传媒英语角 | 双语看世界——为什么越来越多的英国成年人与父母同住？
发布时间： 2023-10-24part.1
Twenty-three years ago, a man in his 30s greeted the millennium in despair.“I’m a single parent, I live with my mother…I need a Life Plan.” Adrian Mole was fictitious: his bestselling comic diaries were a vessel for Sue Townsend’s anger at the inequalities andhypocrisies of late 20th- and early 21st-century Britain. But real Adrians are becoming more common.
23年前，一个30多岁的男人“绝望地”迎接千禧年的到来。我是一个单亲父亲，我和妈妈住在一起……我需要一个人生计划。” 阿德里安·莫尔是一个虚构的人物：与他有关的最畅销的漫画日记是休·汤森对20世纪末和21世纪初英国的不平等和虚伪表达愤怒的载体。但真正的阿德里安却越来越普遍了。
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) says the census of England and Wales in March 2021 found 4.9m adult children living with their parents, up from 4.2m in the 2011 survey. Most people in their early 20s, and more than one in ten of those in their early 30s, have yet to fly the nest.
英国国家统计局表示，2021年3月的英格兰和威尔士人口普查发现，490万成年子女与父母生活在一起，高于2011年调查的420万。其中大多数是20岁出头的年轻人，同时也有超过10%的人年龄在30岁出头。
And that does not even count the Adrians: the tally includes only childless, single adults. Multi-family households (containing couples or lone parents under a shared roof) made up 1.4% of all households in 2021, up from 1.2% in 2011.
这还不包括像阿德里安这样的人：这个数字只涵盖了没有孩子的单身成年人。2021年，多户家庭（包括夫妻或单亲家庭）占所有家庭的1.4%，高于2011年的1.2%。
part.2
诚然，在其他一些国家，成年子女甚至更不愿意搬出去：三分之二的意大利年轻人住在家里。但是为什么现在的英国年轻人与父母同住的时间比过去更久呢？
Granted, in some other countries grown-up children are even more reluctant to move out: two-thirds of young Italian adults live at home. But why are young Britons staying longer than they used to?
成年人与父母同住的原因有很多：与那些有自己住所的人相比，他们更有可能是失业者、学生或看护人。你可能会认为是新冠疫情将更多的年轻人留在家中。
There are many reasons why adults live with their parents: they are likelier to be unemployed, or to be students or carers, than those with places of their own. You might suppose that the covid-19 pandemic had caused more youngsters to stay or return home.
也许有这方面的原因，但英国国家统计局表示，大约90%的成年人与父母同住至少一年，与2011年持平。种族因素似乎也不能解释这种转变。在所有种族中，亚裔家庭多代同堂的比例最高，虽然近来有所下降。
The likeliest explanation is that many young adults cannot afford to buy or rent their own homes. In the first 20 years of the century, according to The Economist’s house-price index, British property prices almost doubled. According to Halifax, a lender, the average age of first-time buyers is now 32.
最有可能的解释是，许多年轻人买不起房或租不起房。根据《经济学人》的房价指数，在本世纪的的头20年里，英国的房价几乎翻了一番。根据贷款机构 Halifax 的数据，目前首次购房者的平均年龄为32岁。
part.3
Not surprisingly London, which has the priciest housing, also had the highest proportion of households with grown-up children: 26.8%. In the borough of Brent, in the north-west of the city, the share was almost one in three.
毫不奇怪，房价最贵的伦敦，拥有成年子女的家庭比例也最高：26.8%。在该市西北部的布伦特区，这一比例几乎达到三分之一。
Since the census was taken, double-digit inflation, and especially rising rents and mortgage rates, have added to young people’s incentive to stay in the parental home while they save.
自从进行人口普查以来，两位数的通货膨胀（尤其是不断上涨的租金和抵押贷款利率）增加了年轻人与父母同住以存钱的动机。
They may—or may not—find comfort in what became of Adrian Mole. Townsend’s diarist did eventually find a home of his own: a converted pigsty. His parents lived in another, next door.
他们可能会（也可能不会）从阿德里安·莫尔的遭遇中得到安慰。汤森的日记作者最终找到了自己的家：一个经过改造的猪圈。他的父母则住在隔壁的另一栋房子里。
重难点词汇：
hypocrisy [hɪˈpɑːkrəsi] n. 伪善；虚伪
pigsty [ˈpɪɡˌstaɪ] n. 猪栏；猪圈
