unit4-硕士英语综合教程-课文翻译

Unit 4

(Para. 1) In the last few centuries, marriage has been connected to romantic love.This kind of package deal is not easy to maintain and indeed many people fail while trying to do so. Nevertheless, most people still pursue this deal. This is another type of paradox associated with marriage.

在过去的几个世纪里，婚姻总是和浪漫的爱情联系起来。这一揽子交易可不容易维护，的确，很多人在试图将婚姻和浪漫的爱情结合起来时失败了。不过，许多人仍然追求婚姻。这是和婚姻相关的另一种自相矛盾的情况。

(Para. 2)Some of the main difficulties of this package deal are the following: (a) in modern society, marriage is no longer unique in fulfilling tasks such as raising children and enhancing one’s status and financial situation,(b) long-term romantic relationships are problematic in that they lack significant changes, which are so meaningful to emotions in general and love in particular, and (c) the greater flexibility of romantic boundaries in modern society make it harder to maintain strict emotional connections and constraints, such as those recommended in marriage.

要实现这一揽子交易，有如下几点主要的困难：1. 在现代社会，婚姻已不是实现像抚养孩子，加强个人地位，及改善经济状况等任务的惟一形式。2. 长期的浪漫关系的问题在于他们缺乏重大变化，而变化对于普遍意义的情感特别是爱情具有重要意义。3.浪漫的界线在现代社会中更加灵活，这就使得那些在婚姻关系中建议的严格的情感联系和限制难以维持。

(Para. 3a) In modern society, most of the penalties for dissolving a marriage have been removed and many of the incentives that marriage offers can be obtained in other social frameworks.

现代社会中，大多数由于结束婚姻关系所受的惩罚已被取消，而婚姻关系提供的许多奖励也能通过其他社会结构获得。

The choice of staying within a marriage depends, therefore, more on the issue of love than on those traditionally unique advantages of marriage, such as raising children and enhancing one’s status and financial situation.

因此，选择继续留在婚姻中更多的是由于爱情而不是婚姻关系具有的那些传统的独特的优势，例如抚养孩子，加强个人地位，及改善经济状况。

(Para. 3b) If a person feels that her present marital relationship prevents her from experiencing genuine love (and from personal development and satisfaction), there is little incentive for her to stay in the marriage. The fact that most divorce cases now cite a lack of love as the reason for seeking to end the marriage indicates the greater importance that love has in contemporary marriages.

如果一个人觉得她目前的婚姻不能使她体验真挚的爱情，以及她的个人发展和内

心满足，她就不太有维持婚姻关系的动机了。许多离婚案件现在会用缺少爱情作为寻求结束婚姻关系的原因。这一事实表明爱情在当代婚姻关系中愈发重要。

(Para. 4a)Romantic relationships consist of both change, which increases excitement, and familiarity, which enhances commitment and liking. The positive role of familiarity may lead love to grow and become deeper over time. However, the lack of novelty may make the element of passion less intense. As David Barash and Judith Lipton put it, “we don’t normally speak of a passionate marr iage.

浪漫关系由两方面变化构成，一方面更令人兴奋，更熟悉，另一方面增强承诺和喜好。熟悉的积极作用可以导致爱情成长，感情随着时间的推移更深。但是，缺乏新奇性可以使激情元素不再强烈。正如大为和朱迪思所说的“我们通常不说充满激情的婚姻。

(Para. 4b)A good marriage, a happy marriage, a comfortable and compatible marriage, yes, but only rarely a passionate one.” They further argue that a passionate marriage would be exhausting, as to “live in a state of perpetual passion” would be to forgo much of the rest of life, and, in truth, there are other things. Love can deepen and broaden ... but it rarely becomes more passionate.

一段美好的婚姻、一段幸福的婚姻、一段自在的包容的婚姻，是的，只是很少说一段充满激情的婚姻”。他们进而争论说，一段充满激情的婚姻可能太令人疲惫，因为“要保持永恒的热情”将要放弃生活中许多其他的内容，而事实上，生活中还有其他事情。爱情能够更深厚更宽广，却很少变得更热烈。

(Para. 4c)Likewise, sex in long-term relationship may be less passionate but because of familiarity and acquiring better techniques may be more satisfied.

同样地，性爱在长期的浪漫关系中可能不那么热烈却由于相互熟悉和掌握了更好的技巧而更加满意。

In any case, stability in marriage and well-being are not one and the same: a stable marriage does not necessarily mean that marriage is particularly gratifying or vital. There is no general solution to the problem of the “right” amount and type of change required for more profound and enduring romantic love.

无论如何，婚姻的稳定性和福利不是一回事：一段稳定的婚姻不必然地意味着那段婚姻特别满意或充满生机。没有一个总的方案来解决需要多少“适当”的数量和类型的变化来拥有更深远的更持久的浪漫爱情这一问题。