今日导读
还在为单身找不着对象而烦恼吗？你可能并不孤单。根据最新调查研究数据，在大洋彼岸，有超过一半的美国年轻人没有找到合适的对象。不管你目前的状态是否单身，都会发现身边单身的人不少。是什么导致了这种现象？越来越多的人单身会对社会造成什么样的影响？让我们和宇轩老师一起，读读《华盛顿邮报》的新闻。
新闻原文
It’s not just you: New data shows more than half of young people in America don’t have a romantic partner
Austin Spivey, a 24-year-old woman in Washington, has been looking for a relationship for years. She’s been on several dating apps—OkCupid, Coffee Meets Bagel, Hinge, Tinder, Bumble. She’s on a volleyball team, where she has a chance to meet people with similar interests in a casual setting. She’s even let The Washington Post set her up.
Spivey has a lot of company in her frustration, and in her singledom. Just over half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34—51 percent of them—said they do not have a steady romantic partner, according to data from the General Social Survey released this week.
There are several other trends that go along with the increase in young single Americans. Women are having fewer children, and they’re having them later in life. The median age of first marriage is increasing. And according to a 2017 report from the Pew Research Center, among those who have never married but are open to it, most say a major reason is because they haven’t found the right person.
Laura Lane, co-host of the podcast “This Is Why You’re Single” and co-author of a book by the same name, says a lot of people who write in to her podcast looking for love advice are unhappy with their lives—and they think another person will fix that. "You really have to find that yourself, " she says, adding that nothing really clicked, romantically, for her or for her co-host Angela Spera “until we had something personally exciting that we were doing. I think it was an energetic thing where we attracted people into our lives.”
带着问题看讲解
短语 set sb. up 有哪些意思？
新闻里提到了几个约会软件？分别是什么？
如何理解单词 click？
新闻正文
It’s not just you: New data shows more than half of young people in America don’t have a romantic partner
不只是你：新的数据显示，超过一半的美国年轻人没有伴侣
Austin Spivey, a 24-year-old woman in Washington, has been looking for a relationship for years. She’s been on several dating apps—OkCupid, Coffee Meets Bagel, Hinge, Tinder, Bumble. She’s on a volleyball team, where she has a chance to meet people with similar interests in a casual setting. She’s even let The Washington Post set her up.
奥斯汀·斯皮维，一名来自华盛顿州的 24 岁女性，多年来一直在寻找一段感情。她已经注册了多个交友软件——OkCupid、Coffee Meets Bagel、Hinge、Tinder 和 Bumble。她还加入了排球队，在那里她有机会在轻松随意的环境里遇见志趣相投的人。她甚至让《华盛顿邮报》帮她牵线搭桥。
Spivey has a lot of company in her frustration, and in her singledom. Just over half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34—51 percent of them—said they do not have a steady romantic partner, according to data from the General Social Survey released this week.
还有很多人像斯皮维一样处在这种沮丧和孤独的状态当中。根据本周发布的“综合社会调查”数据，在 18 至 34 岁的美国人中，有略微超过一半的人（51%）表示他们没有稳定的伴侣。
There are several other trends that go along with the increase in young single Americans. Women are having fewer children, and they’re having them later in life. The medianage of first marriage is increasing. And according to a 2017 report from the Pew Research Center, among those who have never married but are open to it, most say a major reason is because they haven’t found the right person.
随着单身的美国年轻人越来越多，一些别的趋势开始出现了。女性生育的孩子越来越少，生育年龄也越来越迟。初婚年龄的中位数正在上升。根据皮尤研究中心 2017 年的一份报告，在那些从未结过婚但对婚姻持开放态度的人中，大多数人认为没有伴侣的一个主要原因是还没有找到对的人。
Laura Lane, co-host of the podcast"This Is Why You’re Single" and co-author of a book by the same name, says a lot of people who write in to her podcast looking for love advice are unhappy with their lives—and they think another person will fix that. “You really have to find that yourself,” she says, adding that nothing really clicked, romantically, for her or for her co-host Angela Spera “until we had something personally exciting that we were doing. I think it was an energetic thing where we attracted people into our lives.”
劳拉·莱恩是播客《这就是你单身的原因》的联合主持人，也是一本同名书的合著者，她说很多给她写信寻求情感建议的人对自己的生活都不太满意——他们认为找到伴侣会解决这个问题。莱恩表示，“你真的需要自己去发现（解决问题的方法），”还补充道，对于自己和搭档主持人安吉拉·斯佩拉而言，两人一直没能拥有稳定的感情，“直到我们有了为之兴奋的事业。我认为这样可以让人充满活力，我们也正因此吸引别人走进我们的生活。”
重点词汇
bagel
/ˈbeɪɡl/
n. 贝果，百吉饼，面包圈
tinder
/ˈtɪndər/
n. 火种
bumble
/ˈbʌmbl/
v. 踉跄；结巴地讲话
e.g.
英文释义：to speak or move in a confused way
casual
/ˈkæʒuəl/
adj. 轻松的
e.g.
