QA問答：為什么我們西方人沒有更多的孩子？我們需要繼續(xù)我們的文化
Why aren't we western people having any more children? We need to continue our culture.
譯文簡介
我想你是想問：為什么西方國家的出生率下降了，而且低于其他國家的出生比率。
很簡單：當女性接受教育和學會避孕，嬰兒死亡率下降時，人們會選擇少生孩子。
這種模式在非西方國家也適用。事實證明，大多數(shù)女性實際上并不喜歡花半輩子的時間處于懷孕中。
正文翻譯
Why aren't we western people having any more children? We need to continue our culture.
為什么我們西方人沒有更多的孩子？我們需要繼續(xù)我們的文化。
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I assume you're asking why the birth rate in Western countries has declined, and is lower than the birth rate in other countries. It's pretty simple: When women get education and access to contraception, and when infant mortality declines, people choose to have fewer children. This pattern holds up in non-Western countries, too. Turns out most women don't actually like spending half their life pregnant.
我想你是想問：為什么西方國家的出生率下降了，而且低于其他國家的出生比率。
很簡單：當女性接受教育和學會避孕，嬰兒死亡率下降時，人們會選擇少生孩子。
這種模式在非西方國家也適用。事實證明，大多數(shù)女性實際上并不喜歡花半輩子的時間處于懷孕中。
至于我們是否需要繼續(xù)我們的文化，我留給其他人討論。
我要說的是：如果你想讓你的國家的人們有更多的孩子，你需要考慮目前的激勵和抑制因素，并做出一些改變。
高出生率對你來說值多少錢？
它值得政府普遍補貼兒童保育嗎？值得強制休育兒假嗎？是否值得鼓勵男性不再強調職業(yè)發(fā)展，而是花更多時間陪伴孩子？值得建立更好的學校嗎？值得對大學教育進行免費嗎？
這些政策可能會讓人們更愿意擁有更大的家庭，但它們并不是免費的。
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I would also like to add that in advanced Capitalist cultures it is not feasible for most to have large families unless you are wealthy. Having large families is more practical in primitive agricultural societies where having children also gives you more free labor, but when you must use modern currency to buy resources, it’s a huge burden for women and society when someone has more than a few children.
我還想補充一點，在先進的資本主義文化中，除非你很富有，否則大多數(shù)人都不可能擁有大家庭。
在原始農業(yè)社會，擁有大家庭更為實際，在那里，生孩子會給你帶來更多的免費勞動力，但當你必須使用現(xiàn)代貨幣購買資源時，當一個人有幾個以上的孩子時，這對婦女和社會來說就是一個巨大的負擔。
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Northern European countries like Norway and Sweden provide significant parental benefits. One consequence is a fertility rate near 1.9 children / woman.
In eastern and Southern European countries with little parental benefits like Italy and Greece the fertility rate is abt 1.4.
Guess which countries are going to see tax revenue and economic growth collapse over the next decade or so?
挪威和瑞典等北歐國家，提供了大量的育兒福利。一個后果就是生育率約為1.9。
在意大利和希臘等幾乎沒有為人父母福利的東歐和南歐國家，生育率約為1.4。
猜猜看，在未來十年左右，哪些國家的稅收和經(jīng)濟增長將崩潰？
I don’t have any kids. Why am I answering this question?
Because these are the barriers I perceive when people talk about having children.
The problem you’re going to have with this is that our culture is probably the biggest barrier to having more kids.
To have kids in a society like ours you need:
A high paying job - Because kids are expensive.
Spare time to dedicate to kids - You can’t just have kids then wander away. Even when they get older, they need emotional support as well as physical care.
我沒有孩子。那么，我為什么要回答這個問題？
因為當人們談論生孩子時，我會發(fā)現(xiàn)這些障礙。
你會遇到的問題是，我們的文化可能是生更多孩子的最大障礙。
要想在我們這樣的社會里有孩子，你需要：
1、一份高薪工作——因為養(yǎng)孩子很貴。
2、騰出時間奉獻給孩子們——你不能只是有了孩子就不管了。就算他們年紀大了，他們也需要情感上的支持和身體上的照顧。
Now, the days of graduating and heading straight for a job at the town plant are gone for good. Thank the Manufacturing companies for moving to automation or sweatshop labor for that, and thank yourself every time you buy something made in a sweatshop.
