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VOA慢速英语2013 AS IT IS 2013-07-28 International Survey Shows Habits of Happy Couples

时间:2013-08-05 13:43:18

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AS IT IS 2013-07-28 International Survey Shows Habits of Happy Couples

Hi there. Nice to have you with us again on As It Is. I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

And I’m Christopher Cruise1.

I have a question for those of you in a relationship. How "normal" are you and your partner as a couple? I mean, are you like most other couples when it comes to things like how much you trust each other, how often you hold hands, how much you share the housework?

How would you know, right?

Well, two social scientists and a “wellness entrepreneur” decided2 a few years to try to understand what most couples are really like. They asked over 100,000 people around the world questions about their relationships. Then they analyzed3 the answers and wrote a book about what they found. The book is called “The Normal Bar.” It was published this spring.

Pepper Schwartz is a sociologist4 at the University of Washington and one of the authors of the book. She explains what the title “The Normal Bar” means.

“The normal bar is about what is the sort of normal day-to-day way that couples handle things. And we’re particularly interested in the way really, extremely happy couples handle things in America and around the world.”

Professor Schwartz says there is no universal standard for "normal." In other words, people can be happy with different normals. But she did find that couples who described themselves as happy had a lot of things in common.

Normal Couples and Household Chores

Pepper Schwartz says normal for happy couples is helping5. That means that neither person does all the cooking or cleaning. About 42 percent of men and women globally said they share chores equally.

But there’s a bigger point. She says happy couples see their partner as a whole person—not just as the one who does all the housework, or the one who earns all the money.

“For example, something like 89 percent of couples in America, and Spain, and Canada, Philippines, China, you name it, they support their partner’s growth.”

In other words, she says most happy couples allow their partner to change — for instance, to try a new job or a new hobby. No one has to be stuck doing the same thing over and over, either inside or outside the home.

And there’s another thing, too. Dr. Schwartz says happy couples do not focus on work. The laundry and email can wait, they say. The relationship is what is important. 

Secrets

Even among the happiest couples, not everything is perfect. For instance, Pepper Schwartz says she was surprised by how many people keep secrets. I mean, major secrets, like getting into serious debt and not telling their partner. Or having an affair. One woman in the survey had never been to college but told her husband that she had. And one man said he knew that his wife’s dad was not her real father, but did not tell her.

“So I do wonder about that part. You know, I wonder what it is that we’re afraid of telling our partners and if that’s always justified6, or if we could communicate even better by telling those things that you know we worry about, or embarrassed of, or part of our past that maybe we haven’t shared.”

Professor Schwartz found that in France and Italy, 75 percent of people said they had kept a major secret from their partner. In America, 20 percent of even the happiest couples said they did.

International Differences

Sociologist Pepper Schwartz describes Spain as the most romantic country. In terms of other international differences…

“One of the big ones, wonderful ones for the Europeans is that they show a lot more affection, outward affection, more spontaneous7 kissing. The Asians actually showed less, and we were sort of — the United States was sort of in the middle.”

Some differences in how much public affection people show is probably cultural. But Professor Schwartz noted8 that loving acts like holding hands can actually make couples happier—not just show how happy they are.

She says that in general, everybody wants romance9. Women often expect men to buy flowers or plan a nice evening. But…

“They don’t realize that he’s even more needy10 than she is.”

Pepper Schwartz says many of the men she surveyed said they were starved for romance. They wanted their partners to make them feel special. And men said they felt more criticized than women did.

“A lot of what women do, they think they’re just making him better, helping him out. You know, oh, he could dress better, he would look better, he could be neater, that would help him more, you know if he spoke11 up. I mean, all that stuff. And they perceive it as not help, but criticism.”

She says trying to be a little kinder may increase romance in the relationship.

Happily Ever After

Pepper Schwartz has studied relationships for most of her career. She says many popular books and movies tell about how bad relationships are. But her data tell a different story. She says the majority of couples do not seem to come out of the newspaper headlines.

“Most people are happy with the choice they made, like their partner, as you say, love their partner, and also would make that choice again. I think something like 78 percent of our couples  said they’d do it again, do it all over again, they’d choose the same person.”

Of course, people do not always want the same things when they are 20-years-old that they do when they are 60. But sociologist Pepper Schwartz says one of her team’s most important findings is that couples can change. They can talk about what they want. And even more important than that — they can listen to each other.


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1 cruise 2nhzw     
v.巡航,航游,缓慢巡行;n.海上航游
参考例句:
  • They went on a cruise to Tenerife.他们乘船去特纳利夫岛。
  • She wants to cruise the canals of France in a barge.她想乘驳船游览法国的运河。
2 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
3 analyzed 483f1acae53789fbee273a644fdcda80     
v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 );分解;解释;对…进行心理分析
参考例句:
  • The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程,因为对他来说,爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 sociologist 2wSwo     
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。
5 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
6 justified 7pSzrk     
a.正当的,有理的
参考例句:
  • She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
  • The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。
7 spontaneous 2FPzZ     
adj.自发的,不由自主的
参考例句:
  • The eruption of a volcano is spontaneous.火山的爆发是自发的。
  • Spontaneous applause broke out as soon as she finished speaking.她一讲完,大家不约而同都鼓起掌来。
8 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
9 romance KXGx1     
n.恋爱关系,浪漫气氛,爱情小说,传奇
参考例句:
  • She wrote a romance about an artist's life in Tokyo.她写了一个关于一位艺术家在东京生活的浪漫故事。
  • They tried to rekindle the flames of romance.他们试图重燃爱火。
10 needy wG7xh     
adj.贫穷的,贫困的,生活艰苦的
参考例句:
  • Although he was poor,he was quite generous to his needy friends.他虽穷,但对贫苦的朋友很慷慨。
  • They awarded scholarships to needy students.他们给贫苦学生颁发奖学金。
11 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

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