导语
你敢信吗？关于爱情的科学研究，居然一直“遗忘”了50岁以上的人群！这篇来自《新科学家》（New Scientist）2026年5月6日的文章，带你解锁“银发恋爱”的隐秘真相——明明越来越多人在晚年勇敢追爱，可我们对它的了解，却几乎为零。
Dating over 50 is probably on the rise – but we know little about it
50岁以上的约会或许正在兴起——但我们对此几乎一无所知
Research into dating has until now almost exclusively focused on younger people, but we're finally beginning to investigate how romance changes in later life
迄今为止，约会相关研究几乎只聚焦于年轻人，但我们终于开始探索爱情在晚年的变化了
正文逐段对照翻译
We know almost nothing about how dating differs for older adults compared with earlier in life, a scientific conference on love has heard. But despite a lack of data, there are reasons to believe dating in later life is becoming increasingly common, and researchers are now starting to study how romance changes among the over-50s. “There's a massive dearth of information,” says Mairi Macleod, who runs Dating Evolved, a programme that helps women aged over 50 find partners. “But it's really important that over-50s have good relationships; we still want to have sex and all the rest of it,” she says.
一场关于爱情的科学会议指出，我们几乎完全不了解老年人的约会与年轻时有何不同。尽管数据匮乏，但有理由相信，晚年约会正变得越来越普遍，研究人员也开始着手探究50岁以上人群的爱情变化。“相关信息严重匮乏，”运营着帮助50岁以上女性寻找伴侣的项目“Dating Evolved”的梅里·麦克劳德说，“但让50岁以上的人拥有良好的伴侣关系真的很重要；我们依然渴望亲密关系，也有正常的生理需求。”
There are several reasons why dating in the over-50s is thought to be increasing, says Macleod, who co-presented a talk at the Love, actually and in theory conference in Edinburgh, UK, on 5 May. One is that this age group is growing – in the UK, for instance, the number of over-50s increased by 3.1 million people in the 10 years to 2025, and this trend is set to continue over the next two decades.
5月5日，在英国爱丁堡举办的“爱，现实与理论”会议上，联合发表演讲的麦克劳德表示，50岁以上人群的约会现象增多有几个原因。其一，该年龄段的人口正在增长——以英国为例，截至2025年的10年间，50岁以上人口增加了310万，且这一趋势在未来20年还将持续。
Divorce rates among older adults are also rising in the UK and other Western nations such as the US, meaning more people over 50 are single, says Macleod, who married her second husband in her 50s. What's more, it is becoming more socially acceptable to re-partner after a bereavement or relationship breakdown, she says. Yet research on dating is almost entirely focused on university undergraduates, who are easy to survey, and people in their 20s and 30s, meaning we know almost nothing about dating after we turn 50, says Craig Roberts at the University of Stirling in the UK, who co-presented the talk.
麦克劳德（她在50多岁时嫁给了第二任丈夫）说，英国和美国等其他西方国家的老年人离婚率也在上升，这意味着更多50岁以上的人处于单身状态。此外，她表示，在丧偶或感情破裂后重新寻找伴侣，也越来越被社会所接受。然而，英国斯特林大学的克雷格·罗伯茨（本次演讲的联合发表者）指出，约会相关研究几乎完全聚焦于易于调研的大学生，以及二三十岁的人群，这导致我们对50岁之后的约会几乎一无所知。
One reason why later-life dating is so poorly understood is that people tend to view love as a means for reproduction, which generally occurs before age 50, says Divine Charura, a psychologist at York St John University in the UK. Our 20s to 40s are also life stages where people are most economically productive. “It's capitalism in some ways,” he says. “There is more funding available for studying early, working-age years.” Society also tends to underestimate the romantic lives of older people. “If I say romantic love, you're not going to think of my 92-year-old patient who still talks to me about her sexuality and romance meeting someone, and having wild sex,” says Charura.
英国约克圣约翰大学的心理学家迪万·查鲁拉说，晚年约会之所以鲜被研究，一个原因是人们往往将爱情视为生育的手段，而生育行为通常发生在50岁之前。此外，20至40岁也是人们经济产出最高的人生阶段。“从某种程度上说，这是资本主义的影响，”他说，“针对早年工作年龄段的研究，能获得更多资金支持。”社会也常常低估老年人的情感生活。“当我说起浪漫爱情，你不会想到我那位92岁的病人，她还会和我聊自己的性需求、感情生活，聊认识新的人，聊热烈的亲密关系，”查鲁拉说。
Macleod has set up a dating programme for heterosexual women over 50 in the UK, who may find it harder to find partners than older men. “There's a shortage of men with increasing age after about 50,” she says. “Men just don't live as long, and more men than women seem to be looking for a younger partner than themselves.” This means that, with age, women are increasingly competing for a shrinking pool of men their age. “[Anecdotally] men are always in short supply in speed-dating events. A lot of times these have to be cancelled because not enough men turn up,” she says.
