愛情和婚姻的組合就像是……

Hello. And welcome to 6 Minute English. I』m Neil.

大家好，歡迎來到六分鐘英語，我是尼爾。

And I』m Rob.

我是羅伯。

Now Rob, Can you complete this saying: 「Love and marriage go together like ….」

現在羅伯，你能補充完整這句話嗎？「愛情和婚姻組合就像……」

Love and marriage go together like… like a horse and carriage!

愛情和婚姻組合就像……就像馬和馬車！

That』s right, and when was the last time you saw a horse and carriage?

不錯。你最後一次看見馬和馬車是什麼時候？

Well, that would have been quite a while ago.They are quite rare these days, not an everyday sight.

好吧，那得是相當長一段時間之前了。它們現在相當罕見，不是每天都可以看到。

Indeed. And according to recent statistics, marriage in the UK is getting rarer too. Not as rare as seeing a horse and carriage, but the numbers are falling. Before we look at this topic in a bit more detail, a little quiz for our listeners.

的確。並且根據最近的數據，英國結婚的人也越來越罕見。並沒有像見到馬和馬車那麼罕見，但是數量一直在下降。在我們了解更多關於這個主題的細節之前，有一個小測試要問我們的聽眾。

Yes, according to the UK』s Office for National Statistics, how many opposite-sex marriages were there in 2015? Was it … a) 239,000 b) 309,000 or c) 339,000 ? Any idea, Neil?

是的，根據英國國家統計局數據，2015年有多少對異性婚姻？是a) 239,000 b) 309,000 還是 c) 339,000 ？有什麼想法嗎，尼爾？

I have no idea, but I』m going to have a guess and I』m going to say a) 239,000.

沒想法，但是我會猜一下，我選a) 239,000對。

OK. Well, we』ll reveal the answer a little later in this programme. And whatever the correct number, the trend is downwards. Year on year there are fewer opposite sex couples getting married in the UK.

好的，我們稍後將會在節目里揭曉答案。無論哪個是正確數字，結婚趨勢都呈下降趨勢。年復一年，英國越來越少的異性情侶結婚。

So why might this be? Are we falling out of love with marriage? Let』s hear from a couple of people with different views. First, here』s Tom from BBC Learning English.What doesn』t he like about the idea or concept of getting married?

所以為什麼會這樣呢？婚姻讓我們沒有愛情了嗎？讓我們聽一下觀點各異的幾個人是怎麼說的。首先是來自BBC英語教學的湯姆。他不喜歡婚姻觀念或者概念上的什麼呢？

I』m not that enthusiastic about the idea of marriage, to tell you the truth. I think it』s a bit of an archaic concept these days. And I』m a bit of a commitment phobe. I don』t like the idea of signing a piece of paper that says I have to be with someone for the rest of my life and can never escape from that person, I suppose. Although I am in a very happy relationship at the moment.

老實說，我對婚姻沒有那麼熱衷。我認為現在那是有一點過時的觀念。並且我有輕微的承諾恐懼症。我不喜歡那種觀念，在一張紙上簽字，說自己餘生一定要和某人在一起，並且和那個人不離不棄，我猜是這樣的。儘管現在我有一段很愉快的感情。

So that was Tom there. Not a fan of marriage.But what were his objections, Neil?

所以那是湯姆的觀點。不是婚姻狂熱者。但是是什麼阻礙了他呢，尼爾？

Well, he described marriage as an archaic concept.When someone describes something as archaic, they think it is very old fashioned, out of date, belonging to a different time.

好吧，他將婚姻形容為一個過時的觀念。當某些人形容某事是陳舊的，他們則認為那是非常老派的，過時的，屬於不同時期。

So that was one of his problems with marriage. But he also said that he was a commitment phobe. The suffix 『phobe』 means someone who is afraid of something. In some cases it can also be used as a standalone word, but it means the same. So a commitment phobe is someone who is afraid of, or doesn』t like the idea of commitment.

所以那是婚姻帶給他的眾多問題之一。但是他同樣稱自己有承諾恐懼症。後綴"phobe"指的是某人懼怕某事。在一些情況下它同樣可以作為一個單詞獨立使用，但是意思是相同的。所以承諾恐懼症是指某些人懼怕或者是不喜歡做出承諾。

And when talking about relationships, commitment means being with one person and giving up the idea of being free to do whatever you want and see whoever you want, romantically.

並且當談到關係的時候，承諾指的是和某人在一起，放棄隨心所欲做事及與他人見面，非常浪漫。

So for commitment phobes, commitment means losing something.

所以對於承諾恐懼症的人來說，承諾意味著失去某些東西。

But that』s not true for everyone. Here』s Dan, also from BBC Learning English. What』s his view of marriage?

但是那不適用於所有人。這是丹所說的，同樣是在BBC教學英語中談到的。他的婚姻觀是什麼？

In general I think it』s quite good.It has a very stabilising effect on society.And it declares publicly to the world that you have found the right person for you and you』re in a committed relationship.

