英文原版对话1000个:670 Why people get married?

Wendi: What is the point of getting married or having a wedding or? I guess there's not really one in the same but what's the whole point?

James: Generally, I think people get married because they've been in a relationship for long time and they feel it's what society wants them to do.

Wendi: Right.

James: But also I think in terms of having children, having a son and daughter, it's possibly important to have the wife and husband married, sorry, the parent married to bring up the children together, but increasingly so in England people are not seeing marriage as so important. More and more it's just, people have been together for five or six years, then, they ask, "Do you want to marry me?" cause they've been together for five or six years.

Pause 1

Wendi: Given the increase in divorce. It's sitting at I think 50% in Canada and where you're from, England, do you think marriage is outdated¹?

James: I don't think it's necessary anymore. I think people only do it because people have done it for hundreds and hundreds of years. It's not to do with religion. It's not to do with law. It's to do with just culture and yeah, perhaps it's out-dated and more and more of my friends won't get married because they have a wonderful relationship and then as soon as they get married, it seems like then it is able to end. It's like marriage is split-up, whereas² relationships might not have ended. There's more pressure once your married.

Pause 2

Wendi: So if you think, well if you could kind of imagine in your mind the concept of marriage and what it is, has caught up to where we are today, what would the evolution of marriage sort of become?

James: The evolution of marriage has become just living with your partner because essentially³ people got married so they could live with their partner right and raise a family together. Now in today's culture, today's society you don't need to be married to do that. It's perfectly⁴ acceptable⁵. I'm still slightly old-fashioned, I guess, in that I would want to be married before I have children, but there's not reason for that other than I'm still slightly old-fashioned and most of my friends are five years younger than me would not care, one way or the other if they are married or not before they had children.

Pause 3

James: And essentially, I think people like marriage because it's a nice day. It's more I think for women. Women in England, I'm sure it's the same in Canada, dream of their wedding day, since they are little girls and they want that day to remember and they want that special day. For men, more I think, it's just about making their mothers and their wives happy and they like a nice party.

 

1 outdated   

adj.旧式的，落伍的，过时的；v.使过时

参考例句：

• That list of addresses is outdated,many have changed.那个通讯录已经没用了，许多地址已经改了。
• Many of us conform to the outdated customs laid down by our forebears.我们许多人都遵循祖先立下的过时习俗。

2 whereas   

conj.而，却，反之

参考例句：

• They want a house,whereas we would rather live in a flat.他们想要一座房子，而我们宁愿住在一套房间里。
• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。

3 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 acceptable   

adj.可接受的，合意的，受欢迎的

参考例句：

• The terms of the contract are acceptable to us.我们认为这个合同的条件可以接受。
• Air pollution in the city had reached four times the acceptable levels.这座城市的空气污染程度曾高达可接受标准的四倍。