The New Singles.docx

1、The New SinglesThe New Singles _by Carla PowerI. Topics1. Is it necessary for a person to be married?2. Do you want to live along or not? Why do you have such idea?3. Tell the differences between the Chinese marriage and the western marriage.4. Write down the words or phrases before the wedding and

2、during the wedding.5. Tell your ideal family life and how to keep the balance in your family life.6. Do you think that children have a great role in family life ?7. Many Single people get badgered by others who refuse to accept that they choose to be alone. However, a growing number of professionals

3、 are doing just that. They are exploring careers, indulging in the joys of travel, rediscovering pastimes and kindling new passions. Most say they want to get married someday, but they feel content being single until they meet the right person.8. More eligible people aspire to marry but remain singl

4、e for the moment. Its not that theyve abandoned the value of marriage, but that they are taking longer to get married, perhaps due to expectations of what it should be like or a lack of desirable prospects.9. Marriage is a fundamental social institution. It is central to the nurture and raising of c

5、hildren. It is the “social glue” that reliably attaches parents to children. It contributes to the physical, emotional and economic health of men, women and children, and thus to that of the nation as a whole.10. When a woman is around 30 or above, people around her might begin to panic. It seems as

6、 if she suddenly mutates from a happy single into a pitiful spinster. Many refuse to accept that she chooses to be alone. They are eager to find solutions for her. Some folks try to fix her up. Others show their good intentions with harsh questions and judgments: “ Whats wrong with you?” “ You go to

7、 that big company and you still cant find an ideal guy?” “Youre going to have a baby with a handicap if you wait until youre too old before giving birth.” Sometimes even strangers join the action. If they spot her eating alone, they might ask, “Do you want some company?” Some try to pick her up, and

8、 others raise their brows.II. Something About the Author Carla Power writes for the Newsweek magazine (US). Her article In the Shadow of the Taliban made her among the nine finalists who were awarded Certificates of Recognition for Excellence in International Journalism, for the 1999 SAIS Novartis P

9、rize( The annual SAIS-Novartis Prize recognizes outstanding achievement in the coverage of international affairs. The $15,000 award is presented to one or more journalists whose work has brought to public attention a topic of international importance.)III. Some Cultural Points1. Eleanor Rigby: One o

10、f Beatles songs is named Eleanor Rigby. There is a bronze sculpture named Eleanor Rigby in Liverpool. The statue is the work of Tommy Steele, a pop singer, and was meant as a “ Thank You” to the people of Liverpool for all the happy times hed spent in the city, and also as a tribute to the Beatles a

11、nd their song, Eleanor Rigby. Its said that Tommy sold the statue to Liverpool for “Half A Sixpence” but in fact the cost of casting the figure in bronze was met by The Liverpool Echo. Tommy gave his time freely. Eleanor was unveiled to the world on the 3rd December 1982 by Tommy when he explained h

12、e had placed a number of objects inside the figure, “ so she would be full of magical properties”. They were an adventure book (for excitement), a page from the Bible (for spiritual guidance), a clover leaf ( for good luck), a pair of football boots ( for action) and a sonnet ( for love)Eleanor Rigb

13、yAh, look at all the lonely peopleAh, look at all the lonely people Eleanor RigbyPicks up the rice in a church where a wedding has been Lives in a dream Waits at the windowWearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door Who is it for? 2. The rice in the church: one of the wedding accessories in

14、 the west. The pouring of rice by the guests upon the newly-weds symbolizes their good wishes of fertility and prosperity.3. Austin Powers: the superagent in movies: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery(1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), and Austin Powers3(2002). 4. Bridget

15、Jones: a film character in Bridget Joness Diary which was based on Hellen Fieldings international best-seller Bridget Joness Diary. Renee Zellweger stars in the title role as the dynamic, outrageously original Bridget Jones, the neurotic thirtysomething single girl searching for love.5. Lava lamp: a

16、 kind of liquid-globule motion lamp. Edward Craven Walker, the inventor, spend a decade perfecting his product. The lava lamp came to dominate 1960s merchandising in Great Britain and sales of the lava lamp soared. Here it signifies a low level of culture.6. Golf GTI: a kind of smart German car made

