“三孩政策”来了，网友却说“民不聊生”。各大外刊都有报道这个，我看了纽约时报、经济学人和金融时报，做了一个大概的梳理，今天在公众号高斋外刊双语精读上分享大家看看。

我们首先看看官方宣布，纽约时报上的报道：

China said on Monday that it would allow all married couples to have three children, ending a two-child policy that has failed to raise the country’s declining birthrates and avert a demographic crisis. 中国周一表示，将允许所有夫妇生育三个孩子，这个决定结束了此前未能提高该国不断下降的出生率、避免人口危机的“二孩”政策。

1. 句子结构分析：ending a two-child policy...是it would allow all married couples to have three children的结果状语，that has failed to raise the country’s declining birthrates and avert a demographic crisis是policy的定语从句，raise the country’s declining birthrates和avert a demographic crisis并列，都是failed to后面的成分。

2. have children：have children和birthrates我在《人口普查：为什么越来越多的人不愿意生孩子？| 经济学人精读》文章中详细讲过了，大家可以去看看。

have children表示生孩子，“生三胎”可以说have a third child或give birth to a third child，注意是a表示又、再，不是the。比如经济学人上这句：FOR A GENERATION, China’s government had persuaded its married couples that “one child is enough”. Then, in 2016, it allowed parents to give birth to a second. Now they may at last have a third. 一代人以来，中国政府一直说服已婚夫妇“一个孩子就够了”。然后在2016年，它允许夫妻生二个孩子。现在他们终于可以生第三个孩子了。

3. 同义表达：end也可以说overturn，abandon，abolish，scrap，如CNN上这句：In October 2015, China decided to overturn its decades-old one-child policy and allow couples across the country to have two children.

还比如卫报这句：China has scrapped its one-child policy, allowing all couples to have two children for the first time.

4. Avert：表示避免，避开，防止。比如CATTI三级笔译真题里面也使用过这个单词，这个我在2015年开的翻译课程里面就讲过：

Fifty-five percent of the Netherlands is either below sea level or heavily flood-prone. Yet thanks to its renowned expertise and large water management budget (about1.25 percent of gross domestic product), the Netherlands has averted catastrophe since a flooding disaster in 1953.

荷兰55%的土地要么低于海平面，要么存在严重的水患。然而，凭借久负盛名的水利专业技术及巨额水利专项拨款（约占国内生产总值的1.25%），荷兰自1953年洪灾后再也没有发生过严重的水灾。

为什么要实行“三孩政策”呢？

首先，担心经济增长下滑，我们看看经济学人原文：

At 1.3 children per woman, China’s total fertility rate is already among the world’s lowest. It is also well below the 2.1 necessary to keep a population from falling over time. Officials have made clear their fears that economic growth will fall with it. 按每个女性平均生育1.3个孩子来算，中国总生育率已经属世界最低，远低于保持人口稳定所需的2.1。官员们已经明确表示，他们担心经济增长也会随之下滑。

1. over time表示随着时间的推移。

2. 固定表达：At 1.3 children per woman，China’s total fertility rate和keep a population from falling over time都在“高斋外刊双语精读”上详细讲过，就在这篇《人口普查：为什么越来越多的人不愿意生孩子？| 经济学人精读》里面，我们一起回顾下：China’s fertility rate of 1.3 children per woman is about the same as Japan’s, and well below the 2.1 needed to keep population stable. 中国总生育率为1.3（每个女性平均生育1.3个孩子），与日本大致相同，远低于保持人口稳定所需的2.1。

其中keep … stable表示“保持……稳定”，还可以直接用一个动词sustain，如纽约时报上这句：Though their fertility rates are below the 2.1 needed to sustain a population, high immigration means their populations have still grown. 尽管这些国家的生育率低于维持人口规模所需的2.1，但大量移民涌入使它们的人口仍在增长。

needed to keep population stable也可以说required to keep populations stable，如经济学人报道各国生育数目减少的这句：In more and more countries, women started having fewer children than the number required to keep populations stable. 在越来越多的国家里，生育率下降，已无法保持人口稳定。

今天这句中我们看到使用的是necessary to keep a population from falling over time，其中keep a population from falling over time中keep和keep...stable中的keep 不是一个意思，这里是keep sth from doing sth，是固定表达，表示防止/阻止……干某事，keep相当于prevent。keep a population from falling over time的字面意思是防止人口随着时间的推移减少。

3. 固定表达：have made clear their fears that economic growth will fall with it：sb make clear sth表示某人明确表明……比如经济学人在报道德国总理默克尔的观点时有这样一句：Germany's Angela Merkel made clear two years ago that, if Russia wanted better relations with the EU, it had to mend fences with Poland. 德国总理安哥拉·默克尔两年前就清楚的说过，如果俄罗斯想与欧盟有进一步的合作，那就必须改善同波兰之间的关系。

这个例句中是make clear that，而今天这句中sth是their fears，而that economic growth will fall with it是对fears解释说明。

其次，积极应对人口老龄化问题、保持我国人力资源禀赋优势，我们看看经济学人原文：

a further relaxation of birth-control regulations would help China to fulfil its goal of “actively coping with an ageing population”. 进一步放宽计划生育法规将有助于中国实现“积极应对人口老龄化”的目标。

1. 同义表达：a further relaxation of birth-control regulations：也可以说relaxing its birth policy.