搭配短语：casual conversation
搭配短语：casual customers
set sb. up
安排；给…介绍对象
e.g.
例句：His father set him up in the family business.
例句：She tried to set him up with one of her besties.
例句：The suspect claimed that he had been set up.（陷害）
company
/ˈkʌmpəni/
n. 陪伴，同伴
e.g.
英文释义：the fact of being with a person or people, or the person or people you are with
例句：A man is known by the company that he keeps.
singledom
/ˈsɪŋɡldəm/
n. 单身状态
e.g.
英文释义：the state of being unmarried or not involved in a long-term relationship
相关词汇：single (adj.)
相关词汇：boredom
go along with
伴随
e.g.
英文释义：to support an idea, or to agree with someone’s opinion
例句：I go along with his views on dieting.
median
/ˈmiːdiən/
adj. 中间值的，中位数的
podcast
/ˈpɑːdkæst/
n. 播客
e.g.
相关词汇：pod；broadcast（n. 广播）；iPod
click
/klɪk/
v. 两情相悦
e.g.
英文释义：become successful or popular
固定搭配：sth. clicks
例句：Everything clicked for them.
搭配短语：to click with sb.
英文释义：fall in love with sb.
例句：He didn’t really click with the girl.
补充词汇知识
a romantic partner
partner
significant other
伴侣
spouse
婚后的配偶
dating
约会
hinge
门窗或者机械装置里的铰链
on a team
on the team
在某个队伍里，是某个团队中的一员
just
刚刚，略微
General Social Survey
GSS
综合社会调查
National Center for Health Statistics
美国国家健康统计中心
Pew Research Center
皮尤研究中心
open to
持开放态度
I’m open to any suggestions.
co-
联合，共同
co-host
co-author
write in
读者给报社、电台这样的媒体写信
fix
处理，解决问题
长难句解析
Laura Lane, co-host of the podcast “This Is Why You’re Single” and co-author of a book by the same name, says a lot of people who write in to her podcast looking for love advice are unhappy with their lives—and they think another person will fix that.
劳拉·莱恩是播客“这就是你单身的原因”的联合主持人，也是同名书籍的合著者，她说很多给她写信寻求爱情建议的人对自己的生活都不太满意——他们认为找个伴侣会解决这个问题。
句子一开头提到了劳拉·莱恩，她的两个职位是, co-host of the podcast “This Is Why You’re Single” and co-author of a book by the same name，用连词 and 连接，她首先是 co-host of the podcast “This Is Why You’re Single” ，“播客‘这就是你单身的原因’的联合主持人”，她的第二个职业，是 co-author of a book by the same name，也就是“这就是你单身的原因”同名书籍的合著者。她说， a lot of people who write in to her podcast looking for love advice are unhappy with their lives—and they think another person will fix that. 固定搭配 write in，指的是“给报社、电台等媒体组织写信提意见或者问问题”， a lot of people who write in to her podcast looking for love advice 就是“很多给她写信寻求爱情建议的人”，他们 are unhappy with their lives，“对自己的生活并不满意”，and they think another person will fix that. 他们寄希望于另一半的出现，能让他们的生活变得更好。
写作技巧
矛盾修辞法（oxymoron）
矛盾修辞法指的是把两个看似矛盾和对立的词组放在一起，起到一种耐人寻味的修辞效果。举个例子，行尸走肉这个词，尸体按理说是没有意识，也不会行动的，但是这个词强迫我们去想象一种“活着还不如死去”的状态，对应到英文当中，我们就可以说 the living dead, 或者 a walking corpse，一具行走的尸体。
学习资源
推荐的查音标网站：https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com（牛津学习者词典）
拓展阅读
约会应用
近年来，手机约会应用发展迅猛，大有取代传统婚介公司和红娘网站的势头。下面，我们就来了解一下国外的几款知名约会应用。
Coffee Meets Bagel
Coffee Meets Bagel 由 3 位美籍韩裔姐妹共同创立，旨在为女性提供一个高品质的线上交友环境，目前为止已经在全球范围内促成了超过 5 万对情侣。该软件每天中午都会给使用者提供一次精心的配对。使用者可以查看匹配对象的照片、兴趣爱好等一些个人信息，然后再决定是否要喜欢他们。如果使用者对系统的配对不满意，可以选择继续等待，直到心仪对象的出现。Coffee Meets Bagel 软件用户基数庞大，能够为使用者提供多种配对选择。
OkCupid
OkCupid 在创建之初，就拥有科学的个性匹配系统，该系统是由哈佛数学家建模，并对外宣称永不收费。这些优势让 OkCupid 在众多约会应用中脱颖而出，吸引了许多高素质用户的青睐。
Tinder
Tinder 是国外最热门的交友软件之一。用户在使用 Tinder 时，会收到这款手机应用推送的附近用户头像。使用者可以用手指在头像上划动，左划表示不喜欢，右划表示喜欢。如果双方都右划了对方的头像，两人就会被系统自动配对，成为好友。
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