第3章 Childless Couples丁克一族

最合理的定义是：双职业，有生育能力但选择不生育，并且主观上认为自己是丁克的夫妇或个体，称之为丁克。成为丁克的首要标准是：具有生育能力而选择不生育，除了主动不生育，也可能是主观或者客观原因而被动选择不生育。其次，主观上对自己的丁克身份接纳和认可——他们认为丁克是一种生活方式——这是非常重要的因素。

Realize DINK Fashion

认识丁克潮流

1 为什么有如此多的丁克家庭？

Mr. Buchanan lists six factors that contribute to the DINK lifestyle and explain why today's culture mocks “the old idea that the good life for a woman means a husband and a houseful of kids.” He says that powerful collateral forces are “pulling American women away from the maternity ward forever.” Here are the six factors:

1. The new economy. Industry offers pay and benefits to lure talented women who compete with men in the marketplace. Many choose careers or one-time motherhood and love the work challenge. They stay. With women working, poor families get richer and begin to downsize. And as nations get richer, history shows, they begin to die. Meanwhile, poor families are growing. Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” （Mt. 5:5 KJV）

2. End of the “family wage”. As women's pay soared, men's dropped, and marriage and family size suffered. Young men earned too little for marriage and a family. Young women found independence and delayed marriage, or just didn't marry at all. Some settled for the DINK role and the end of the “family wage” was a factor.

3. The “population bomb” hysteria. Heading up another of his Chicken Little operations was former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Strange McNamara, the man who micromanaged the Vietnam War into disaster. This time, he was warning that population growth would cause poverty, crowding and frustration that would threaten social, economic and military stability. And this time he was wrong again, as the poor continued to multiply.

4. Feminism. “Women's liberation” has become the rage. It would free women of their roles of wife, mother and homemaker. Feminists have had successes: a tenfold increase in unmarried couples living together since 1970. Husband-wife families are now only one in four. Singles living alone are now 26 percent of the adult population.

5. The popular culture puts the joys of sex far above the happiness of motherhood. Indeed, sex, career and the single woman dominate in advertising and entertainment. Marriage and family are downplayed, and the DINKs are helping.

6. The collapse of the moral order. Today, “shacking up” is just a “relationship”, half of all marriages end in divorce, and abortion is a “fallback” position and women will vote against any politician or party that threatens to take it away.

2 丁克派生词汇的表达方式

Whit DINK/ pseudo dink（白丁）: Once aspiring to be a dink, but after a certain age, they regret and give birth to a baby. This kind of man is often called pseudo dink, or “White DINK”.

Dinking（丁克进行时）: It refers to those people who still insist on dink.

Dinked: “forced” dink（被迫丁克）-a dink family which actually really hopes that they can have children, but because of the infertility, economic difficulties, they are forced not to give birth to a kid, suffering from knee without son. This is not true dink.

Dinkwad（丁宠）: They are a bunch of people having vowed to put a dink to develop acme state who married and both parties do not raise children but pets. They are dink family of the highest level, so also someone called hardcore dink.

Iron DINK（铁丁）: Firmly dink consistent of iron heart, namely determination.

丁克：亦即DINK，是英语Double Incomes No Kids的缩写，直译过来就是有双份的收入而没有孩子的家庭，说白了就是两个人吃饱了全家不饿的一种组合。据说一些汉语词典已经吸纳了这个外来的名词。这些词汇有：“白丁”，意思就是“白白地丁克了一回”；丁克ing：仍然在坚持丁克的人；丁克ed：“被迫”丁克；丁宠指结婚双方改养小孩为养宠物。他们是丁克的最高级别，因此也有人称之为骨灰级丁克；铁丁：斩钉截铁的丁克。

Key words & Sentences

关键词句全知道

What's a DINKWAD? A DINKWAD is an acronym which stands for “double income, no kids, with a dog”. It's an extension of a DINK （double income, no kids）, not to be confused with a DINKY （double income, no kids yet） or a DINKEM （double income, no kids, excessive mortgage）.

“丁狗族”是什么意思呢？“丁狗族”是来源于DINKWAD这个英文缩写，代表的是“双收入，没孩子，养宠物狗”的家庭。这个说法是在“丁克”（双收入，没孩子）这个概念的基础上延伸出来的。不要和“丁期”（双收入，还没孩子）以及“丁啃”（双收入，没孩子，高按揭）混淆。

The acronym DINK-double income, no kids-originated in the US in the 1960s.

丁克家庭（夫妻二人都工作但没有孩子的英文缩写）源于上个世纪六十年代的美国。

DINK family phenomenon has been widespread throughout metropolis in china.

“丁克”这种家庭现象在中国的大都市已经相当普遍。

As a new style of family, “DINK” brings great impact to Chinese traditional opinions of procreation and affects society deeply.

作为一种新型的家庭形式，“丁克”家庭的出现极大地冲击了中国传统的生育观，并对当今社会产生了深远影响。

Fearing that children might constrain their freedom, married working women began to avoid pregnancy; the result was that there arose many busy, prosperous young DINK couples.