2. 同义表达：actively cope with an ageing population：cope with也可以说address，a也可以是the，加the就是特指了。如金融时报上这句：the new “three-child policy” was intended to “actively address the ageing population, and maintain China’s natural advantage in human resources”.“三孩政策”旨在“积极应对人口老龄化问题、保持我国人力资源禀赋优势”。

我们知道我国劳动力正在减少，人口不断老龄化，这些都会给中国未来造成严重影响，我们看看纽约时报上是怎么说的：

its limits on reproduction, the world’s toughest, have jeopardized the country’s future. The labor pool is shrinking and the population is graying, threatening the industrial strategy that China has used for decades to emerge from poverty to become an economic powerhouse. 限制生育的做法已给中国的未来造成了严重影响。劳动力正在减少，人口不断老龄化，威胁着中国几十年来用于摆脱贫困、成为经济强国的产业政策。

其中jeopardize [ˈdʒepərdaɪz] 表危害、损害。如纽约时报上这个jeopardize our ability to obtain critical resources；Graying也可以说aging，threatening是主干的结果状语。

that China has used for decades to emerge from poverty to become an economic powerhouse是strategy的定语从句，可以还原为China has used the industrial strategy for decades to emerge from poverty to become an economic powerhouse.

其中to emerge from poverty to become an economic powerhouse表示use the industrial strategy的目的，emerge from poverty to become...表脱贫、成为……。emerge from poverty相当于shake off poverty，表示脱贫。

三孩政策刷屏，那大家的反应是怎样的呢？

我们一起看看大家的反应以及原因。首先经济学人有句说大家反应冷淡，它是这么说的：But reactions to the announcement on social media hardly brimmed with enthusiasm. 但社交媒体上对这一消息反应冷淡。

1. 从这句我们可以学到这个表达reactions hardly brimmed with enthusiasm，其中brim with表充满，hardly brim with表几乎没有，reactions hardly brimmed with enthusiasm字面意思是大家的反应几乎没有热情，也就是我们常说的“反应冷淡”。

2. brim：[brɪm]表示洋溢着、充满，可以表示长满，同义词是are covered/carpeted by，如柯林斯词典例句：The flowerbeds brim with a mixture of lilies and roses. 花坛里长满了百合和玫瑰。

还可以表示充满，同义词是be filled with，如牛津词典例句：Her eyes brimmed with tears. 她热泪盈眶。这个词还可以作及物动词，sb brim sth with sth表用……装满……，给什么装满……，相当于fill sth with sth，如词典中这句：I've fully brimmed a glass with wine for him. 我为他满满当当斟了一杯酒。

好，我们继续看大家的反应，纽约时报上用了这么一句：

“No matter how many babies they open it up to, I’m not going to have any because children are too troublesome and expensive,” said Li Shan, a 26-year-old product manager at an internet company in Beijing. “I’m impatient and worried that I won’t be able to educate the child well.” 北京一家互联网公司26岁的产品经理李珊（音译）说：“不管开放几胎，我都不想生，孩子太麻烦了，费钱。我现在都没耐心，怕教育不好孩子。”

1. 李珊（音译）：如果不确定是哪几个汉字的话可以加上音译。

2. 固定表达：open it up to中it是the birth policy的意思，open it up to的字面意思是开放生育政策到……，to是介词，后面跟名词，这个表达在这几篇外刊中比较高频，如纽约时报中这句：

“But merely opening up the policy to three children and not encouraging births as a whole, I don’t think there will be a significant increase in the fertility rate. Many people don’t want to have a second child, let alone a third child.”生活在南方城市湛江的独立人口学家何亚福说道：“仅仅放开三胎，而不鼓励生育，我认为生育率不会明显提高，很多人连二胎都不想生，何况三胎呢。”

还有网友说光养活自己已经够累了，更别提养娃了，我们看经济学人原文吧：

“Do they not yet know that most young people are exhausted just supporting themselves?" commented one netizen on Weibo, a Twitter-like site. “他们还不知道大多数年轻人光是养活自己都已经精疲力尽了吗？”一位网民在微博上评论道。 