17、 by Volkswagen.7. The holy grail (also the Grail ): a bowl believed to have been used by Jesus Christ at the meal before his death. Some of his blood is believed to have been collected in it and it therefore became a holy thing which many people looked for. The holy grail is often used figuratively

18、for the thing which is most wanted and which people try to discover.IV. IntroductionThe marriage rate in developed countries continues to fall, as people wait longer than ever before walking down the aisle. Based on a study in2000 the rate of married men was 54% and 40% of British women living witho

19、ut a partner. The female marriage rate in Britain declined from 74%in 1979 to 51% in 2000( which was 2% lower than 1998). It seems that married women aged 16 years and over may soon become the minority. In 1998, 8.3 per 1,000 Americans married, the lowest rate since 1958. A report released by the Na

20、tional Marriage Project at Rutgers University found Americans are less inclined to get married than at any time in US history, marriage rate has never been lower, births to unmarried women have skyrocketed, the divorce rate remains high and Americans marriages are less happy than in the past. A U.S.

21、 government statistics report said the marriage rate plummeted by a third since 1960. In 1996, the last year for which such figures were available, the rate was about 49 per 1,000. The number of legal marriages registered in New Zealand during the December 2000 year was 20,655,430 (or2.0 percent) fe

22、wer than the 21,085 marriages registered in 1999. The latest figure is 24 percent lower than the peak of 27,199 in 1971. The general marriage rate ( number of marriages per 1,000 not-married population aged 16 years and over) also fell between 1999 and 2000, from 16.2 per 1,000 to 15.6 per 1,000. A

23、new study is fueling sociologists fears that young people are setting perhaps impossibly high standards for taking the plunge. According to the study, 94 percent of 20-somethings are looking not just for a mate, but a soul mate. As a result, factors that used to play a big role in marriage are reced

24、ing. With more women pursuing careers, an overwhelming 80 percent of women say it is more important to have a husband who can talk about his feelings than one who makes a good living. Females all over the world are placing their careers on a higher pedestal and this is understandable. After all, the

25、re is a higher standard of education nowadays and women are no longer content to playing docile, domestic roles. There is a demand for independence and respect in all aspects of life. There is almost a renewed set of values in the young women today and soon we will see this take effect on their choi

26、ce of marriage. Men with lower education or wages or even taste for the finer things in life will definitely lose out as women speak out and make their demands known. The fight for quality never ends. A major reason for the rise in singles is that more people are seeking personal fulfillment, expert

27、s say. Unlike past generations when couples started together at the bottom, many professionals today want to bring more to the marriage than love. They may acquire degrees, make some investments, purchase a first home_all before getting hitched. Besides, there is a decline in the number of people in

28、 their twenties, an end to the taboo on living together outside of wedlock and financial incentives that can make it more appealing to stay single. All of these trends have dramatically increased the number of single people today. Declining marriage rate is not limited in any particular country now.

29、 It has become somewhat a global phenomenon. It will not be surprising to see this trend spreading to many of the previously less developed countries around the world. Maybe in2010, there will indeed be fewer marriages or marriage at a later age.Key to ExercisesI. Comprehension Check i.1. B 2. D 3.

30、B 4. D 5. C 6 . A 7. C 8. C 9. A 10. DII. Vocabulary Studyi1. neo-realist 2. neo-Nazis 3. Neo-fascist 4. neocolonialism 5. neologisms 6. Neo-Darwinist &. Neoclassical 8. neonatesii1. fostering 2. raved 3. holy grail 4. mainstay 5. twenty-something 6. heterosexuals 7.mandatory 8. embracing 9. meditat

31、ing 10. fusionIII. TranslationNowadays in the citys tonier residential districts there are people named as the singles, who are usually young, rich and tech-savvy professionals and choose independently their own lifestyles. The number of singles has increased dramatically over the recent years. The

32、reasons of remaining single are various: some may be busy exploring careers without putting their marriage into agenda, some may indulge in their jobs, travel, entertainment, physical fitness or friendship. More than 80% of them have not abandoned the value of marriage, and they say they aspire to marry or they want to be married someday, but they are patient and feel content being single until they meet the right person. Chinese-English Translation I. 词义准确1. 将词义明确化我们搞社会主义才几十年，还处在初级阶段。 -We have practiced socialism for only several decades and are still