麦克劳德在英国为50岁以上的异性恋女性设立了一个约会项目——这类女性找伴侣往往比老年男性更难。“大约50岁之后，男性的数量会随着年龄增长而减少，”她说，“男性的平均寿命更短，而且相比女性，更多男性倾向于找比自己年轻的伴侣。”这意味着，随着年龄增长，女性需要在不断缩小的同龄男性群体中竞争。“据我所见，快速约会活动里总是缺男性。很多时候因为到场的男性太少，活动不得不取消，”她说。
So far, Macleod's programme has provided dating support – via weekly group calls, for six months – to over 200 women. She has gained insights on how dating differs in later life – at least for wealthy, highly educated women in the UK, she says. “There are advantages to dating later in life, things like not having a ticking biological clock and being financially independent,” says Macleod. “Older women are better able to pick and choose. They generally decide not to have a bloke at all if they can't find what they deem as a decent one,” she says. Next, Macleod and Roberts are planning a study that looks at the challenges of dating in later life and identifies practical tips for older singletons.
到目前为止，麦克劳德的项目已通过为期六个月的每周小组通话，为200多名女性提供了约会支持。她表示，自己也从中了解到了晚年约会的不同之处——至少对英国富裕、高学历的女性来说是如此。“晚年约会有不少优势，比如不用再被生育时钟催促，也实现了经济独立，”麦克劳德说，“年长的女性更有选择权。如果找不到合适的伴侣，她们通常也能接受单身。”接下来，麦克劳德和罗伯茨计划开展一项研究，探讨晚年约会的挑战，并为老年单身人士提供实用建议。
核心词汇表
1. dating /ˈdeɪtɪŋ/ n. 约会
2. rise /raɪz/ n. 兴起；增长
3. exclusively /ɪkˈskluːsɪvli/ adv. 专门地；唯一地
4. investigate /ɪnˈvestɪɡeɪt/ v. 调查；研究
5. romance /rəʊˈmæns/ n. 爱情；浪漫
6. conference /ˈkɒnfərəns/ n. 会议
7. massive /ˈmæsɪv/ adj. 巨大的；严重的
8. dearth /dɜːθ/ n. 缺乏；匮乏
9. programme /ˈprəʊɡræm/ n. 项目；计划
10. partner /ˈpɑːtnə(r)/ n. 伴侣；搭档
11. trend /trend/ n. 趋势；动向
12. divorce /dɪˈvɔːs/ n. 离婚
13. bereavement /bɪˈriːvmənt/ n. 丧亲之痛
14. acceptable /əkˈseptəbl/ adj. 可接受的
15. reproduction /ˌriːprəˈdʌkʃn/ n. 繁殖；生育
16. productive /prəˈdʌktɪv/ adj. 有生产力的；高效的
17. funding /ˈfʌndɪŋ/ n. 资金；资助
18. underestimate /ˌʌndərˈestɪmeɪt/ v. 低估；轻视
19. heterosexual /ˌhetərəˈsekʃuəl/ adj. 异性恋的
20. shortage /ˈʃɔːtɪdʒ/ n. 短缺；不足
21. shrinking /ˈʃrɪŋkɪŋ/ adj. 缩小的；减少的
22. anecdotally /ˌænɪkˈdəʊtəli/ adv. 据传闻；据个人经验
23. speed-dating /ˈspiːd deɪtɪŋ/ n. 快速约会
24. insight /ˈɪnsaɪt/ n. 深刻见解；洞悉
25. biological /ˌbaɪəˈlɒdʒɪkl/ adj. 生物的；生理的
26. independent /ˌɪndɪˈpendənt/ adj. 独立的
27. bloke /bləʊk/ n. 家伙；男人（口语）
28. decent /ˈdiːsnt/ adj. 合适的；得体的
29. singleton /ˈsɪŋɡltən/ n. 单身人士
30. challenge /ˈtʃælɪndʒ/ n. 挑战；难题
