TED演讲:科技并没有改变爱 为什么?(6)

 And so I stumbled, then, on a statistic¹ that really came home to me. 结果我发现了一个震惊的数据。

It was a very interesting academic article in which I found that 67 percent of singles in America today who are living long-term with somebody, 一篇极其有趣的学术文章，发现67%的处于长期同居的美国未婚人士，

have not yet married because they are terrified of divorce. 之所以还未结婚是因为担心离婚。

They're terrified of the social, legal, emotional, economic consequences of divorce. 他们担心离婚后面对的社会、法律、情感，以及经济后果。

So I came to realize that I don't think this is recklessness; I think it's caution. 于是，我认识到这并不是轻率的行为，而是谨慎。

Today's singles want to know every single thing about a partner before they wed². 如今，人们在结婚之前，想对其伴侣的每一个细节了如指掌。

You learn a lot between the sheets, not only about how somebody makes love, 同居能让人了解到许多事情，不仅是对方的床上功夫，

but whether they're kind, whether they can listen and at my age, whether they've got a sense of humor. 而是对方是否善良，是否善于倾听，以及到了我这个年纪所关心的，就是对方是否有幽默感。

And in an age where we have too many choices, 当今社会人们有很多选择，

and we have very little fear of pregnancy³ and disease and we've got no feeling of shame for sex before marriage, 很少为怀孕或疾病感到担忧，且对婚前性行为毫无愧疚感，

I think people are taking their time to love. 在这种情况下人们选择爱得慢一些。

And actually, what's happening is, what we're seeing is a real expansion of the precommitment stage before you tie the knot. 而真实情况是，这其实是婚前准备阶段的实际延伸。

Where marriage used to be the beginning of a relationship, now it's the finale. But the human brain... 从前，婚姻意味着一段感情的开始，而现在它意味着尾声。但人类大脑...

The human brain always triumphs, and indeed, in the United States today, 86 percent of Americans will marry by age 49. 人类大脑总是胜出者，如今在美国，86%的美国人将在49岁结婚。

And even in cultures around the world where they're not marrying as often, they are settling down eventually with a long-term partner. 即便在世界上结婚率不高的文化里，最终他们也会和长期伴侣安定下来。

1 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

2 wed   

v.娶，嫁，与…结婚

参考例句：

• The couple eventually wed after three year engagement.这对夫妇在订婚三年后终于结婚了。
• The prince was very determined to wed one of the king's daughters.王子下定决心要娶国王的其中一位女儿。

3 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。