演播室访谈:未婚女性过了某个年龄标记为剩女

 

The so-called shengnyu, or "leftover¹ women", this rather insulting word was coined six years ago, referring to single, urban and educated women over the age of 27. This group of women faces intense pressure to marry, but many of them find it hard to find someone they really want to spend the rest of their lives with.

Leftover women, professional single females in their late twenties. It’s become a buzz word in China. And this group of women is growing rapidly in the cities. They’re facing an unprecedented² "unmarried crisis".

Many of them spent time on their education and personal career development to prove their personal value in modern society. But when they finally start the search for Mr. Right, the problems begin.

“I would like to date a guy who is a bit older than me, maybe in his early thirties, but a lot of them are already in a stable relationship. The choices left for me are really limited.” Sales manager Yang Xiting said.

Added to that, many Chinese men haven’t caught up with the times and only want to marry a younger woman.

According to a major national survey in 2010, nine out of 10 men in China think women should get married before they’re 27.

The increasingly competitive society requires much more from a professional woman than before.

“We are the women in the modern age who have had good education. But the development of society hasn’t kept up with us, so we became the "leftover girls", a group sacrificed in this contradictory³ age.” Yang said.

Many men, stuck in their old ideas, say the more successful women are, the harder it is for them to find a partner.

“We all say men and women are equal. Many women nowadays are working jobs that used to be restricted to guys. They are all great women, but the excellent get left over.”

One expert says the environment in which these women grew up might have also contributed to their single status as well.

“Most of these so-called leftover women were the only children in their family. They had no siblings⁴ and were alone growing up. So psychologically they are used to being alone and sometimes self-centered.” Sociologist⁵ Zhou Xiaozheng said.

Despite social pressure, most of these women don’t want to be pushed into the wrong marriage.

“If I get married, I don’t want it to be a result of social or family pressure. The only reason to get married is love.” Company employee Cao Yue said.

Experts also say being single is an individual choice.

A civilized⁶ society should be more tolerant and give more freedom to people to choose their own lifestyles.

 

1 leftover   

n.剩货，残留物，剩饭；adj.残余的

参考例句：

• These narrow roads are a leftover from the days of horse-drawn carriages.这些小道是从马车时代沿用下来的。
• Wonder if that bakery lets us take leftover home.不知道那家糕饼店会不会让我们把卖剩的带回家。

2 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

3 contradictory   

adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立

参考例句：

• The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
• What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。

4 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

5 sociologist   

n.研究社会学的人，社会学家

参考例句：

• His mother was a sociologist,researching socialism.他的母亲是个社会学家，研究社会主义。
• Max Weber is a great and outstanding sociologist.马克斯·韦伯是一位伟大的、杰出的社会学家。

6 civilized   

a.有教养的，文雅的

参考例句：

• Racism is abhorrent to a civilized society. 文明社会憎恶种族主义。
• rising crime in our so-called civilized societies 在我们所谓文明社会中日益增多的犯罪行为