原文
To have and too old
Age gaps in relationships are not as bad as you think
On screen and in real life, they are getting smaller anyway
拥有与过老
恋爱中的年龄差并不像你想的那么糟糕
无论在荧幕上还是现实中，年龄差都在缩小
to have and too old这是一个巧妙的“化用” 修辞手法，改编自西方婚礼誓词中的经典名句 “to have and to hold”（意为“拥有并珍爱”，承诺互相扶持和珍惜）。
在文中的用意：作者将 “hold”（持有/珍爱） 替换为发音相同的 “old”（年老），制造了双关效果。标题 “To have and too old” 可以理解为 “想要拥有，但又（嫌对方）太老” ，生动地概括了人们在面对年龄差恋情时，在情感渴望（to have）与社会年龄压力（too old）之间的矛盾和纠结。它点明了文章的核心冲突。
It was not love at first sight. When Nick Viall, a reality-television star, met his wife Natalie Joy, he insisted they would never date. His reluctance stemmed in part from being 18 years older, about the length of a generation. Mr Viall married Ms Joy in 2024. Now he is embarking on a different sort of courtship: trying to seduce new viewers. “Age of Attraction”, a dating series hosted by Mr Viall and Ms Joy, will debut on Netflix later this year. The show follows single 22- to 59-year-olds to test whether “age is just a number”. Mr Viall has said the programme will set aside cultural biases about age to focus on compatibility. It is a romantic idea that speaks to an empirical truth. Age gaps are not as unhealthy as some assume.
这并非一见钟情。当真人秀明星尼克·维阿尔遇到他现在的妻子娜塔莉·乔伊时，他曾坚称两人绝不会交往。他的犹豫部分源于两人18岁的年龄差——这几乎是一代人的差距。维阿尔于2024年与乔伊结婚。如今，他正开始另一种形式的“追求”：试图吸引新观众。由维阿尔和乔伊主持的约会系列节目《吸引力年龄》将于今年晚些时候在网飞首播。该节目跟随22至59岁的单身人士，测试“年龄是否只是一个数字”。维阿尔表示，节目将抛开关于年龄的文化偏见，专注于双方的契合度。这是一个浪漫的理念，也印证了一个经验事实：年龄差并不像一些人认为的那么不健康。
speak to证明：指提供证据或信息以支持某种观点或主张。
Birds of a feather flock together, as the saying goes, and so do people. Researchers studying marriage data have found that couples tend to be similar in age. This is not entirely unexpected. People frequently pair up with others who share similar traits, including race, education and religion. In America one in eight married couples is the same age, to the nearest year; a third is no more than a year younger or older (see chart 1). Schooling reinforces this trend by sorting pupils into age-based cohorts, otherwise known as classes.
俗话说“物以类聚，人以群分”，人们在择偶时也是如此。研究婚姻数据的研究人员发现，伴侣的年龄往往相近。这并不完全出乎意料。人们常常与拥有相似特质的人结合，包括种族、教育背景和宗教。在美国，八分之一的已婚夫妇年龄完全相同（按整年计）；三分之一的夫妇年龄相差不超过一岁（见图表1）。教育体系通过按年龄分班（即班级）强化了这一趋势。
cohort（有共同特点或举止类同的）一群人，一批人
otherwise在其他方面；另；亦
•Bismarck, otherwise known as ‘the Iron Chancellor’俾斯麦，亦称为“铁血首相”
And yet, though both men and women tend to choose partners close to their own age, the most common pairing—two-thirds of American marriages—is between an older man and a younger woman. This pattern can be found in almost every country across the world. A recent paper by researchers at the Pew Research Centre, a think-tank, puts the global average gap at 4.2 years. In North America husbands are 2.2 years older than their wives, on average; in Europe the average age gap is 2.7 years; in Asia-Pacific it is 4. The age difference is highest in sub-Saharan Africa: 8.6 years.
