双语：美国高学历女性人数首度超过男性

 　　In this April 18, 2011 file photo, a woman at a job fair in New York talks to an employer. For the first time, American women have passed men in gaining advanced college degrees as well as bachelor's degrees, part of a trend that is helping¹ redefine who goes off to work and who stays home with the kids.

　　For the first time, American women have passed men in gaining advanced college degrees as well as bachelor's degrees, part of a trend that is helping redefine who goes off to work and who stays home with the kids.

　　Census² figures released Tuesday highlight the latest education milestone³ for women, who began to exceed men in college enrollment⁴ in the early 1980s. The findings come amid record shares of women in the workplace and a steady decline in stay-at-home mothers.

　　The educational gains for women are giving them greater access to a wider range of jobs, contributing to a shift of traditional gender⁵ roles at home and work. Based on one demographer's estimate, the number of stay-at-home dads who are the primary caregivers for their children reached nearly 2 million last year, or one in 15 fathers. The official census tallywas 154,000, based on a narrower definition that excludes those working part-time or looking for jobs.

　　"The gaps we're seeing in bachelor's and advanced degrees mean that women will be better protected against the next recession," said Mark Perry, an economics professor at the University of Michigan-Flint who is a visiting scholarat the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

　　"Men now might be the ones more likely to be staying home, doing the more traditional child rearing," he said.

　　Among adults 25 and older, 10.6 million U.S. women have master's degrees or higher, compared to 10.5 million men. Measured by shares, about 10.2 percent of women have advanced degrees compared to 10.9 percent of men — a gap steadily⁶ narrowing in recent years. Women still trailmen in professional subcategoriessuch as business, science and engineering.

　　When it comes to finishing college, roughly 20.1 million women have bachelor's degrees, compared to nearly 18.7 million men — a gap of more than 1.4 million that has remained steady in recent years. Women first passed men in bachelor's degrees in 1996.

　　Some researchers including Perry have dubbedthe current economic slump⁷ a "man-cession" because of the huge job losses in the male-dominated construction and manufacturing industries, which require less schooling⁸. Measured by pay, women with full-time⁹ jobs now make 78.2 percent of what men earn, up from about 64 percent in 2000.

　　美国女性获取高学历和学士学位的比例首度超过美国男性，这种趋势在某种程度上将对“男主外女主内”的传统分工重新进行界定。

　　周二发布的调查数据突出显示了女性教育的新的里程碑。自从20世纪80年代早期以来，女性在大学录取率方面就开始领先男性。与此同时，跨入职场的女性比例达到了历史新高，全职妈妈的人数也不断下降。

　　女性获得教育使她们有更多就业机会，就业范围也更大，这让传统的男女性别分工发生了改变。根据人口统计学家的估计，在家照顾小孩的全职爸爸人数在去年达到了近200万，也就是15个父亲当中有1个是全职爸爸。官方统计的数目是15.4万，这一数据对居家爸爸的定义更狭窄，不包括那些有兼职工作和正在找工作的父亲。

　　密歇根大学福林特校区的经济学教授马克 佩瑞说：“从男性和女性在获取学士学位和更高学位上的差距来看，女性在下一次经济危机中将更安全。”佩瑞是一位保守派专家，现在在美国企业研究所做访问学者。

　　他说：“男性现在或许是更可能待在家里、承担传统育儿角色的那一方。”

　　在25岁及25岁以上的美国人群中，1060万女性有硕士或更高学位，而有此学历的男性只有1050万。从比例上来看，10.2%的女性有硕士以上（含硕士）的高学历，而男性的这一比例为10.9%，这一差距在近年来正不断缩小。不过，女性在商业、科学和工程等专业领域依然落后于男性。

　　在大学毕业后，约2010万女性获得学士学位，而只有近1870万男性获得学士学位，相差140多万，而且这一差距在近年来趋于稳定。1996年女性获得学士学位的人数首次超过了男性。

　　包括佩瑞在内的一些研究人员将眼下的经济衰退戏称为“男性衰退”，因为大量的失业发生在男性劳动力为主的建筑行业和制造业，这些行业所需的教育较少。从收入来看，拥有全职工作的女性现在的收入是男性收入的78.2%，相比2000年的64%提高了。

　　Vocabulary:

　　tally: a record of the number or amount of something, especially one that you can keep adding to（记录；积分表；账）

　　visiting scholar: 访问学者

　　trail: to be losing a game or other contest（在比赛或其他竞赛中）落后，失利，失败

　　subcategory: a secondary or subordinate category（子类别）

　　dub: to give somebody/something a particular name, often in a humorous or critical way（把……戏称为；给……起绰号）

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

3 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

4 enrollment   

n.注册或登记的人数；登记

参考例句：

• You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
• I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。

5 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

6 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

7 slump   

n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌

参考例句：

• She is in a slump in her career.她处在事业的低谷。
• Economists are forecasting a slump.经济学家们预言将发生经济衰退。

8 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。

9 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。