本文音频及原文摘自杂志The Economist《经济学人》2016年第9期，China版块。

Single parents

Single mothers have a tough time in China. So do their children

Feb 27th 2016 | BEIJING

AFTER more than three decades of often brutal[残忍的;野蛮的,不讲理的] interference by the government in citizens’ reproductive choices, it seemed something of[1] a breakthrough when, in October, it decided to allow all couples to have two children. Previously, many had been limited to just one. Last month there was a further concession: children born in violation of[2] the erstwhile rules would be given the registration document[3] that is needed for everything from getting a place at school to opening a bank account. For children born out of wedlock[4], however, the nightmare of bureaucratic[官僚的;政府的;武断的,专横的] non-recognition[不承认] persists. Attitudes to sex have been changing fast in China, but not the taboo[tə'buː][禁忌;禁止] surrounding extramarital births[5].

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[1]有几分;或多或少有点儿;在某种意义上

[2]违反(违背)

[3]登记文件注册文件

[4]out of wedlock婚外 wedlock (n)婚姻;已婚状况

[5]婚外生育

▷pariah [pə'raɪə]

a  who is not  by a  , because he or she is not ,  or 

为社会所抛弃者；受蔑视的人；不被信任者

▷concession [kən'seʃ(ə)n]

a   to  or (财产、土地等的)特许权；许可使用权

the  to  a  in a  特许经营权；特许销售权

something which is  or given up, often in to end a , or the  of  or giving this(常指为结束争端而作出的)认可，让与，让步，妥协Both   in the  made some concessions in yesterday's . 在昨天的谈判中，冲突双方都作了些让步。

▷erstwhile ['ɜːstwaɪl]

; 以前的，先前的；过去的

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The government imposes stringent penalties on the very few unmarried women brave enough to have children. Giving birth requires permission from family-planning authorities[1]. They will not give it without proof of marriage[2]. Violators usually have to pay the equivalent of several years’ working-class income[3].

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[1]计划生育部门

[2]婚姻证明

[3](违法者需要)支付等同于工薪阶层好几年的收入的罚款

▷stringent ['strɪn(d)ʒ(ə)nt]

having a very  , or being  严重的；严格的，苛刻的The most stringent  in the  are   there is the will to  them.除非能够坚持严格执法，否则即使是世界上最严苛的法律也毫无用处。

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Then there is the problem of registering the child. Until last month it was impossible for many of those born in violation of family-planning rules[1] to get identity papers[2]. Now it is easier, as long as both parents can prove they are related to the child. But a mother who does not know who the baby’s father is, or who cannot convince the father to submit to a DNA test, is out of luck[3]. The child cannot be registered. Hence it cannot obtain other vital documents such as an identity card[4] (essential, not least[5], for travel on long-distance transport).

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[1]计划生育政策

[2]生育证明

[3]be in/out of luck

to be / to have or do what you 

能够／未能如愿，运气好／差"Do you have any  ?" "You're in luck - there's one ."“你们这里有金枪鱼三明治吗？”“你的运气不错——还有一个。”

[4]身份证

[5]尤其;相当重要地

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To avoid such horrors, some unmarried women leave China in order to have their children. Their babies would then have foreign proof of birth, and a chance of growing up normally abroad.

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Xiao Min, a successful 36-year-old businesswoman who lives in Shanghai, decided to stay put[1]. Her relatives acquiesced to her decision two years ago to have a child even though she had not found a husband. “I’m lucky to have so much support and a career that allows me to hire a full-time nanny[2],” says Ms Xiao. “I do not want to hurry to find someone to marry just so I can have children.”

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[1]呆在原地;留在原来的位置;保持不变

[2]全职保姆

▷acquiesce [,ækwɪ'es]

to  or  to something, often 默认，默许；勉强同意Reluctantly, he acquiesced to/in the . 虽然很不情愿，他还是默认了这个计划。

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Ms Xiao is also lucky because she managed to persuade a friend to donate his sperm[精子] and enter into a sham marriage[1] with her. Armed with[=provided with] a marriage certificate[2], she had a baby daughter without paying a hefty fine[3], or “social maintenance fee[4]” in official language. (In July, when asked by reporters why single parents were punished this way, a senior family-planning official insisted the fines were needed to maintain “reproductive order”[5].)

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[1]假结婚(fake marriage)

[2]结婚证书

[3]支付高昂罚款

[4]社会抚养费

[5]维持"生育秩序"

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Most women, however, try their best to avoid extramarital births altogether. Abortions[堕胎] are readily available. Those who do not want to terminate their pregnancies[1] are sometimes forced to do so by officials. Mei Fong, a former Beijing correspondent[通讯记者] of the Wall Street Journal who wrote a book about the one-child policy[2], says the cost of raising a child on one’s own is such that it is usually only rich people who try.

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[1]终止妊娠

[2]独生子女政策

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“I want to make my parents happy and I want to have a baby,” says a 30-year-old woman in Beijing who works as a low-paid office assistant[1]. “But if I’m not married and can’t pay the fines, the child would become like a ghost, without legal standing[2]. How could I do that to my own child?”

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[1]低收入办公室助理

[2]法律地位/法律角色

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以上言论不代表本人立场。

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