然而，尽管男性和女性都倾向于选择与自己年龄相近的伴侣，但最常见的配对模式——占美国婚姻的三分之二——是男年长于女。这种模式几乎在全球每个国家都能找到。智库皮尤研究中心研究人员近期的一篇论文指出，全球平均年龄差为4.2岁。在北美，丈夫平均比妻子年长2.2岁；在欧洲，平均年龄差为2.7岁；在亚太地区为4岁。撒哈拉以南非洲的年龄差最大：8.6岁。
Why are age gaps so common? The leading explanation is evolutionary. Men, it is argued, prefer partners who are fertile; women prefer mates who can provide for their offspring. Since women are most fertile when they are young, and men tend to accumulate resources with age, a modest gap should, in theory, produce more children. Data show this to be true. A paper published in 2007 by researchers at the University of Vienna showed that Swedish couples in which the husband is roughly five years older than the wife have 5% more children than same-age couples. American data tell a similar story (see chart 2). The benefit of an older, wealthier husband may be even greater in poor countries.
为什么年龄差如此普遍？主要的解释是进化论。有人认为，男性偏好生育能力强的伴侣；女性偏好能为后代提供资源的伴侣。由于女性在年轻时生育能力最强，而男性往往随着年龄增长积累资源，因此适度的年龄差理论上应能生育更多子女。数据证实了这一点。维也纳大学研究人员2007年发表的一篇论文显示，在瑞典，丈夫比妻子大约年长5岁的夫妇比同龄夫妇多生育5%的子女。美国的数据也讲述了类似的故事（见图表2）。在贫困国家，拥有年长、更富裕的丈夫可能带来更大的好处。
provide for供养
Social norms play a part, too. Those attracted to a much older or younger partner may choose someone closer to their own age to avoid raising eyebrows. “Can you bring someone who’s 20 years younger to your parents?” asks Renata Topinkova, a social scientist at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. What is considered acceptable changes over time. In 1920 American husbands were about 4.5 years older than their wives, compared with 2.2 years today (see chart 3). Once-common “trophy wives”—young spouses of high-earning men—are now rare enough in America that they can no longer be spotted in the data (though they can still be spotted at country clubs like Mar-a-Lago).
社会规范也起着作用。那些被年龄远大于或小于自己的人所吸引的人，可能会选择与自己年龄更接近的伴侣，以避免引人侧目。“你能带一个比你小20岁的人去见父母吗？”慕尼黑路德维希-马克西米利安大学的社会科学家雷娜塔·托平科娃问道。被视为可接受的标准随着时间而变化。1920年，美国丈夫平均比妻子年长约4.5岁，而如今仅为2.2岁（见图表3）。曾经常见的“花瓶妻子”——高收入男性的年轻配偶——如今在美国已足够罕见，以至于在数据中难以察觉（不过在像海湖庄园这样的乡村俱乐部里仍能看到）。
raise eyebrows引起惊讶或轻微不满：引起他人惊讶或轻微不满的行为或言语。
country clubs私人俱乐部：一个位于乡村或郊区的私人俱乐部，提供高档的休闲娱乐设施，如高尔夫球场、游泳池、网球场、餐厅等，会员通常是富裕的人士。
Mar-a-Lago这是美国佛罗里达州棕榈滩的一个豪华私人俱乐部和度假村，以其极致的奢华和作为美国前总统唐纳德·特朗普的私人庄园及主要社交场所而闻名。
Even the age gaps on screen are narrower today than in the past, when Clark Gable (38) starred opposite Vivien Leigh (26) in “Gone With the Wind” and Humphrey Bogart (43) alongside Ingrid Bergman (27) in “Casablanca”. Today romantic partners in films and on TV are typically around six years apart, down from nearly 20 in the 1940s-50s. When films do show dramatic age gaps, they are often subverting tradition, by instead showing an older woman with a younger man. This includes “Babygirl” (female boss with an intern), “The Idea of You” (40-year-old with a boy-band star) and “Marty Supreme”(ageing actress with a young table-tennis pro). These do not reflect common situations. But that is rarely Hollywood’s intent.
