每日英語 #127: Living Alone in the United States

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Living Alone in the United States

Living “alone” (by oneself; with no one else) was almost “unheard of” (nonexistent; did not exist) 100 years ago in the United States. In 1900, less than 5% of the American population lived by themselves, in their own apartment or house. In 2012, that number was 27%, and in cities such as New York and Washington D.C., almost half of the population lives alone. Why is this happening, and is it a good thing or a bad thing?

在美國，100年前獨自生活（自己一個人；沒有其他人）幾乎是「聞所未聞的」（不存在的；沒有發生過）。1900年，少於5%的美國人口獨自住在自己的公寓或房子裡。而到了2012年，這個數字上升至27%，在紐約和華盛頓特區等城市，幾乎有一半的人口是單獨生活。這是為什麼？這是一件好事還是壞事？

The “decline” (drop; decrease) of marriage is one reason people of all ages are now more likely to live alone. But there have been other changes as well. As American society gets richer, more people can “afford” (have the money) to buy their “independence” and live by themselves. This is especially true of older Americans. Thanks to “Social Security” (the government program that provides money for older people who no longer work) and individual savings, only 20% of older Americans now live with one of their children, compared to 70% in 1900. People live alone not because they don’t have a choice, but rather, in most cases, because they do.

婚姻的「衰退」（下降；減少）是導致各個年齡層的人更容易獨居的原因之一。但還有其他的變化。隨著美國社會越來越富裕，越來越多的人可以「負擔得起」（有錢）買到他們的「獨立性」，並獨自生活。這對於美國老年人尤其如此。由於「社會保障」（政府為不再工作的老年人提供資金的計劃）和個人儲蓄，現在只有20%的老年人與子女同住，而1900年時這一比例是70%。人們選擇獨自生活，不是因為他們沒有選擇，而是大多數情況下，因為他們有選擇。

In case you think this is another case of “extreme” (too much) American “individualism” (the idea that each person should be independent and not rely on another), think again: most European countries have far more people living alone than the U.S. does. Nearly half of all Swedes (people from Sweden), 40% of Norwegians (from Norway), and 39% of Germans (from Germany) live alone. In fact, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Ukraine, Japan, Poland, Italy, and Canada all have more people living alone than the U.S. And Russia, Spain, Ireland, and South Korea are only a few percentage points behind the U.S.

如果你認為這只是另一個美國「極端」（太多）「個人主義」（每個人都應該獨立，不依賴他人）的案例，那麼再想想：大多數歐洲國家的獨居人口遠多於美國。將近一半的瑞典人、40%的挪威人和39%的德國人是獨居的。事實上，荷蘭、英國、法國、烏克蘭、日本、波蘭、意大利和加拿大的獨居人口都比美國多。而俄羅斯、西班牙、愛爾蘭和韓國也僅比美國少幾個百分點。

重要單字

• 1. Alone [əˈloʊn] - 獨自
• 2. Unheard of [ʌnˈhɜːrd ʌv] - 聞所未聞
• 3. Decline [dɪˈklaɪn] - 衰退、下降
• 4. Afford [əˈfɔrd] - 負擔得起
• 5. Independence [ˌɪndɪˈpɛndəns] - 獨立性
• 6. Social Security [ˈsoʊʃəl sɪˈkjʊrəti] - 社會保障
• 7. Individualism [ˌɪndəˈvɪdʒuəˌlɪzəm] - 個人主義
• 8. Extreme [ɪkˈstriːm] - 極端