https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1006971/forget-leftover-women.-lets-talk-about-the-women-being-left-out.

文中標記詞匯釋義均來自權(quán)威詞典。

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With media outlets and policymakers focused on unmarried, highly educated women, the challenges faced by those who marry early often go overlooked.

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Not everyone agrees. There is still a stigma attached to being a single, highly educated woman in China, 14 years after the Ministry of Education first formally adopted the popular buzzword “l(fā)eftover women” to refer to our supposed plight. Just last month, for example, an expert?suggested?governments in rural areas sign local unmarried men up for skills trainings and then “export” them to cities where they could pair up with leftover women.

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Stigma: 在社會上被認為不好、丟臉的事，惡名

feelings of disapproval that people have about particular illnesses or ways of behaving.

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Buzzword: 熱詞、流行語

?a word or expression from a particular subject area, that has become fashionable by being used a lot, especially on television and in the newspapers.

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3.

My own mother, when I first told her that I wanted to pursue a doctorate, responded angrily: “You would be better off just marrying someone than applying for a useless Ph.D. in sociology.” Enticed?by the prospect of my one day becoming a university professor, she ultimately did not stand in my way, but over the years, my relatives, my parents’ friends, and even their colleagues have all constantly nagged us, urging me to find a husband, or at least get a boyfriend.

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Entice: （哄騙）

[with obj.] attract or tempt by offering pleasure or advantage

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Nag: (嘮叨)

To annoy by constant scolding, complaining, or urging.

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4.

According to data from the 2010 census, college-educated women（大學畢業(yè)的女性，這個表達很高效） aged 25 to 29 were roughly three times more likely to be unmarried than（經(jīng)典倍數(shù)表達法） similarly aged women with less than a high school education. The term “l(fā)eftover women” reflects society’s anxieties over this demographic phenomenon, exacerbated by the patriarchal norm that men should “marry down” — that is, marry women younger and less educated than themselves. According to this logic, female Ph.D. graduates could be seen as too qualified to get married. The shame and anxiety of this label has been reinforced（exacerbate的替換） by stereotypical depictions of leftover women in film and television, where women with higher education levels are portrayed（depiction的替換） as undesirable and a woman’s value is defined by her ability to play the dual roles of wife and mother.

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Demographic

?? Demography：the statistical study of human populations especially with reference to size and density, distribution, and vital statistics

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Exacerbate：（讓原有的壞情況更糟，加重疾病等）

?to make something which is already bad worse.

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Patriarchal:(男權(quán)社會下的)

Patriarchy: a society in which the oldest male is the leader of the family, or a society controlled by men in which men use their power to their own advantage.

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5.

Their education doesn’t restrict their options. If anything, it gives these women a bigger say in their marital choices. Conversely, the very real marital challenges faced by less-educated women are often left out of mainstream discourse. Just because they’re married, however, doesn’t mean their problems are over.

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If anything:

?used for saying how someone or something is different when you are not sure whether there really is any change or difference
??????The situation is, if anything, worsening rather than improving.
??????If anything, he looks younger and fitter than he did before.
??????Thesaurus:?ways of saying you are not sure

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used to make a statement that strongly disagrees or contrasts with a preceding statement
???We don't see each other too often–if anything?we don't see each other often enough!
???The economy has not improved. It has gotten worse,?if anything.

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If anything, research has?shown?that higher education indicates more favorable marriage prospects in China, as education?increasingly stratifies?the country’s marriage market. Highly educated individuals, both men and women, now have stringent preferences for their partners’ education levels. There are even dating platforms that only accept graduates from top universities. Women actively navigate these apps’ highly educated dating pools and strategically choose their partners according to their own criteria, screening partners for shared cultural values, worldviews, and financial situations.(三觀的說法) And in contrast to the belief that men prefer to marry down, many highly educated men are also looking for highly educated partners — although their logic is sometimes quite retrograde, presuming a link between high education levels and being good “mom material.”

In my case, my education has certainly been a privilege. As a Ph.D. student overseas, my parents know little about my field and are in no position to exert control over my career choices. （張璐答記者問的翻譯： 我們隨時準備出臺新政策 → we are in a strong position to launch new policies）They may have ideas about my love life, but they(這個they 指代ideas) remain suggestions.

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Stratify:

To arrange or separate into castes, classes, or social levels.

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Retrograde:

returning to older and worse conditions, methods, ideas, etc:

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Yet a conversation with my mother reminded me of a group of women who have almost disappeared from the public discussion(out of mainstream discourse的替換) about marriage. My mother is a regular at a beauty salon（美容院）, where she became acquainted with several young beauticians.

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While the media, the public, and even academics seem preoccupied with（關(guān)注的另類說法，不一定要用focus on） highly educated women and their supposed marital quandaries（前文plight的替換）, the challenges faced by these less-educated women often go ignored（從公眾視野中消失的第三種表達法）.

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9.

This focus on “l(fā)eftovers” treats marriage as a market, one whose problems stem from（originate in / be caused by） a mismatch of supply and demand(供給失衡). The problems that crop up（appear or occur unexpectedly.） after marriage, meanwhile, are neglected. Marriage is not a panacea（a remedy for all ills or difficulties：cure-all 靈丹妙藥）, yet few are asking questions about what life is like for the marriage market’s supposed “winners.”

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10．

Premarital pregnancy?is a frequent contributor to such matches, as many young Chinese?lack?awareness of and knowledge about contraception.