为确定某些经历是否会影响衰老，研究人员对同卵双生的双胞胎进行了研究，发现这些双胞胎在基因的设定下衰老速度完全一样。
The results showed that the twin who had gone through a divorce appeared two years older than the one who was married， single or had been widowed。
结果显示，一对双胞胎中的离婚者比已婚、单身或守寡者看起来要老两岁。
India’s minority Muslim population is governed by Islamic personal laws on issues such as marriage， divorce and property inheritance。
穆斯林占印度人口的比例较小，他们的结婚、离婚及财产继承等私人事宜都由伊斯兰的《属人法》管辖。
In a British study of married men and women， the majority of wives—59 per cent—said they would divorce immediately if their future economic security was assured。
英国一项对已婚男女的调查表明，多数女性（59％）表示如果以后在经济上能得到保障，她们会马上离婚。
It’s so easy for married couples to get stuck in a rut once the realities of paying the bills and getting the children’s breakfast sets in。
对于已婚夫妇而言，一旦支付账单和给孩子做早餐等家庭琐事成为每天的现实，两个人便很容易陷入“陈规”。
Relationships inevitably change over time。 Divorce impacts on every single area of a person’s life。 Dividing up the family home， pets and everything they own is just part of the process。
久而久之，两人的感情必然发生变化。离婚会对个人生活的方方面面产生影响，分家、分宠物、分财产仅是其中的一部分。
Let’s Talk！
开始交流吧！
Cathy： How about your son after your divorce？
凯西：你离婚后，那你儿子怎么办？
Daisy： Last month， when he knew that we were going to divorce， he said that it was the best decision。
黛西：上个月，当他知道我们要离婚，他说这是最好的决定。
Cathy： Oh， your son is really different。
凯西：噢，你儿子真不一样。
Daisy： I think so。 He is old enough to accept the change of our family。
黛西：是的，他已经大到能够接受我们家庭的改变了。
Cathy： Isn’t that cute？ Where did you buy that cake？
凯西：好可爱啊。你在哪里买的那个蛋糕？
Daisy： Trust me！ You will if you dumped a terrible man。 It’s a divorce cake for God’s sake。
黛西：相信我。如果你甩了一个很差劲的男人，你会的。这可是离婚蛋糕啊。
Cathy： Really？ I only heard about wedding cakes。
凯西：真的？ 我只听说过结婚蛋糕。
Daisy： So there should be divorce cakes。 People tend to celebrate weddings。 I think it’s time for giving best wishes for divorcing。
黛西：所以就应该有离婚蛋糕啊。人们倾向于庆祝婚礼。我觉得是时候祝福离婚了。
Cathy： You just stole my words。 People can mark it in a big and tasty way。
凯西：你说得太对了。人们可以以一种盛大的可口的方式来纪念离婚。
Daisy： Why not？ Being single again means I am available for another better relationship。
黛西：为什么不呢？ 恢复单身意味着我又可以来一段更好的恋情了。
Cathy： Are you still disturbing yourself about Jake？
凯西：你是不是还在为杰克的事情耿耿于怀啊？
Daisy： No。 I am over him。 He doesn’t even deserve a divorce cake。 I would make a dumping husband cake by myself。 I can’t kill him in life。 But I can make him the ugliest on the cake。
黛西：不。我们已经结束了。他根本不配离婚蛋糕。我会自己做一个 “甩夫” 蛋糕。我不能在现实生活中杀了他，但是我可以把蛋糕上的他做得很丑。
Cathy： You are evil！ You know what？ You do have a talent。 We should start a special bakery for heartbroken people。
凯西：你真的很坏！ 知道吗？你真的很有天赋啊。我们应该为那些心碎的人开一个特别的烘焙店。
Daisy： Good idea。 I prefer greenback to men now。
黛西：好主意。相对男人我现在更喜欢绿色的东西（美金）。
The Only Child
独生子女
独生子女是指没有兄弟姐妹的孩子。独生子女与非独生子女，具有同样的身心发展规律，但兄弟姐妹关系会在儿童社会化过程中产生作用。独生子女除了与父母之间的亲子关系外，没有兄弟姐妹这层关系，因此其社会化带有自身的特点。大多数研究者认为，独生子女在遗传体质方面与非独生子女无大的差异，但由于独生子女在家庭中所处的地位特殊，容易养成其性格上的特异性。
Realize The Only Child in the Family
认识家庭中的独生子女
1独生子女不合群？
“Most studies look at the negative consequences of having siblings in terms of educational outcome。” said Donna Bobbitt－Zeher， the lead author of the study。 “But we decided to look at social skills to see if there was any other possible benefit to having brothers or sisters。” She and her co－author， Douglas Downey are sociologists at Ohio State’s Marion campus， and neither is an only child。 They presented their findings at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in August。
But an only child isn’t necessarily a loner， misfit and brat。 First， the social advantages found in children with siblings in the kindergarten study were quite modest。 Second， the study relied on teacher evaluations， and teachers may not be reliable judges of friendships among their charges。
And now it seems that any benefits documented in kindergarten disappear altogether by middle school。 Using a metric called “peer nomination，” in which youths are asked to identify their friends by name， Dr。 Downey and Dr。 Bobbitt－Zeher drew on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health， with a sample size of 13，466 students in 7th through 12th grades。 They then counted how many people named each individual as a friend。 This was used to proximate social skills since the socially inept would be unlikely to have lots of friends。 The result： children without siblings had just as many friends as children with siblings。
“I see the two studies as a natural progression， showing what happens to the only children who didn’t have much interaction before kindergarten，” Dr。 Downey said。 Another study he is working on shows that the same only children evaluated in kindergarten had caught up by fifth grade。
While the studies don’t examine the cause for the disappearing social boost to kindergartners with siblings， Dr。 Downey speculates that continuing school， youth clubs and other group activities — especially in an era of overscheduled children — provide ample opportunity for onlys to sharpen their skills。
2关于独生子女的表达方式
Strawberry Generation“草莓族”
The “Strawberry Generation” was coined by a Taiwan writer in one of her books about office rules。 Now， it refers to the new generation of office workers， who grew up in a protected environment and got easily dented—just like strawberries—by life’s lightest knocks。 This expression is now finding its way into the mainland， and refers to young workers， of only child families， who have been active in the workforce for just a year or two。 They are generally well educated but are self－centered and give too much importance to appearance and material comforts。
one－child policy计划生育政策
The one－child policy literally “policy of birth planning” refers to the one－child limitation applying to a minority of families in the population control policy of the People’s Republic of China （PRC）。 The Chinese government refers to it under the official translation of family planning policy。
“草莓族”这个说法最早出现在一位台湾作家的《办公室物语》一书中。现在，它指的是新一代办公室职员，他们像草莓一样是在多方保护的环境中长大的，生活中轻微的碰撞就能让他们受到伤害。这个说法现在在中国大陆也很流行，指刚刚参加工作一两年的独生子女一代。他们大都受过良好的教育，但多以自我为中心，过分注重外表和物质享受。
Key words ＆ Sentences
关键词句全知道
