【按】本文选自11月25日《经济学人》的Leaders版块，分析了近些年全世界婚姻状况的变化。此处为文章前三段的精读解析。

精读说明：

• 每段文字前标有段号，紧接单词解释，建议多看英文释义（这样才能理解得更全面、准确同时能锻炼阅读能力）
• 接下来是此段的中文翻译，你可以对照看看是否有理解错误的地方
• 之后是对本段内容及段落结构的解析，附带一些小评论
• 最后可能有本段出现的语法点或写作知识的拓展
  在阅读过程中有任何问题欢迎留言讨论~

婚姻特权

A more perfect union

Marriage is more rewarding —but also more upmarket. That is a problem

Governments cannot do much about it, but allowing a halfway option might help

解析：标题中rewarding意为“有益的”；upmarket指“为高级人群或有钱人服务的”，反义词为downmarket
halfway做形容词指“中途的、中间的”；

Nov 23rd 2017

1. MARRIAGE idealises permanence, and yet it is changing more rapidly than at any time in its history. Almost everywhere it is becoming freer, more equal and more satisfying. As our special report this week explains, wedlock has become so good that it is causing trouble.

idealise=idealize: · to consider or represent sb / sth as being perfect or better than they really are 将…视为理想；将…理想化
permanence: the state of lasting for a long time or for all time in the future 永久；持久性

1. 婚姻将永恒理想化, 然而它正在经历的改变比历史上任何时期都快。几乎在任何地方, 它都变得更自由、更平等、更令人满意。正如我们本周的特别报道所解释的那样, 婚姻已经变得如此好以至于它正在引起麻烦。

解析：本段指出在全世界范围内婚姻都在经历着前所未有的改变，最后又指出这种情况会导致问题，吸引读者继续读下去。
it is changing more rapidly than at any time in its history可以理解为：it is changing more rapidly (now) than it was changing at any time in its history. 这句中的“changing rapidly”和第一句中“permanence”形成一种对比，是一种很好的引入方式。
wedlock是marriage的同义词，可以替换；

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2. The most benign changes are taking place in poor and middle-income countries (where most people live). Child marriage, once rife, is ebbing. So is cousin marriage, with its attendant risk of genetic defects, though it is still fairly common in the Middle East and parts of Asia. Relations between husbands and wives have become more equal (though not equal enough). As women earn more and the stigma of divorce fades, more men are finding that they cannot treat their wives as servants (or, worse, punchbags), because women can credibly threaten to walk away.

rife: if sth bad or unpleasant is rife in a place, it is very common there (坏事)盛行，普遍 = widespread ：
ebb: to become gradually weaker or less 衰弱；衰退；减退 = decrease
attendant: closely connected with sth that has just been mentioned 伴随的；随之而来的：
e.g. attendant problems / risks / circumstances 随之而来的问题 / 风险 / 情况
stigma: feelings of disapproval that people have about particular illnesses or ways of behaving 耻辱；羞耻
credibly: easy to believe on the basis of available evidence = believably, plausibly, probably

2. 最良性的变化发生在贫穷和中等收入国家 (这些国家居住着世界上大部分的人)。曾经盛行的童婚正在消失。近亲结婚也是如此，与之相伴的遗传缺陷的风险也在降低, 尽管在中东和亚洲的部分地区（近亲结婚）仍然相当普遍。丈夫和妻子之间的关系变得更加平等 (虽然不够平等)。随着妇女收入的增加和离婚的耻辱逐渐消退, 越来越多的男人发现, 她们不能把妻子当作佣人 (或者更糟的是当成沙袋), 因为女人很可能威胁着要一走了之。

解析：本段介绍贫穷国家及中等收入国家中婚姻发生的可喜变化，包括童婚、近亲结婚及夫妻之间的平等关系（妇女赚得更多且不再以离婚为耻）；
rife 和ebb在这里可以看做一对反义词。rife一般指不好的事物盛行，比如腐败、谣言；ebb可以指“退潮”，反义词“涨潮”是flow，连起来“the ebb and flow of ...”就指的是“（某事）反复的涨落、盛衰、起伏”。比如：the ebb and flow of the seasons 四时更迭；the ebb and flow of human history 人类历史的兴衰；

语法小课堂：so之后主谓颠倒的用法
副词 so 作“如此地”、“这样地”、“那样地”讲，有时代替上文中有关形容词、名词和动词，译成“也”或“确实”。比较下面两句：
a. We say she studies very hard, and so she does. 我们说她学习非常用功，而她确实如此。
b. We say she works well, and so does her brother. 我们说她工作好，而她的兄弟工作也好。
当后一句子主语与前一句相同，并且句意是表明上述内容属实，则后句中主语和谓语不必颠倒。如果前后两句主语不同，但情况相同，则后句中用 so 后的主语和谓语要颠倒一下。b 句即是如此。再比如：
a. Sidney is a student, and so he is. 锡德尼是个学生，而他确实是个学生。
b. You are a net fan and so is she. 你是网迷，而她也是网迷。

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3. In some regions change has been astoundingly quick. In India the share of women marrying by the age of 18 has dropped from 47% to 27% in a single decade. “Love marriages” remain disreputable in India, and arranged marriages the norm. But, as in many traditional societies, young people have more say. Some can veto the mates their families suggest; others choose their own, subject to a parental veto. Across the world, popular culture is raising expectations of what a good marriage is like, and dating websites are giving singletons vastly more options.

say: the right to influence sth by giving your opinion before a decision is made 决定权；发言权：
e.g. We had no say in the decision to sell the company. 在决定出售公司的问题上，我们没有发言权。
veto: to refuse to accept or do what sb has suggested 拒不接受；反对；否定 = rule out
veto: an occasion when sb refuses to allow sth to be done 拒绝认可；禁止 = ban
singletons: a person who is not married or in a romantic relationship单身男子(或女子)

3. 在某些地区, 变化的迅速令人震惊。在印度, 在18岁前结婚的妇女比例在仅仅十年内就已经从47%降至27%。"爱情婚姻" 在印度仍然是不光彩的, 而包办婚姻是常态。但是, 和许多传统社会一样, 年轻人有更多的发言权。有些人可以否决他们的家人所建议的伴侣；其他人可以自己选择, 但取决于父母是否反对。在世界各地, 大众文化正在提高人们对好的婚姻的期望, 而交友网站给单身人士提供了更多的选择。

解析：本段是在证明第一段中提出的论点：改变的速度前所未有的快。举了印度作为例子（18岁前结婚的女性还有27%也是挺吓人的，不知道中国这个数字是多少……），并且指出两个原因：流行文化和约会网站。
others choose their own, subject to a parental veto.这句相当于others choose their own, which is subject to a parental veto. is subject to意思是 depending on sth in order to be completed or agreed 取决，视…而定；

语法小课堂：and后的省略
“Love marriages” remain disreputable in India, and arranged marriages the norm. 这句当中and后的句子没有动词，属于句子成分的省略，其他例子如：
The best conductor has the least resistance, and the poorest (conductor has) the greatest (resistance). 最好的导体电阻最小，而最差的导体电阻最大。
All bodies consist of molecules and these (molecules consist) of atoms. 一切物体都由分子组成，而分子由原子组成。

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原文出处：经济学人

翻译：七呵夫

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