由于担心孩子会限制自己的自由，结了婚的职业女性开始避孕，结果是出现了许多忙忙碌碌而事业成功的丁克夫妇。

On the other hand, in the society the old people live alone and “the pure old family” composes only the old persons already in fact form the fact of lack the next generation or one after next generation, thus constituted “the old age DINK”.

另一方面，老龄社会中的独居老人及完全由老人组成的“纯老家庭”已经事实上形成了下一代或者下下代的缺失，从而构成了“老龄丁克”。

The expanded connotation and the extension of “DINK” have already caused “a DINK community” to become the special community which expanded gradually in the modern society.

“丁克”在内涵和外延上的扩大，已经使“丁克群体”成为现代社会中一个逐渐壮大的特殊群体。

Dinky families keep on increasing at present.

目前丁克家庭的数量正在不断增加。

We should attempt to explore this kind of family pattern in which traditional family plays the leading role and the supporting role so that a virtuous circle could be formed between them.

我们应该探索这种以核心家庭为主，以丁克家庭为辅助和补充的家庭模式，使核心家庭与丁克家庭形成一种动态的良性循环关系。

Recently, “DINK” became a hot topic for discussion again on the Internet.

最近，“丁克”再次成为了网络热议的焦点。

DINK, originated from abroad, which is a life style, means double income, no kids.

丁克，源于国外的一种生活方式，即双份收入，没有孩子。

It has been kept in the mind of Chinese for so long that child is an indispensable part of a family, and also it can carry on the family line and consolidate marital relations.

一直以来，在中国人的观念中，孩子是不可或缺的一部分，也有着传宗接代，巩固夫妻感情的作用。

However, for various reasons, this concept and way of life of Dink has gradually been known to the Chinese people and has been accepted by them.

但是基于各种原因，丁克这个观念和生活方式也渐渐被中国的大众所熟知和接受。

More than a quarter of respondents would opt for a “DINK” lifestyle.

超过四分之一的受访者表示想做“丁克族”。

The childless couple boom reflects the lack of confidence in their marriage in this ever-changing society.

现在越来越多的夫妻不要孩子，这反映了他们面对这个日益变化的社会，对自己的婚姻没有信心。

They choose to have no kid not for romance but for practical reasons.

他们选择不要孩子，不是想浪漫而是出于现实考虑。

They consider children as a heavy burden.

他们认为孩子是沉重的负担。

One or two decades ago, there would be gossip around a married but childless couple.

十几二十年前，如果一对夫妇没有孩子，人们一定会对他们议论纷纷。

They don't want children to spoil their marriage.

他们不想让孩子影响他们的婚姻。

It's a personal choice whether to have children or not.

要不要孩子，这是个人的选择。

Let's Talk！

开始交流吧！

Mary: What's your opinion about childless couples? Will you choose to have no kids?

玛丽：你是怎么看待那些不要孩子的夫妻的？你打算要不要孩子？

Natasha: To be honest, I wouldn't.

尼克：说实在的，我不打算要孩子。

Mary: Why? Do you have to make a choice now?

玛丽：为什么？你现在必须做出选择吗？

Natasha: Not really. But it has puzzled me for a long time.

娜塔莎：不是，只是这事已经困扰我很久了。

Mary: What's the puzzle?

玛丽：那你到底愁什么呢？

Natasha: My husband and I prefer to have no kids, but my mother-in-law is very traditional and wants grandkids.

娜塔莎：我和我丈夫打算不要孩子，但是我婆婆很传统，很想抱孙子。

Mary: Oh, I see. I think the older generation tends to think in a different way.

玛丽：啊，这样啊。我觉得老人们总是和我们想法不太一样。

Natasha: Yes. It seems she can never accept a childless marriage. We had a fight last night.

娜塔莎：是啊，可是我婆婆就是不能理解，为什么结了婚却不要孩子。我们昨天还吵了一架。

Mary: Oh, really? Maybe she is just eager to see her grandchildren.

玛丽：是吗？也许她只是抱孙心切吧。

Natasha: But it's absolutely our own business to have a child or not.

娜塔莎：但是要不要孩子，完全是我们自己的事。

Mary: Definitely.

玛丽：是啊。

Natasha: You know, I often overhear our neighbor, the young couple, fighting about how to raise their kid and I really don't want kids to spoil our happiness.

娜塔莎：知道吗？我经常听见我们隔壁那对年轻的夫妻因为教育孩子而争吵。我真不想让孩子影响我们的婚姻幸福。

Mary: Don't worry. I think in most cases, children are the glue that keeps a family together.

玛丽：不要担心。大多数情况下，孩子还是家庭的黏合剂。

Natasha: I guess you're right. But I still prefer to have no child.

娜塔莎：好吧，但我还是不想要孩子。

Mary: Sure. You can fully enjoy your time together.

玛丽：好的，那你们就可以好好享受二人世界了。

Natasha: I hope we CAN enjoy it.

娜塔莎：我倒是希望这能这样。

Mary: Maybe, as time goes by, your mother-in-law will accept that no grandchild is also all right.

玛丽：也许随着时间流逝，你的婆婆认为没有孙子也挺好的。

Natasha: That will be fine. Thanks.

娜塔莎：希望这样，谢谢。