新奇事件簿 养孩子比房贷贵

Families in the U.K. now pay more on childcare than on their mortgage. The annual costs of raising children are now outstripping¹ yearly housing loan repayments². This is according to a survey conducted by Britain's Family and Childcare Trust. The organization says that in some parts of the country, nursery fees have risen by 13 per cent in the past year. The cost for babysitters and child-minders has risen by an average of four per cent. The report's author Jill Rutter told the Nursery World website that her findings showed that childcare in the U.K. is becoming less and less affordable³ for families. She also said an insufficientnumber of places in nurseries shows the U.K.'s system isn't working.

英国家庭花在孩子上面的钱要高于房贷。养孩子的年消费远远超过了房贷。这是英国家庭儿童基金会所作出的调查。这项组织称在英国的许多地方，育婴费用比去年升高了13%。找保姆和替人照看小孩的费用也提高了4%。这项报告的作者吉尔·拉特告诉育儿网站，称她的发现证明英国家庭很难支付起养孩子的重任。她还说许多地方的数据并不完善，这证明英国的这项政策并没有奏效。

The report could well make would-be parents think twice about starting a family, or about the number of children they have. A family of four with one child attending a nursery and another in an after-school club spends an average of $12,571 a year. This compares to the average yearly housing loan payments of $12,000.Families are now spending a quarter of their income on childcare. This does not include the costs of feeding, clothing and entertaining children. There are also the costs of toys, books and electronic gadgets⁴ on top of that. The chief executive of the Trust warned that when many parents have to spend more than a quarter of their income on childcare, it's clear that the system "isn't fit for purpose".

这项报告让那些想成为父母的家庭考虑再三，或是考虑着他们要几个孩子合适。一个四口之间，一个孩子上幼儿园，另一个上课后俱乐部的费用平均每年是1万2571美金。而每年平均房贷是1万2000美金。父母将要把自己四分之一的收入用在育儿上。这还不包括吃、穿以及娱乐的费用。还有玩具、书本、电子产品的价钱。基金会行政长官警告说许多父母在育儿方面所花的钱要超过四分之一。很显然这项政策没有达到目的。

1 outstripping   

v.做得比…更好，（在赛跑等中）超过( outstrip的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Demand is outstripping supply. 需求快超过供给了。
• Demand is outstripping current production. 现在需求逐渐超过了生产能力。 来自辞典例句

2 repayments   

偿还，报答，偿付的钱物( repayment的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The repayments of the loan are spread over 10 years. 贷款可在十年内分期偿还。
• The repayments of the loan are spread over 25 years. 这笔贷款分摊二十五年偿还。

3 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

4 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史