1. Do they not yet know相当于Don’t they know。

2. 同义表达：are exhausted just supporting themselves也可以说are tired enough just trying to feed themselves，其中exhausted就相当于tired enough，support sb相当于feed sb。如纽约时报上这句平行文本：

“Don’t they know that most young people are already tired enough just trying to feed themselves?” wrote one user.  “他们知不知道大部分年轻人光养活自己就已经够累了吗？”一名用户写道。

于是，民不聊生”有了新的解释，一起看看这句经济学人：Netizens devised a new interpretation of a common idiom, minbuliaosheng, which means “the people have no means of livelihood”. They repurposed it to mean “not even speak of giving birth”.网民们对成语“民不聊生”进行了新的解释，“民不聊生”原指“老百姓没有赖以生存的东西”，现在被他们改成了“甚至都不愿意聊生孩子”的意思。

为什么越来越多的人不愿意生孩子？

Many parents had grown used to decades of one-child rhetoric. They often feel—in cities as well as in villages—that a family’s resources are best devoted to one child, to ensure she has opportunities that her parents did not. As more women pursue careers, many are delaying marriage and having babies. The high cost of housing and education, as well as the crushingly long work hours common in many companies, deter young couples from having any more than one child, or reproducing at all.

许多父母已经习惯了几十年来的独生子女政策。无论是在城市还是农村，他们都觉得家庭的资源最好都给一个孩子，以确保她拥有父母以前没有的机会。随着越来越多的女性追求事业，许多人推迟了结婚和生育。住房和教育成本高昂，许多公司普遍存在超长的工作时间，这些打消了年轻夫妻生一个以上孩子或者生孩子的想法。

1. delaying marriage and having babies：delay sth或delay doing sth，所以是marriage和having babies并列。

2. as well as：这里也可以用combined with，在《错了！CATTI三笔真题中因果句型如何翻译？》中，我讲过这个的用法：其实Sth, combined with sth else, do sth句型很常见，如经济学人说到打击非法群租公寓的影响时候就用到了这个：Rising rents, combined with a crackdown on the illegal subdivision of flats, have driven most provincial graduates away. 房租上涨，加上对非法群租公寓的打击，已迫使大多数来自地方省份的毕业生离开。

3. 同义表达：the crushingly long work hours common in many companies：crushingly表示让人受不了地，the crushingly long work hours相当于the punishingly long hours，punishingly也可以说notoriously；

common in many companies是后置定语，the crushingly long work hours common in many companies整体也可以说the pervasive culture of long work hours。关于工作强度，我们在《经济学人精读：996工作，还是“努力工作，尽情玩乐”？| 外刊双语》这篇文章中讲过。

4. 同义表达：deter young couples from是deter sb from doing sth，这里表示打消某人……的念头，和我在之前这篇《人口普查：为什么越来越多的人不愿意生孩子？| 经济学人精读》分享过的这个Instead, soaring housing and educational costs are dissuading couples from having more children中dissuade sb from doing sth是一个意思。

5. 英语写作句型：如果在写作中提到不想生孩子的原因，大家可以借鉴下面这些：

For Chinese couples, many cannot afford to have children as living costs/the cost of living increase and their jobs demand more time and energy. 对中国夫妇来说，生活成本增加，而且需要把更多的时间和精力放在工作上，很多人承担不起生孩子的负担。（纽约时报）

Instead, soaring housing and educational costs are dissuading couples from having more children, while many young people are choosing not to get married in the first place. 然而，由于房价和教育成本飙升，一些夫妻不得不放弃生更多孩子的想法，而许多年轻人一开始就选择不结婚。（经济学人）

They often feel—in cities as well as in villages—that a family’s resources are best devoted to one child, to ensure she has opportunities that her parents did not. As more women pursue careers, many are delaying marriage and having babies. The high cost of housing and education, as well as the crushingly long work hours common in many companies, deter young couples from having any more than one child, or reproducing at all. （经济学人）

当然，为了鼓励生育，应该会出台一些政策措施。

我们看看经济学人这句：babymaking will be encouraged, such as by providing subsidies, better child-care facilities, expanding maternity benefits and lowering the cost of education. It promised to “protect the rights of women in employment”. 将通过提供补贴、改善儿童保育条件、增加孕产妇福利和降低教育成本等方式鼓励生育。政府承诺“会保护妇女的就业权利”。

1. Babymaking：也可以说giving birth。

2. Promise：也可以说pledge。

3. protect the rights of women in employment：纽约时报平行文本protect the legitimate rights and interests of women in employment.

今天就分享这么多！希望大家喜欢，多点赞多分享！