翻译分段式

法国散文家孟田说，

与治理一个王国相比较，

治理一个家庭所遇到的麻烦几乎一点儿都

不少。

Montaigne, a French essayist, says, here is little less trouble in governing a private family

than a whole Kingdom.

在美国，家庭与婚姻变成了一个越来越复杂的问题。

Family and marriage has become an

increasingly complicated issue in America.

一方面，有些人认为幸福家庭的理想是健康社会的基础。

On one hand, some people hold

an ideal of the happy family as the foundation for a healthy society.

在一般人的想象中，

家庭依然是维持是情感 和道德的一个本源。

Family is still a source of

emotional and moral sustenance in collective imagination.

他们描绘了一幅美丽的图画：

宁静而又自然的快乐，

因为他们相信有条不紊的生活给他

They paint such a rosy picture: peaceful and natural joys, for their belief that the

regularity of life brings them happiness.

另一方面，

由家庭主妇的妻子、

挣钱的丈夫和两个或两个以上孩子所组成的理想家庭已

经变得像中世纪那么古老。

On the other hand, the idealized family composed of a homemaker

wife, a breadwinner husband, and two or more children has become medievally old-fashioned.

人们看到了严酷的现实：人们结婚，随着激情的消退，婚姻不再能给予情感上的满足，< /p>

他们就与自己的配偶离婚。

And people see the harsh reality that people marry and then divorce

their spouses when passion ebbs and the marriage no longer provides emotional satisfaction.

婚姻和家庭生活已经感到了社会巨大变化的影响，

比如平等、

个性主义、

物质主义的思

想，技术的进步，高等教育的普及，甚至性自由，健康状况的改善和寿命的延长。

Marriage

and family life has felt the reverberations of all the great changes of society, such as the ideologies

of

equality,

individualism

and

materialism,

technological

advancement

and

popularization

of

higher education, and even sexual freedom and improvement in health and longevity.

今天，

相当一部分女性追求

，

迟迟不结婚，

一直等到合适的对象出现。

Today,

quite a number of women as individuals seek a

“

soul mate

”

and postpone marriage until that right

partner comes along. < /p>

越来越多的男性和女性推迟结婚的年龄，更多的是离家去大学求学，找一个对象同居，

开创事业，

而后再承担起有一个家庭的责任。

An increasing number of men and women remain

single

longer,

and

are

more

likely

to

leave

home

to

pursue

a

college

education,

to

live

with

a

partner and to launch a career before taking on the responsibility of a family of their own.

本文的男主人公也面临着婚姻危机的困境：

他想反抗 妻子的控制，

打破婚姻枷锁的束缚，

但缺乏实现自己愿望的勇气 。

The

hero

of

the

text

is

also

confronted

with

the dilemma

of

the

marriage crisis: his wish to rebel against the dominance of his wife and break off the bondage of

marriage and his lack of courage to turn his wish into reality.

我们可以认为，他的困境 反映了美国许多中年人所面临的婚姻危机。

His dilemma might

be deemed as a reflection of the marriage crisis many middle-aged people have in America.