向前一步:第136期 不要身还在 心已远(10)

 One of the immediate¹ questions new parents face is who will provide primary care for a child. 为人父母面临的首要问题之一，便是由谁承担照顾孩子的主要任务。

The historical choice has been the mother. 传统上都是把孩子交给母亲带，

Breast-feeding alone has made this both the logical and the biological choice. 仅仅喂奶这件事，就能从逻辑和生物的角度佐证这种分工，

But the advent² of the modern-day breast pump has changed the equation. 好在抽乳器已经从某种程度上改变了这种情况。

At Google, I would lock my office door and pump during conference calls. 在谷歌的时候，我会锁上办公室的门，在电话会议期间抽乳。

People would ask, "What's that sound?" I would respond, "What sound?" 人们会问：“那是什么声音？”我会装糊涂：“什么声音？”

When they would insist that there was a loud beeping noise that they could hear on the phone, I would say, "Oh, there's a fire truck across the street." 当他们坚持说从电话里听到很响的“哔哔”声，我就会说：“哦，街上有消防车经过。”

I thought I was pretty clever until I realized that others on the call were sometimes in the same building and knew there was no fire truck. Busted³. 我以为自己挺聪明的，直到我发现电话的另一方恰好和我在一栋楼里，人家明明知道我在撒谎。被逮个正着……

Despite modern methods that can minimize the impact of biological imperatives⁴, women still do the vast majority of child care. 尽管现在有不少方法可以让女性在一定程度上摆脱生物学意义上的职责，但照顾孩子的一方大多仍是母亲。

As a result, becoming a parent decreases workforce⁵ participation⁶ for women but not men. 结果，升格为家长之后，女性的职场参与度明显降低。

Women who are the most likely to leave the workforce are concentrated at opposite ends of the earning scale, married to men who earn the least and the most. 最有可能离开职场的女性集中在家庭收入水平的两个极端，即其配偶处于收入水平的底层，或处于收入水平的高层。

In 2006, only 20 percent of mothers whose husband's earnings⁷ landed in the middle (between the twenty-fifth and seventy-fifth percentiles) were out of the labor⁸ force. 就美国而言，2006年，其配偶收入处于中等水平（即介于25%和75%之间）的婚育女性中只有20%退出职场。

In contrast, a whopping 52 percent of mothers with husbands in the bottom quarter and 40 percent of mothers with husbands in the top 5 percent were out of the labor force. 相比之下，其配偶收入处于底层水平的婚育女性中有52%退出，其配偶收入处于最高水平的5%的婚育女性中有40%退出。

1 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

2 advent   

n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临

参考例句：

• Swallows come by groups at the advent of spring. 春天来临时燕子成群飞来。
• The advent of the Euro will redefine Europe.欧元的出现将重新定义欧洲。

3 busted   

adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You are so busted! 你被当场逮住了！
• It was money troubles that busted up their marriage. 是金钱纠纷使他们的婚姻破裂了。

4 imperatives   

n.必要的事( imperative的名词复数 )；祈使语气；必须履行的责任

参考例句：

• Nixon, however, had other imperatives. 但尼克松另有需要。 来自辞典例句
• There could be some cultural imperatives in there somewhere! 在公共传播那里，在某些方面，可能有更迫切的文化需要！ 来自互联网

5 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

6 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

7 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。