英伦广角 照顾年迈父母的担子落在女儿身上，而不是儿子

 

Daughters of aging parents, be aware: you and your sisters spend twice as much time caring for your graying parents compared with your brothers: about seven more hours each month. That new snapshot of how adult children share parent care comes from a study by Princeton doctoral student Angelina Grigoryeva. She presented her research at a recent meeting of American Sociological Association in San Francisco. [Angelina Grigoryeva: When Gender¹ Trumps² Everything: The Division of Parent Care among Siblings]

如果你的父母渐入年迈，作为女儿，你要意识到：相比你们的兄弟，你和你的姐妹在照顾你们年迈的父母上，所花费的时间要比他们多一倍，每个月大约7个多小时。该见解来自普林斯顿大学博士生Angelina Grigoryeva的一项研究。Angelina Grigoryeva在美国旧金山社会学协会的最近一次会议上提出了她的这项研究。

The data originated from the 2004 portion of the Health and Retirement⁴ Survey, a national study that samples more than 26,000 Americans over the age of 50 every couple of years. The research reveals that women appear to provide as much elderly parent care as their jobs and family responsibilities will allow, while men’s care giving decisions appear to be largely based on whether or not they believe a female sibling³ can shoulder the responsibility. You can find more 60-Second Health on chinavoa.com.

这个数据来源于2004年的“健康与退休调查问卷”，这是一次全国性的调查研究，对26000多名50岁以上的美国公民所进行的问卷，每隔几年就开展一次。研究表明：在自身工作和家庭责任允许的情况下，女性似乎在尽可能的更多的照顾年迈的父母，而男性在决定是否照顾其年迈的父母时，却在很大程度上基于自己的姐妹是否能够承担起照顾父母的责任。

Grigoryeva writes that the findings are particularly concerning since women already more often take on other “invisible” domestic work compared with men. Of course, not all families have children of both sexes. But as a rule, Grigoryeva writes, “Sons reduce their relative care giving efforts when they have a sister, while daughters increase it when they have a brother.”

—Dina Fine Maron

Grigoryeva写道：由于相对于男性来说，女性会经常性的承担很多的“无形”家务劳动。当然，并不是每个家庭都既有男孩又有女孩。但是一般说来，Grigoryeva写道：“有姐妹的男性会相对减少对父母的照顾，而有兄弟的女性会增加她们对父母的照顾。”—迪娜·法恩·马龙

1 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

2 trumps   

abbr.trumpets 喇叭；小号；喇叭形状的东西；喇叭筒v.（牌戏）出王牌赢（一牌或一墩）( trump的过去式 )；吹号公告，吹号庆祝；吹喇叭；捏造

参考例句：

• On the day of the match the team turned up trumps. 比赛那天该队出乎意料地获得胜利。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Every time John is late getting home he trumps up some new excuse. 每次约翰晚回家都会编造个新借口。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 sibling   

n.同胞手足(指兄、弟、姐或妹)

参考例句：

• Many of us hate living in the shadows of a more successful sibling.我们很多人都讨厌活在更为成功的手足的阴影下。
• Sibling ravalry has been common in this family.这个家里，兄弟姊妹之间的矛盾很平常。

4 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。