一般來說我認為結婚是非常不錯的。它對社會有穩定作用。並且可以讓大家知道你找到自己的另一半並處於一段穩定的關係之中。

So Dan is a fan. He thinks marriage has a stabilising effect on society. He sees marriage as being good for society as a whole. It makes society stronger, more stable.

所以丹是婚姻的支持者。他認為婚姻對於社會有穩定作用。他認為總的來說婚姻對社會是有利的。婚姻讓社會變得更牢固，更穩定。

And he also sees it as a way to say to everyone that you have a strong relationship, you are with the one person you love.

並且他同樣認為那是向眾人表示你有一段穩定的感情，和所愛的人在一起的一種方式。

So for Dan, commitment and being in a committed relationship is a good thing. Now, back to our question at the top of the programme.I asked: how many opposite-sex couples got married in the UK in 2015?

所以對丹來說，做出承諾並且處於一段穩定的關係之中是一件好事。現在讓我們回到節目開始時的問題。我問：2015年英國有多少對異性情侶結婚？

And I took a guess, didn』t I? And I said a) 239,000. Am I right?

並且我猜了一下，不是嗎？我說是a) 239,000對。我對了嗎？

You are definitely right. The answer is 239,000 or 239,020 to be precise.

絕對正確。答案是239000對，或者精確來說是239020對。

That figure was 3.4% lower than 2014. So what do relationship experts think is the reason fewer people are getting married?

那個數字比2014年還要低3.4%。所以情感專家認為為什麼結婚的人越來越少？

Well, there could be lots of reasons.In some countries the way society is changing - means that there is less pressure to get married or stay married. As a result, there are more divorces. So perhaps children of divorced parents are less likely to get married themselves.Right, well before we go, let』s recap the vocabulary we highlighted today. The first word wastrend.

好吧，那可能有許多原因。在一些國家，社會正在發生變化，那意味著沒有那麼大的壓力去結婚或者維持婚姻狀態。結果離婚夫婦越來越多。所以或許那些父母離異的孩子更不願意結婚。是的，在我們結束之前，讓我們回顧一下今天強調的辭彙。第一個單詞是「趨勢」。

A trend is the direction that something is changing over time. When it comes to marriage, the trend is for fewer marriages. And the trend for 6-Minute listeners is the opposite - going up, particularly when you are presenting, Neil.

趨勢指的是某事隨著時間所轉變的方向。當談到婚姻時，趨勢是越來越少的人結婚。六分鐘英語聽眾的趨勢則正相反——增長，特別是當你出現的時候，尼爾。

Ah, that』s very nice of you, you』re very kind. The next two words were anarchaic concept. Archaic is an adjective for something dated or old-fashioned.

啊， 你那麼說真好，你人真好。接下來的兩個單詞是一個陳舊的概念。它是一個形容詞，用來指某物過時或者老派。

A bit like your fashion sense!

有一點像你的時尚感！

Ah, Rob, just when I beginning to like you!

奧，羅伯，當我開始像你一樣的時候才會那樣！

Sorry about that, you know I don』t mean it. In the interview, archaic was used to describe the concept of marriage, not your fashion sense. Concept is another word for an idea or belief. So an archaic concept is an old-fashioned idea.

抱歉，你知道的，我不是那個意思。在採訪中，老派用來描述婚姻這個觀念，不是你的時尚感。觀念是表示觀點或者信條的另一個詞。所以一個老派的觀點就是一個過時的觀點。

Our next expression wascommitment phobe. We use this phrase to talk about someone who is scared of the idea of a long-term relationship. Because they see it as giving up some freedoms. You』re obviously acompliment phobe! You』re afraid of saying nice things about someone, so you always say something nasty as well!

我們下一個表達是承諾恐懼症。我們用這個詞來指某些人懼怕長久的感情。因為他們將它看做是對一些自由的放棄。你顯然是一個表揚恐懼症患者！你不敢說某些人的好話，所以你也就常常會說一些令人不愉快的事。

I said I was sorry.

我說了我很抱歉。

And finally we had the adjectivestabilising. Something that is stable is strong. And something that makes something strong can be described as stabilising. Dan expressed his belief that marriage had a stabilising effect on society.Well, that』s it for this programme. For more, find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and our YouTube pages, and of course our website at bbclearningenglish.com where you can find all kinds of other activities, videos and quizzes and things to help you improve your English. Thanks for joining us and goodbye!

最後我們提到了穩定。某事穩定是指它很牢固。並且讓其它事物牢固的東西都可以稱作是穩定的。丹表達了他的觀點，他認為婚姻對社會有穩定作用。好的，以上就是今天的節目。更多信息，請在我們的Facebook，Instagram和YouTube主頁查找，當然還有我們的網站bbclearningenglish.com，在那裡你可以發現各種各樣的學習活動，視頻和小測試，以及其它能幫助你提高英語的東西。感謝你今天的參與，再見。

Bye-bye!

再見！

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