甚至荧幕上的年龄差也比过去缩小了。当年克拉克·盖博（38岁）与费雯·丽（26岁）联袂出演《乱世佳人》，亨弗莱·鲍嘉（43岁）与英格丽·褒曼（27岁）共同主演《卡萨布兰卡》。如今，电影和电视中的浪漫伴侣年龄通常相差约6岁，低于1940-50年代的近20岁。当电影确实展现巨大的年龄差时，它们常常颠覆传统，转而描绘年长女性与年轻男性的组合。例如《宝贝女孩》（女老板与实习生）、《关于你的想法》（40岁女性与男孩乐队明星）以及《马蒂至尊》（年老女演员与年轻乒乓球职业选手）。这些并不反映普遍情况，但这很少是好莱坞的意图。
opposite与…合演；与…联袂演出
•She starred opposite Tom Hanks.她与汤姆•汉克斯联袂主演。
Are relationships between people of different ages less healthy? The conventional wisdom is that partners born decades apart may not share the same interests and values (not to mention pop-culture references). Power imbalances may emerge, too, particularly when the older partner earns more. Surveys show that people often disapprove of age gaps because they believe the younger partner may be looking for a parental figure or—worse?—a fortune. (“I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger,” Kanye West sang in a popular song, saying exactly that.) Couples with age differences of at least ten years report suffering more social disapproval. Ms Joy has said online critics have branded her a “child bride” and other “terrible, terrible things”.
年龄不同的人之间的恋情是否更不健康？普遍看法是，年龄相差几十岁的伴侣可能没有共同的兴趣和价值观（更不用说流行文化梗了）。也可能出现权力失衡，尤其是当年长一方收入更高时。调查显示，人们常常不赞成年龄差大的恋情，因为他们认为年轻一方可能在寻找一个家长式的人物，或者更糟——寻找财富。（坎耶·韦斯特在一首流行歌曲中唱道：“我不是说她是个拜金女”——而这恰恰就是在说这个。）年龄相差至少十岁的伴侣报告称遭受了更多的社会非议。乔伊女士曾表示，网络评论者称她为“童养媳”和其他“非常非常糟糕的词语”。
brand sb (as) st（尤指不公正地）丑化（某人），败坏（某人）名声
•They were branded as liars and cheats.他们被说成是说谎者和骗子。
However, the evidence suggests that such relationships are relatively happy and last just as long. A study published in 2002 by researchers at Maastricht University found that marriages with larger age gaps are associated with higher life satisfaction for both spouses. Researchers at Britain’s Office for National Statistics also found no strong link between age differences and divorce among couples in England and Wales. American evidence points the same way. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that couples with larger age gaps last even longer than those with smaller ones. Using a sample of nearly 5,000 long-term, live-in relationships, The Economist estimates that a five-year difference in age is associated with staying together an extra six weeks.
然而，证据表明，这样的关系相对幸福，持续时间也一样长。马斯特里赫特大学研究人员2002年发表的一项研究发现，年龄差较大的婚姻与夫妻双方更高的生活满意度相关。英国国家统计局的研究人员也发现，在英格兰和威尔士，年龄差异与离婚之间没有强关联。美国的证据也指向同一结论。美国疾病控制与预防中心的数据显示，年龄差较大的夫妇甚至比年龄差较小的夫妇维持得更久。《经济学人》通过对近5000个长期同居关系的样本进行估算，发现5岁的年龄差意味着关系能多持续六周。
live-in同居的
Age gaps do bring some risks, however. The incidence of intimate-partner homicide rises sharply when the man is at least 16 years older than the woman (or the woman at least ten years older than the man). But such cases are rare. For most relationships other factors are more important: “Whether it’s a ten-year gap, or a two-year gap, your relationship is going to be driven by other things” than age difference, says Paul Eastwick, a professor at the University of California, Davis. Like, say, what show to watch on Netflix. Mr Viall and Ms Joy can certainly agree on that. ■
不过，年龄差确实带来一些风险。当男性比女性至少年长16岁（或女性比男性至少年长10岁）时，亲密伴侣凶杀案的发生率会显著上升。但这类情况很罕见。对于大多数关系而言，其他因素更为重要：“无论是十岁的差距，还是两岁的差距，驱动你们关系的将是年龄差以外的其他因素，”加州大学戴维斯分校的保罗·伊斯威克教授说。比如，在网飞上看什么节目。维阿尔先生和乔伊女士在这一点上肯定能达成一致。■
注：中文翻译为机器翻译+人工修改，仅供参考。
文末小测
Which of the following statements best reflects the article's main argument about the impact of age gaps on relationship success?
A) Large age gaps inevitably lead to power imbalances and higher divorce rates.
B) Social disapproval is the most significant threat to the longevity of age-gap relationships.
C) While they carry some rare risks, age gaps are less detrimental to relationship happiness and stability than commonly believed.
D) Evolutionary benefits ensure that relationships with large age gaps are always more satisfying and productive.
正确答案：C
