "MANDOJA")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 butted   

对接的

参考例句：

• Two goats butted each other. 两只山羊用角顶架。
• He butted against a tree in the dark. 他黑暗中撞上了一棵树。

5 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 intermittently   

adv.间歇地；断断续续

参考例句：

• Winston could not intermittently remember why the pain was happening. 温斯顿只能断断续续地记得为什么这么痛。 来自英汉文学
• The resin moves intermittently down and out of the bed. 树脂周期地向下移动和移出床层。 来自辞典例句

7 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

8 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

9 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

10 hustles   

忙碌，奔忙( hustle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He often hustles on the streets to pay for drugs. 为弄到钱买毒品，他常在街上行骗。
• Ken ves bartender off and hustles Joe out of the bar. 肯恩走开挥舞酒保而且离开酒吧乱挤活动乔。

11 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法