不再關注離婚率 爲何美國人再婚機率上升大綱

When it comes to love and marriage in the 21st century, if at first you don't succeed, there's time to try, try again.
當談到21世紀的戀愛和婚姻時，如果第一次以失敗告終，還有再嘗試一次或者更多次的機會。

The vast majority of older Americans have married at least once by the time they reach age 50, Census data show. What's surprising is how many of them remarry: Roughly one in four people born between 1945 and 1954 have married two times or more by 50.
美國人口普查局(Census)的數據顯示，大多數美國老年人在步入50歲時已經至少結過一次婚。令人驚訝的是其中有多少人再婚過：1945年至1954年期間出生的人中每四個人大概就有一個人到50歲時已經結過兩次或者更多次婚了。

While exact numbers on second and third marriages are hard to come by, the share of Americans having them is significantly higher than it was before the 1960s, and has generally plateaued since then, according to W. Bradford Wilcox, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia who studies marriage trends.
弗吉尼亞大學(University of Virginia)研究婚姻趨勢的社會學教授威爾科克斯(W. Bradford Wilcox)說，儘管難以得到有過兩段和三段婚史的確切人數，但此類美國人的數量已經遠遠高於上世紀60年代前的水平，而且自那以來一直維持在高位。

Americans are waiting much longer to get married than they used to, thanks to factors ranging from women's improved educational opportunities to increased focus on careers to greater access to contraception. But this masks the fact that since people are living much longer than they did a century ago, they are actually marrying earlier in their overall lifetimes, leaving more time for a second or third round of wedding bells.
如今美國人首次結婚年齡比過去延後了許多，受到女性教育機會改善、人們更加註重事業和避孕方式更多等因素影響。但這掩蓋了一個事實：由於人類壽命比一個世紀前更長了，如今人們首次結婚的年齡在一生中處在一個較以前更早的階段，所以有更長時間來開始第二段或者第三段婚姻。

Today, the typical American man marries for the first time when he is 29 years old--well above the historical low of 23 in 1956, but only three years older than in 1890, according to Jonathan Vespa, a Census demographer. Women have a similar pattern.
美國人口普查局的人口學家韋斯帕(Jonathan Vespa)說，現在典型美國男性首次結婚的年齡是29歲，遠高於1956年的歷史低點23歲，但只比1890年高出三歲。女性情況也類似。

In 1890, however, a man's average life span was only 43 years--which means men were marrying for the first time about halfway through their lives. American men today live until about 76, so they are marrying in the first third of their lives.
但在1890年，男性的平均壽命只有43年，這意味着他們首次結婚的年齡大概是在一生中的中段。如今美國男性的平均壽命大約爲76年，所以他們首次結婚的年齡是在一生中的第一個三分之一階段。

Remarriage in the U.S. has dropped recently, partly because people are marrying later and more are choosing to live together without marrying. In 1990, 50 of every 1,000 divorced or widowed Americans remarried; this figure fell to 29 per 1,000 in 2011, says Mr. Wilcox, citing research by sociologist Susan Brown of Bowling Green State University.
近期美國再婚率有所下降，這在一定程度上是因爲人們結婚的年齡推後了，而且有更多人選擇同居而不是結婚。威爾科克斯援引鮑林格林大學(Bowling Green State University)社會學家布朗(Susan Brown)的研究結果稱，1990年，每1,000名離婚或者喪偶的美國人中有50人再婚；現在這個數字下降至每1,000個這樣的人中有29人再婚。

The divorce rate, which can be measured several ways, has been falling, though it remains above its early 1970s level. And some research shows Americans may be less happy about their marriages than they were in previous decades.
可以以多種方式衡量的離婚率一直在下降，但仍高於20世紀70年代初的水平。有研究顯示，美國人對婚姻的幸福感可能不及之前幾十年。Education also matters a lot for how people perceive and approach marriage: A growing number of American women without college degrees are having their first child before they get married--leading to less family stability, Mr. Wilcox says.
威爾科克斯稱，教育程度也對人們如何認識和看待婚姻產生了重要影響：越來越多未接受過大學教育的美國女性未婚先孕，導致家庭穩定度下降。

Still, the fact that Americans have two-thirds of their lives to remarry may help people get out of failed relationships and find new ones that make them happy--a kind of 'churn' similar to the movements in and out of jobs in the labor market that help make the overall economy more dynamic.
不過美國人一生當中有三分之二的時間來選擇再婚，這一事實或許有助於人們擺脫失敗婚姻並找到新的幸福――這與就業市場中的人員流動相似，可以使整體經濟更具活力。

Lynne and Chuck Tonini are among those having a better time the second time around.
琳內•託尼尼(Lynne Tonini)和查克•託尼尼(Chuck Tonini)就是在第二次婚姻中更加幸福的一對夫妻。

Mrs. Tonini, 45 years old, a business manager at an optometrist's office in Huntsville, Ala., first got married at age 23--a relationship that lasted 15 years and led to two children. Mr. Tonini's first marriage, which produced three children, lasted a similar amount of time, before going sour in the mid-2000s.
現年45歲的琳內是亞拉巴馬州亨茨維爾一個驗光師辦公室的業務經理，她23歲時第一次結婚，這段婚姻維持了15年並育有兩個孩子。查克的第一次婚姻帶給他三個孩子，也持續了大約15年，在2005年前後結束。

After their breakups, Lynne met Chuck, now 39, and they became friends, then romantically involved. The couple waited five years before getting married in April 2013.
各自的婚姻失敗後，琳內與現年39歲的查克相遇，他們成了朋友，然後相互愛戀。五年之後的2013年4月，他們步入婚姻的殿堂。

Mr. Tonini says he looked for different qualities this time around--things like self-sufficiency. 'When you get older, you look at things more maturely, and you want a more well-rounded person,' he says.
查克說，這次他希望妻子身上有一些不同的特質。他說，年齡大一些後，看待事情會更加成熟，也希望有一個更完美的伴侶。

The couple won't be celebrating Valentine's Day this Friday--they will be attending their 18-year-old son's high-school state championship wrestling tournament, which goes until about 10 p.m. But Mr. Tonini says he and wife have no problem waiting one more day. 'I might send her flowers,' he said. 'We'll make sure we celebrate.'
這對夫妻週五不會慶祝情人節，他們要參加18歲兒子所就讀高中舉辦的全州摔跤錦標賽，比賽將持續到晚上10點左右。但查克說他和妻子不介意推遲一天再過節。他說：“我會送花給她，情人節肯定要過。”