写在前面

Hi，我是新海，一个正在备战的考研人。
最近需要进行大量的考研专项阅读，于是萌生了一个翻译计划，准备翻译1986——2018年所有阅读，通过大量的阅读训练来熟悉考研单词，短语以及语法，更深刻理解考研阅读。

下面是我的第24篇，所有中文释义，均是由本人整理翻译，当然也有不够完善的地方，欢迎大家评论补充。

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I was addressing a small gathering in a suburban Virginia living room—a women's group that had invited men to join them.
我正在弗吉尼亚郊区客厅的一个小聚会上讲话，那是一个妇女团体，邀请男人参加。
Throughout the evening one man had been particularly talkative, frequently offering ideas and anecdotes, while his wife sat silently beside him on the couch.
整个晚上，有个男人特别健谈，经常提些想法和趣闻轶事，而他的妻子则静静地坐在他旁边的沙发上。
Toward the end of the evening I commented that women frequently complain that their husbands don't talk to them. This man quickly nodded in agreement.
傍晚快结束时，我评论道，女人们经常抱怨她们的丈夫不跟她们说话。这个人很快点头表示同意。
He gestured toward his wife and said, "She's the talker in our family." The room burst into laughter; the man looked puzzled and hurt. "It's true," he explained.
他向妻子做了个手势，说：“她是我们家的健谈者。”房间里爆发出一阵笑声，那人看上去既困惑又受伤。这是真的，”他解释道。
"When I come home from work, I have nothing to say. If she didn't keep the conversation going, we'd spend the whole evening in silence."
“当我下班回家时，我没什么可说的。如果她不继续谈话，我们整个晚上都会默不作声。”

重点词汇

• living room客厅，起居室
• talkative健谈的，多嘴的，喜欢说话的; 喋喋
• on the couch在接受精神分析
• end of有效期限
• talk to同谈话; 责骂
• gestured做手势( gesture的过去式和过去分词 )
• burst into laughter放声大笑; 突然大笑
• come home回家，被完全理解; 回本国; 击中要害
• have nothing to say无可奉告；无话可说
• in silence安静地，无声地

This episode crystallizes the irony that although American men tend to talk more than women in public situations, they often talk less at home. And this pattern is wreaking havoc with marriage.
这段插曲说明了一个具有讽刺意味的事实：尽管美国男性在公共场合比女性说话更多，但他们在家里经常说话更少。这种模式正在对婚姻造成严重破坏。

重点词汇

• crystallizes使结晶( crystallize的第三人称单数 ); 计划成型，具体化
• irony反语; 讽刺，冷嘲; 具有讽刺意味的事; 反语法; 铁的; 似铁的; 含铁的
• tend to趋向; 朝某方向; 偏重
• more than超过; 不只是; 很; 在…次以上
• in public公开地，当众; 大庭广众; 桌面儿上
• situations位置( situation的名词复数 ); 情况; 局面; 情境
• at home在家; 在国内; 在家接待客人; 精通
• wreaking诉诸，施行，发( wreak的现在分词 )
• havoc大破坏，浩劫; 蹂躏，摧残; 大混乱，大骚动; 严重破坏; 毁灭; 损毁
• marriage结婚; 婚姻生活; 密切结合; 合并

The pattern was observed by political scientist Andrew Hacker in the late 1970s. Sociologist Catherine Kohler Riessman reports in her new book "Divorce Talk" that most of the women she interviewed—but only a few of the men—gave lack of communication as the reason for their divorces.
上世纪70年代末，政治学家安德鲁·哈克（Andrew Hacker）观察到了这种模式。社会学家凯瑟琳·科勒·里斯曼（CatherineKohlerRies.）在她的新书《离婚谈话》（Divorce Talk）中写道，她采访的大多数女性——但只有少数男性——都把缺乏沟通作为离婚的原因。
Given the current divorce rate of nearly 50 percent，that amounts to millions of cases in the United States every year —a virtual epidemic of failed conversation.
鉴于目前的离婚率接近50%，美国每年就有数百万例离婚案件，这实际上是一种对话失败的流行病。

重点词汇

• political scientist政治学者
• new book新书
• the women女人至上
• but only但是
• lack of缺乏
• the reason缘由
• divorce rate离婚率
• millions of成千上万的…，无数的…
• United States美国; 合众国
• every year每一年; 年年

In my own research complaints from women about their husbands most often focused not on tangible inequities such as having given up the chance for a career to accompany a husband to his or doing far more than their share of daily life-support work like cleaning, cooking, social arrangements and errands.
在我自己的研究中，女性对丈夫的抱怨大多集中在不切实际的不平等上，比如放弃了陪伴丈夫的职业机会，或者做了比日常生活支持工作多得多的工作，比如清洁、烹饪、社会安排和差事。
Instead they focused on communication: "He doesn't listen to me." "He doesn't talk to me."
相反，他们注重交流：“他不听我的。”“他不和我说话。”
I found as Hacker observed years before that most wives want their husbands to be first and foremost conversational partners but few husbands share this expectation of their wives.
我发现，正如Hacker几年前所观察到的，大多数妻子希望他们的丈夫成为第一位也是最重要的谈话伙伴，但是很少有丈夫能像妻子一样有这种期望。

重点词汇

• most often经常; 常常( often的最高级 ); 时常; 在大多数情况下
• inequities不公平，不公正( inequity的名词复数 )
• such as诸如; 像， 例如; 譬如
• far more than许多，多得多的; 何啻; 何止
• life-support保障生命的，维持生命的; 生命维持治疗
• errands差事; errand的复数; 差使( errand的名词复数 )
• listen to me听我说
• talk to同谈话; 责骂
• first and foremost首要的; 第一
• conversational会话的，谈话的; 健谈的，善应酬的; 对话的，双向的

In short the image that best represents the current crisis is the stereotypical cartoon scene of a man sitting at the breakfast table with a newspaper held up in front of his face, while a woman glares at the back of it, wanting to talk.
简而言之，最能代表当前危机的形象是一个男人坐在早餐桌前拿着报纸，而女人盯着报纸后面，想要说话的刻板卡通场景。

重点词汇

• In short简而言之，总之; 一句话; 简言之
• represents代表; 体现; 表现( represent的第三人称单数 ); 作为…的代表
• stereotypical典型的; 带有成见的
• breakfast table早餐桌
• newspaper报纸，报; 旧报纸; 新闻纸
• held up停车( hold-up的过去式和过去分词 ); 停顿; 停止; 支持
• in front of面前; 在…前面; 当着…的面
• glares怒目而视( glare的第三人称单数 ); 发强光
• at the back of在…后方[背后]; 支持; 在内心中
• wanting欠缺的，不足的; 缺少( want的现在分词 ); 应该; 打算; 需要…在场

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写在最后

如果大家觉得对你有些帮助，欢迎给与打赏或点赞关注，以及订阅我的每日阅读 专栏，后面我将持续阅读，持续输出。

作者：新海
12月16日晚