Childless Couples 丁克一族
dialogue 1
M: what's your opinion about childless couples? Will you choose to have no kids?
你是怎么看待那些不要孩子的夫妻的?你打算要不要孩子。
N: to be honest, I wouldn't.
说实在的，我不打算要孩子。
M: why? Do you have to make a choice now?
为什么?你现在必须做出选择吗?
N: not really. But it has puzzled me for a long time.
不是，只是这事已经困扰我很久了。
M: what's the puzzle?
那你到底愁什么呢?
N: my husband and I prefer to have no kids, but my mother-in-law is very traditional and wants grandkids.
我和我丈夫打算不要孩子，但是我婆婆很传统，很想抱孙子。
M: oh, I see. I think the older generation tend to think in a different way.
啊，这样啊。我觉得老人们总是和我们想法不太一样。
N: yes. It seems she can never accept a childless marriage. We had a fight last night.
是啊，可是我婆婆就是不能理解，为什么结了婚却不要孩子。我们昨天还吵了一架。
M: oh, really? Maybe she is just eager to see her grandchildren.
是吗?也许她只是抱孙心切吧。
N: but it's absolutely our own business to have a child or not.
但是要不要孙子，完全是我们自己的事。
M: definitely.
是啊。
N: you know, I often overhear our neighbor, the young couple, fighting about how to raise their kid and I really don't want kids to spoil our hapoiness.
知道吗?我经常听见我们隔壁那对年轻的夫妻因为教育孩子而争吵。我真不想让孩子影响我们的婚姻幸福。
M: don't worry. I think in most cases, children are the glue that keeps a family together.
不要担心。大多数情况下，孩子还是家庭的粘合剂。
N: I guess you're right. But I still prefer to have no child.
好吧，但是我还是不想要孩子。
M: sure. You can fully enjoy your time together.
好的，那你们就可以好好享受二人世界了。
dialogue 2
N: more and more Chinese are marrying foreigners.
越来越多的中国人嫁给了外国人。
S: that's true. But I have a low opinion of those women who go out with foreigners.
是啊，但是我挺鄙视那些和外国人在一起的女人的。
N: oh, why?
啊?为什么啊?
S: I think some Chinese wonem marry foreigners for money while others just want to live abroad. There is no true love between them.
我觉得有些人嫁给外国人是为了钱，有些人是为了去国外定居，反正他们之间没有真爱。
N: I wouldn't say that's totally true. I've met many happy intercultural couples.
也不全是吧。我见过很多幸福的跨过夫妻。
S: well, then why aren't there many East-West couples where the man is a Chinese and the woman is a Westerner?
那为什么没有多少夫妻，男方是中国人，女方是外国人呢?
N: I guess it's because the Chinese women are more attractive to Western men.
可能是因为中国女人对外国男人更有吸引力吧。
S: or because they are less attractive to to Chinese men.
或者这些女人对中国男人没那么有吸引力吧。
N: what do you mean?
怎么说?
S: you know, usually the woman is in her thirties and she is a left girl.
这些女人大约三十多岁，是剩女。
N: a left girl? What's that?
剩女?什么意思啊?
S: they're called that because they're left behind on the shelf. They're also known by their three H's---high diploma, high salary, and high degree.
这么说，因为他们是别人挑剩下的。她们有三高:高文凭，高工资，高学位。
N: and they're also known as the three S's—single, stuck, and born in the seventies.
还有人说她们有三难:单身，高不成低不就，出生在70年代后。
S: definitely! So most of these women go for Western men.
的确!所以这些人就把目标转向了外国人。
N: you have a point here, but I believe some mixed marriages are based on true love.
也许吧。但是有些跨国婚姻还是有真爱的。
S: that' for sure but very few.
那是，不过很少。