So, you’re going to have to at least go to a trade school. Maybe get a two-year degree as a plumber or welder, then you find a job with your trade and work. Maybe you could raise a kid on the kind of pay that you get from one of those jobs, provided you get the right benefits. Otherwise you do have to spend a few years at a lower salary gaining experience needed to cost-justify giving you finances in order to afford children.
要得到“成為父母”這份工作，首先你需要高中畢業(yè)。
現(xiàn)在，畢業(yè)后直接去鎮(zhèn)上工廠工作的日子已經(jīng)一去不復返了。感謝制造公司，他們轉向了自動化或血汗工廠。還有感謝你自己，你購買血汗工廠制造的東西。
所以，你至少得去一所中等職業(yè)學校。也許你可以獲得兩年的水管工或焊工學位，然后找到一份與你的行業(yè)和工作相關的工作。如果你能得到適當?shù)母＠苍S你可以用你從這些工作中得到的工資來撫養(yǎng)孩子。否則，你必須花幾年的時間以較低的薪水獲得所需的經(jīng)驗，以保證將來你有足夠的經(jīng)濟能力來負擔得起孩子。
After college, generally people want to get their career going, and let’s go ahead and face it, there’s employers that tend to prey on young employees who work tirelessly to prove themselves, don’t have any sort of familial obligations, and have a lack of experience to justify their low pay.
Working long hours for low pay and likely few benefits is not an ideal condition for raising children.
如果你選擇上大學，那么你就要再上四年學，而你要么做兼職，要么靠父母生活，再加上為了通過教授們的課程而必須進行的所有學習，意味著你既沒有時間也沒有錢養(yǎng)活孩子。
大學畢業(yè)后，人們通常都想繼續(xù)自己的職業(yè)生涯，讓我們直面現(xiàn)實吧，有些雇主往往會抓住那些不知疲倦地工作以證明自己的年輕員工，他們沒有任何家庭義務，也缺乏經(jīng)驗，這讓給予他們低工資變得合理。
長時間工作，工資低，福利可能很少，這不是養(yǎng)育孩子的理想條件。
This might be hard to swallow, but your teens and early twenties are the best time biologically to have healthy kids. It’s possible to have them during other stages of life, but I’ve heard plenty of thirty and forty year olds gripe about how they had so much more energy when they were in their twenties, and energy is probably something you want when dealing with kids.
只要我們的文化規(guī)定，你必須自費訓練才能找到工作，在你生命中最佳的繁殖時期生活在貧困中，然后根據(jù)你選擇的職業(yè)來決定你是否值得生孩子，大多數(shù)人都不會成功。再加上這樣一個事實，在最佳生育時期過去后，你再來做決定要不要孩子，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)，有很多人都不想要孩子了。
這可能很難接受，但從生理上講，你的十幾歲和二十出頭是生健康孩子的最佳時機。在人生的其他階段也有可能擁有他們，但我聽說很多三四十歲的人抱怨，他們在20多歲的時候有這么多的精力，現(xiàn)在卻沒有了，而與孩子打交道，精力可能正是你需要的。
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You say we need to continue our culture, but as long as our culture picks and chooses who has kids based what the parents do for a living, it’s going to destroy itself.
教育和初級工作，幾乎占據(jù)了你一生中的大部分時間，直到你獲得一個可以“讓”你組建家庭的高級職位。即便如此，總有比你更年輕、更饑餓的人，讓你可能被解雇?；蛘吣澄桓吖苄枰凰倚掠瓮眇B(yǎng)他的狗，然后，你就被“裁員”了。
所以，為什么要冒險？
你說我們需要繼續(xù)我們的文化，但只要我們的文化仍然根據(jù)父母的謀生方式，來決定誰應該有孩子，它就會自我毀滅。
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I am 40 and about half of my friends my age have no kids and even from the other half many have only one child.
When I ask them why one major reason is financials and that they can’t afford to have kids or can afford to have only one.
