英语阅读：Divorce and Kids 离婚与孩子

美联英语提供：英语阅读：Divorce and Kids 离婚与孩子两分钟做个小测试，看看你的英语水平/test/kuaisu.aspx?tid=16-73675-0Divorce is transforming the lives of American children.In the past World War 2 generation, more than 80 percent of children grew up with both biological parents. Today only half will do so. Each year more than a million children experience family breakup: about as many are born out of wedlock.离婚正在改变美国儿童的生活。

二次世界大战后的一代人中，80%以上的儿童都在亲生父母身边长大。

今天只有半数是如此。

每年有一百多万儿童的家庭破裂，这与非婚生儿的数量大体相同。

At the same time, the problems associated with family disruption have grown. Overall child well-being has declined,despite historically high public spending. The teen suicide rate has almost tripled. Juvenile crime has increased and become more violent. School performance has been poor.与此同时，家庭破裂带来的问题层出不穷。

尽管政府的开支历来很大，儿童总的生活水平却有所下降。

青少年的自杀率几乎增长了两倍。

青少年犯罪率上升，而且暴力案件越来越多，而学业成绩甚差。

Given such a dramatic impact on children’s lives, one might expect today’shigh divorce rate to be viewed more widely as a national crises. Yet, those who argue that it poses a serious threat are dismissed as being pessimistic or nostalgic, unwilling to accept the new facts of life. The dominant view in the popular culture is that the changes in family structure are, on balance, positive. And until recently there was little hard evidence to confirm or dispute this assumption.儿童的生活既然受到如此显著的影响，有人可能把当今的高离婚率视作一场全国性的危机。

然而，持有这种观点的人却被斥之为过分悲观或怀旧，被认为是不愿接受新的生活现实。

大众文化普遍认为，家庭结构的变化总的说来是积极的。

但直到最近还没有什么确凿的证据可以证实或反驳这种说法。

A 1940s book on divorce asserted:” Children are entitled to the affection and association of two parents, not one.” In the 1950s most Americans believed parents should stay in an unhappy marriage to avoid damaging the children.40年代的一本论述离婚的书曾称：“孩子有权享有父母双方而不是其中一方的宠爱和关怀”。

50年代，多数美国人认为，做父母的即使婚姻不美满，也要维持下去，以免伤害孩子。

But by mid-1970s what had once been regarded as hostile to children’s best interests was considered essential to adults’ happiness. “A two-parent home is not the only emotional structure within which a child can be happy and healthy,” apopular divorce book of this era proclaimed. “The parents who take care of themselves will be best able to take care of their children.”但到70年代中期，人们的观念有所改变，原先说离婚会伤害子女们的最高利益，此时则认为离婚是关乎成人幸福的大事。

当年一本论述离婚的畅销书声称：“双亲家庭并不是唯一能让孩子过得健康快乐的情感寄托所，做父母的只有照顾好自己才能更好地照顾好孩子。

”As this optimistic view took shape, many expects believed that the psychological impact of divorce on children was like a bad cold. There was a phase of acute discomfort, then a short recovery。

Kids would be back on their feet in no time, with no lasting harm.这种乐观的看法一形成，就有许多专家认为，离异对孩子心理上的影响好比患了重感冒：开始一段时间会极不舒服，接着是短暂的恢复期。

不久孩子得到康复，痛苦渐渐消失。

By the early 1980s, however, nearly two decades had passed since the changes in family life had begun. During the intervening years a fuller body of empirical research had emerged: studies that used large samples, or followed families through time, or did both. Moreover, several of the studies offered a c hild’s-eye view of family disruption.然而到80年代初，家庭生活中发生的这种婚姻变化已经历了近二十个年头。

在此期间，大量以经验为依据的研究工作脱颖而出：或广泛调查大批实例，或长期跟踪家庭进行研究，或双管齐下。

而且，不少研究还提供了孩子对家庭破裂的看法。

In 1971 Judith Wallerstein, a clinical psychologist, and her staff began interviewing middle-class children in the San Francisco area at the time their parents broke up. She discovered the children seemed to be doing worse. Five years after breakup, her research shows, more than a third of the children were experiencing moderate or severe depression. At ten years a significant number to be troubled, drifting, underachieving. At 15 years many, now adults, were struggling to establish strong love relationships of their own.1971年，临床心理学家朱迪斯·沃勒斯坦及其工作人员开始走访旧金山地区一些中产阶级家庭的孩子——当时他们父母的关系已破裂，有的已离异一年之久。

她并没有发现孩子的感情有什么奇迹般的恢复；事实上，这些孩子的情况似乎每况愈下。

Five years after breakup, her research shows, more than a third of the children were experiencing moderate or severe depression. At ten years a significant number appeared to be troubled, drifting, underachieving. At 15 years many, now adults, were struggling to establish strong love relationships of their own.她的研究表明，在家庭破裂5年后，三分之一以上的孩子患有中度或严重的抑郁症。

10年后，有一大批孩子表现得心情苦恼，变化无常，学习成绩差，15年后，许多人都已成年了，就拼命建立自己真正心爱的牢固关系。

Research shows that girls in single-parent families are at greater risk for teenage marriage, nonmarital birth, and divorce than girls in two-parent families---and that this is true regardless of race or income. Also, children in disrupted families are nearly twice as likely to drop out of high school. Boys are at greater risk of dropping out than girls and are more prone to aggressive behavior.研究表明，单亲家庭女孩的冒险性大于双亲家庭的女孩：性早熟，十几岁结婚，少年怀孕，非婚生育，离婚——而且不分种族、肤色和收入，都是如此。