2015考研英语阅读幸福婚姻在美国

　　Connubial bliss in America

　　幸福婚姻在美国

　　AMERICA is the country, said Alexis de Tocqueville, where the bonds of marriage are mostrespected and the concept of connubial bliss has its highest and truest expression. If theFrench aristocrat were to revisit Americas capital today, he might at first glance think hisobservation had withstood the test of time remarkably well. Not content with having in 1996put a Defence of Marriage Act on the statute book, Congress has now begun to holdhearings on a Respect for Marriage Act. Defended, respected: what could possibly ail marriagein America?

　　法国贵族托克维尔曾说，美国人最为尊重婚姻联系，夫妻美满生活的概念在美国也是达到了最顶级最真实的境界。今日，倘若托尔维尔能够重游华盛顿的话，乍一看也许觉得自己的评论如此经得起时间考验，历久弥新啊!美国于1996年曾经推行了一部《捍卫婚姻法案》，现今，不满足于仅此而已，国会又已着手于就出台《尊重婚姻法案》举行听证会。到底是该捍卫婚姻还是尊重尊重?到底哪个可能会蹂躏美国婚姻呢?

　　Plenty. As the revisiting Norman would swiftly discover, Americans today are better atquarrelling about what marriage is and who should be allowed to enjoy its benefits than theyare at the more demanding work of getting and staying married themselves. The NationalMarriage Project at the University of Virginia points to a widening marriage gap. Traditionalfamily values are enjoying a revival among better-educated Americans, but are fraying in thelower middle class and have collapsed among the poor. As for laws defending and respectingmarriage, these are merely weapons in a battle that has rolled back and forth for more than adecade between those who say that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry and thosewho abhor the idea.

　　能够蹂躏美国婚姻的因素还真不少呢。要是故地重游的话，托克维尔会很快发现，如今美国人更多的是争论婚姻的本质是什么，以及哪一方可以从婚姻中受益，反而没有过多谈论他们自己应该提高结婚率，压低离婚率。弗吉尼亚大学《全国婚姻计划》表明婚姻差距愈发扩大。受过良好教育的美国人越发崇尚传统家庭观念，下层中产阶级的这方面意识在变淡，而之于贫穷家庭，传统家庭观念干脆就已分崩离析了。十几年来，美国内部有两种声音，一种声音主张允许同性婚姻，另一种声音对此深恶痛绝，在这十几年里，两番势力反反复复斗争不断，而至于美国法律一边捍卫婚姻，一边尊重婚姻，他们也不过是斗争中的武器而已。

　　So far neither side has scored a decisive victory,though each will occasionally claim one. When itwas passed, DOMA looked like a solid victory forenemies of gay marriage. Its aim was to nip movestowards same-sex marriage in the bud by definingmarriage as a legal union between one man and onewoman as husband and wife. It also stipulated thatin the event of an individual state making same-sexmarriage lawful, no other state needed to respect therights or claims arising from such a marriage. Tobuttress this apparently formidable firewall, threedozen states have imposed constitutional or other legal bans.

　　目前为止，两方都没有取得什么决定性胜利，虽说他们时不时的会宣称自己胜利了。当初《捍卫婚姻法案》的获准通过，对于反对同性婚姻的人来说，这看似是个实实在在的成功。《捍卫婚姻法案》定义婚姻为依照法律程序，一男一女互为夫妻的结合，以此来达到掐死同性婚姻于摇篮中的目的。同时它还规定，万一有个别州承认同性婚姻合法性的话，其他各州也不必对次类婚姻所产生的权利和要求予以尊重。为了支持这条看似强大的防线，三十几个州以州宪法或者其他法规的形式，强制颁布了对于同性婚姻的禁令。

　　And yet gay marriage marches on, scoring its own victories along the way. Among the greatestand most recent was New Yorks decision last month to become the sixth and most-populousstate to allow same-sex marriage. If the Respect for Marriage Act were to become law , this would defang DOMA and markanother victory for gay marriage. But DOMA is anyway not the deterrent it once seemed. Theever-cautious Barack Obama, who favours civil unions but says his views on gay marriage arestill evolving, has ordered the Justice Department to stop defending the law, which is underchallenge in the courts.

　　然而，同性婚姻一直都在继续，并且过程中也取得了一些胜利。上个月，纽约州成为允许同性婚姻的第六个州，同时也是六个州中人口最多的一个，对于同性婚姻来说，这是自己最近一次的胜利，同时也是有史以来最伟大的胜利之一。倘若《尊重婚姻法案》能够写进法律的话，《捍卫婚姻法案》的威力恐怕就会被大大削弱，从而为同性婚姻打赢又一场战争。但是话又说回来了，《捍卫婚姻法案》早已失去当初的震慑力了。《捍卫婚姻法案》在法庭上受到质疑，一贯行事小心翼翼的奥巴马也已要求司法部门放弃为此法案提供辩护。奥巴马个人支持同性恋民事结合，但他表示自己对待同性恋婚姻的看法还未一锤子钉死。

　　The relentless back-and-forth in Congress, the courts and state legislatures transfixes theminority of Americans who feel strongly about this issue. And yet the cycle of victories anddefeats may in the end matter less than one startling underlying fact, which is that Americasattitudes to homosexuality appear in recent years to have undergone a dramatic change.

　　对于同性婚姻问题，国会，法院以及州议会一直反反复复，令那些强烈抵制同性婚姻的少数美国人无计可施。可是最终，胜利与落败的轮回就显得不那么重要了，一惊人的基本事实反而更加要紧，那就是，近几年，美国人对于同性恋的态度发生了巨大的转变。

　　Gallup reported in May that for the first time ever amajority of Americans said thatsame-sex couples should have the same marriagerights as straight couples. In 1996, the time ofDOMA, the majority leant 68% to 27% the otherway. The controversial policy of dont ask, donttell, which banned gays from serving openly in thearmed forces, is meanwhile due to expire inSeptember with surprisingly little hue and cry. Andwhen National Journal polled political insiders thismonth, it found a majority of Democratic politicos,lobbyists and strategists in favour of making gay marriage legal. No less telling, a majority oftheir Republican counterparts, while continuing to oppose gay marriage, thought their partyshould just ignore the issue.

　　今年5月，盖洛普民意测试显示，有史以来第一次，大多数美国人认为同性伴侣应跟异性伴侣一样享有同样的婚姻权。而《捍卫婚姻法案》颁布的那一年，也就是1996年，反对同性婚姻的人占了大多数，当时的数字是68%，而支持的人仅有27%。如今，饱受争议的不问不答政策也将于今年9月告一段落，而令人惊讶的是，人们对此并未有什么抗议。本月，《国家杂志》对重要政客展开民调，发现大部分民主党政客，说客以及策略家都赞同同性婚姻合法化。当然了，不用说，大多数共和党一方面继续反对同性婚姻，一方面认为民主党干脆就应该不甩这个话题。