美国文化脱口秀 第330期:美国有剩女和相亲角吗?

 最近，相亲角视频刷爆朋友圈。今天，Jenny和自己的一位美国女生好友，跟大家聊聊美国女生是否面对“剩女”的标签、相亲的压力。

关键词：

美国有“剩女”标签吗？

Leftover¹ women: 剩女

Leftover: 剩下的、没人要的

Leftover food:剩菜

Matchmaking corner: 相亲角

不过英语里并没有"left women"这个说法，是从中文里翻译过去的

英语里只有“单身女性”的说法

Single lady/single woman: 单身女性，但这两个词听起来充满了独立、自信

Spinster: 老姑娘，这是几十年前才会用的词

家庭、宗教压力大于社会偏见

The social pressure of getting married: 结婚的压力

Does the idea of a leftover woman exist in the US? 美国有剩女这种概念吗？

Is it a thing in the States? 这个美国存在吗？

It's different than in China and it depends more on the individual woman and her family background:美国的情况跟中国很不同。在美国，压力跟多取决于女生本身的家庭背景

For example, I come from a conservative² background. So I got a little bit more pressure to get married: 比如说，我自己的家庭很保守，所以我在这方面会面临更大的压力

But there's less societal pressure as a whole to label women as "leftover women": 但社会不会给你贴“剩女”的标签

Religion also plays a key role: 宗教也是一个重要因素

I've got a Mormon friend. In his faith, people get married in their early 20's: 我有个摩门教的朋友，他说摩门教徒一般20出头就结婚了

美国有剩女和相亲角吗

“逼婚”英语怎么说？

Pressure you or force you to get married: 逼婚

I don't think they can really force us to get married: 不过父母也没办法真逼你结婚

中美单身女性的崛起

Parallel wave of the rise of the single independent women in America and China: 中美同时经历单身独立女性的崛起

The percentage of single women in both countries is at its historic³ high:两国未婚女性的比例都是历史上最高的

Women are not staying single to prove a point about equality: 女性不结婚并不是要刻意证明平等

Women are living fulfilled personal and professional lives and enjoy romantic relationships without being married: 虽然没结婚，但她们能过充实的个人生活、有事业、也有爱情

It's a global phenomenon: 这是个全球现象

相亲角: 外国人眼中的中国景点

Matchmaking corner: 相亲角

Foreigners see it as a tourist attraction: 外国人把上海的人民公园相亲角当作景点

They've never seen something like this in the States: 在美国，基本没有相亲角这样的东西

Parents go to matchmaking corners to advertize for their children: 父母去相亲角给自己的孩子打广告

“相亲”英语怎么说？

Set you up someone: 给你介绍、撮合

To be set up with someone: 被介绍、被撮合

A blind date: 两个互不认识的人经人撮合后初次见面

Matchingmaking: 相亲，但这个词更多形容父母帮你介绍

适婚对象，就是没感觉

Marriage material: 适合结婚的对象，多指工作稳定、有房有车这类物质条件

It's more common for friends to set you up with someone in the States: 美国，基本上朋友帮你介绍

It's much less common for parents to set you up with someone: 父母不太参与给孩子介绍对象

We don't necessarily feel our parents know who will be best for us, but we have the idea of filial piety⁴: 中国人也不一定觉得父母了解我们想要的，但是要尊崇孝道

It's your duty to obey your parents: 服从父母是做子女的责任

美国女性平均结婚年龄

The average marriage age of American women is 27: 美国女性平均结婚年龄是27岁

It's pretty young: 还挺年轻的

But there's a lot of regional differences when it comes to that: 但是结婚年龄有很多地域差异

The marriage age：适婚年龄

美国女生也焦虑

Fling⁵: 随意的、不太认真的感情

Serious relationship: 认真的感情

The anxiety still kicks in for American women after a certain age: 美国女生到了一定年纪也会感到焦虑

Biological reason: 大概出于生理原因

The biological clock is ticking: "生理钟在转"。这是英语里的一个固定说法，指女性到了一定年纪会感到生育的焦虑

But American women feel the anxiety later than Chinese women: 但是美国女性感到焦虑的年纪要比中国女生晚

It's not in their 20's. It's generally in their late 30's: 20多岁不会焦虑，30岁以后，临近40岁才会

30 is a huge threshold⁶ for a lot of Chinese women: 中国女生觉得30岁是个槛

It's like an expiration⁷ day: 就像过期日期

不要将就

Settle: 将就

Settle and get married: 将就而结婚

Don't settle. It's your life: 不要将就, 这是你的人生

1 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。

2 conservative   

adj.保守的，守旧的；n.保守的人，保守派

参考例句：

• He is a conservative member of the church.他是一个守旧教会教友。
• The young man is very conservative.这个年轻人很守旧。

3 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

4 piety   

n.虔诚，虔敬

参考例句：

• They were drawn to the church not by piety but by curiosity.他们去教堂不是出于虔诚而是出于好奇。
• Experience makes us see an enormous difference between piety and goodness.经验使我们看到虔诚与善意之间有着巨大的区别。

5 fling   

vt.用力扔，使投身；n.尽情欢乐的一阵

参考例句：

• I really must fling out all these old newspapers.我真的该把这些旧报纸扔掉了。
• It's good to fling off heavy clothing now that spring is here.春天到了，脱去笨重的冬装真让人高兴。

6 threshold   

n.界限，门槛，入口，开端

参考例句：

• I'll never cross the threshold of your house again.我再也不进你的家门了。
• He stopped at the threshold of the bedroom.他在卧室门口停住了。

7 expiration   

n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物

参考例句：

• Can I have your credit card number followed by the expiration date?能告诉我你的信用卡号码和它的到期日吗?
• This contract shall be terminated on the expiration date.劳动合同期满，即行终止。