21世纪英语报双语新闻.docVIP

女性读者向我问得最多的问题是──如何能既拥有成功的事业又拥有幸福的家庭？她们中的很多人已经在事业上获得成功了，她们实际上要问的是如何同时获得一个幸福的家庭。 Heres the #1 question I get from women readers: How can I have a successful career and a happy family? Many of these readers already are successful in their careers. What theyre really asking is how to also have a happy family. 对我们女性而言，这是一个非常新的问题。许多世纪以来，女人的职业就是“照顾家人”。我们活着是为了取悦父亲、丈夫以及儿子。我们为他人服务，获得的回报是一生安稳的保障。 This is a very new question for us. For centuries, womens careers were our family. Our career was caregiver. We lived to please our fathers, our husbands, our sons. In return for our service, we received a lifetime guarantee of stability and security. 然而，这种“交易”如今已经消失。虽然我们依然在履行照顾家人的职责，但对许多人来说（如果不是大多数人的话），婚姻正成为巨大的不安全感的来源。 But today that bargain has vanished. Were still doing our part by serving our families. But for many if not most, marriage now is a source of deep insecurity. 大多数年轻人的婚姻如今以离婚告终 Most young marriages now end in divorce 在步入婚姻殿堂时，没有人会抱着这种想法──“有一天我们会厌恶对方”，但这正是中国大多数80后一代的经历。根据民政部的统计，2005年时，80后的离婚率就已经达到了57%。 No one enters a marriage thinking, Someday well hate each other, but thats been precisely the experience of most of Chinas born-post-1980 generation. The Ministry of Civil Affairs reports that by 2005, the divorce rate for this generation already had reached 57 percent. 中国历史上首次出现了在破碎家庭中长大的一代儿童。女性在离婚期间常常遭受巨大的痛苦，但至少我们可以掌控自己的生活然后继续向前。然而，我们的孩子却不能。在离婚事件中，他们才是真正意义上的受害者。 For the first time in Chinese history, a generation of children now is growing up in broken households. Women often suffer greatly during divorce, but at least we can take charge of our lives and move on. Our children, on the other hand, cannot. When divorce occurs, theyre victims in the truest sense. 离婚对孩子的影响可能会持续一生，我恰好对此有直接的了解。我1969年在美国出生，正如中国现在的情况一样，上世纪70年代正是离婚潮首次在美国爆发之时。我们那一代人是第一代成长在离异家庭的孩子。虽然我的父母一直都在一起生活，但那些年我还是目睹了父母离异对一些朋友的影响。后来，他们自己的离婚率也特别高。许多人长大后不敢去爱，惧怕生活中的种种可能。 The impacts on children of divorce can last a lifetime. I happen to know this first-hand, since I was born in America in 1969,