新西兰英语 35 Living Together

　　This news item is about co-habitation, couples who live together without being married.
Our newspapers reported this week on the National Marriage Project report from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey¹, in the United States. Why are we interested in an American report? Because New Zealand was top out of 13 countries with the fastest increase in the percentage of couples cohabitating in the last 10 years. The countries surveyed were the US, Canada, the UK, Scandinavian countries, Western European countries and Australia and New Zealand. In New Zealand, 24% of couples live together without being married. In Spain and Italy the figure is only 3% and 4% respectively², while USA is 8%. We think we are similar to Australia in most things but their percentage of couples living together is 15%.
The report mentioned that living together was an ancient custom in Europe until the Catholic³ Church brought in marriage ceremonies around the 13th and 14th centuries.
Immediately after the Second World War, marriage was very popular in European countries including New Zealand. This was a time of a high birth rate too. However, by the 1970s and 80s, more and more couples started to live together before getting married. Today, probably around 75% of young people live together, sometimes in several relationships, before they decide to get married.
There are a number of reasons for this: birth control, more women having a career, and the increase in divorces⁴ means that couples want to avoid a bad marriage. In countries like New Zealand, the welfare system which supports single parents, may also be a reason. Co-habitation has meant that women are having babies later in life too; in fact 45% of women giving birth in New Zealand today are not married.
The report suggests that there are benefits of being married: married people are happier, healthier, wealthier and live longer. There are also benefits for children who live with their natural parents.
One problem with parents who are not married is that they are more likely to separate, leaving children with a single parent. These children are more likely to suffer from poverty or abuse⁵ and more likely to grow up with drug or alcohol⁶ problems. In New Zealand, 32% of families with children have a single parent. The figure for Australia is 21%.

1 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

2 respectively   

adv.各自地，独自地，个别地，分别地

参考例句：

• They finished first and second respectively.他们分获一二名。
• In this machine which items make up the software and the hardware respectively?在机器中，哪几项分别构成软件和硬件？

3 catholic   

adj.天主教的；n.天主教徒

参考例句：

• The Pope is the supreme leader of the Roman Catholic Church.教皇是罗马天主教的最高领袖。
• She was a devoutly Catholic.她是一个虔诚地天主教徒。

4 divorces   

n.离婚( divorce的名词复数 )；分离v.与…离婚( divorce的第三人称单数 )；分离；与（某人）离婚，判（某人）离婚

参考例句：

• "As for Bettie's marriages and divorces,'said Shen-ming, "I've talked with him about them. 慎明道：“关于Bertie结婚离婚的事，我也和他谈过。 来自汉英文学 - 围城
• He's getting married again, after two divorces, so he obviously hasn't profited by his experiences. 他两次离婚之后又结婚，显然没有吸取以往的教训。 来自辞典例句

5 abuse   

vt.滥用；辱骂；诋毁；n.滥用；恶习；弊端

参考例句：

• You can't make personal abuse on her.你不可对她进行人身攻击。
• She screamed abuse at me.她尖声责备我。

6 alcohol   

n.酒精，乙醇；含酒精的饮料

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors.法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。
• The alcohol is industrial.这些酒精是供工业用的。