In most of the Western world having kids is an economic decision as well and most people want to make sure once they bring a child to this world, he or she will have a good life.
The other reason is some people choose a childless lifestyle that lets them live an independent life where they can travel or do “fun” stuff.
我40歲了，與我同齡的朋友，有大約一半是沒有孩子的，甚至另一半的朋友也只有一個孩子。
當我問他們?yōu)槭裁?？一個主要原因就是經(jīng)濟問題，他們生不起孩子或只能生一個孩子。
在大多數(shù)西方世界，生孩子是一個經(jīng)濟決定，大多數(shù)人希望確保一旦他們把孩子帶到這個世界上，他或她就會過上美好的生活。
另一個原因是，有些人選擇了沒有孩子的生活方式，讓他們過上獨立的不受影響的生活，在那里他們可以旅行或做“有趣”的事情。
I don't really understand “western culture”. In the US we are such a mix of people that culture is often intermingled. In my family, for example, our traditional Christmas eve dinner is enchiladas. However, we are not if Latino heritage. Another dish my family makes is Navajo fry bread. My mother learned to make it from an elderly Navajo woman in the 60s. And yet, all of us have studied Buddhism. Buddhism is just normal and nothing special.
So what is meant by “western culture”? How are you defining “culture”? It can't be religion because nearly every religion exists in the “west”. It can't be music because much of what is consumed in Europe and the US and any place else considered “Western” comes from other places. Korea, Jamaica, Africa, the middle East.
Many of our clothes use patterns derived from the textures if Japan or India.
What is “Western culture”?
我不太了解“西方文化”。在美國，我們是如此混雜的人群，以至于文化經(jīng)?；祀s在一起。
例如，在我家，我們傳統(tǒng)的圣誕夜晚餐是墨西哥卷餅。然而，我們不是拉丁裔。我家做的另一道菜是納瓦霍炸面包。我母親在60年代從一位年長的納瓦霍婦女那里學會了制作它。然而，我們所有人都學習過佛教。佛教是正常的，沒有什么特別的。
那么“西方文化”是什么意思呢？你是如何定義“文化”的？
它不可能是宗教，因為幾乎所有的宗教都存在于“西方”。它不可能是音樂，因為在歐洲和美國以及其他任何被視為“西方”的地方，充斥著的大部分東西都來自其他地方。韓國、牙買加、非洲、中東。
我們的許多衣服都使用源自日本或印度紋理的圖案。
什么是“西方文化”？
Culture isn’t genetic it is social therefore the premise of your question is wrong to begin with.
文化不是基因決定的，他是社會決定的，因此你的問題的前提一開始就錯了。
We have an overpopulation problem. Don't most religions tell you to be a good steward of the earth?
The last thing in the world humans need is a religious/cultural/race baby making contest.
我們有人口過剩的問題。大多數(shù)宗教都在告訴你要做地球的好管家，難道不是嗎？
世界上的人類，最不需要的就是一場宗教/文化/種族的嬰兒制作比賽。
Western culture has been exported to all corners of the earth. People everywhere aspire to practice western culture. My own dad, for example, when he was a 12 year old Indian boy with no shoes, living on chapati and lentils, wanted to grow up to be Cary Grant.
And he pretty much did.
He married an English girl, moved to Canada, bought a house, a sports car and a Rolex watch. He whistled Rod Stewart songs while he shaved.
西方文化已經(jīng)輸出到世界的各個角落。世界各地的人們都渴望實踐西方文化。
例如，我的父親，當他還是一個12歲的印度男孩，沒有鞋子，靠印度卷餅和扁豆為生時，他想長大成為 Cary Grant 。
他差不多做到了。
他娶了一個英國女孩，搬到加拿大，買了房子、有了跑車和勞力士手表。他一邊刮胡子一邊吹 Rod Stewart 的歌。
There’s more to life than kids. Also, plenty of other people, in different cultures have kids, so humanity isn’t exactly in danger.
Do we? A very small amount of people uses up a very large amount of resources on this planet. Our lifestyle isn’t sustainable even now, when it’s about 15% of this planet’s population. We’d be dead in 50 years if all eight billion tried to live like we do. Maybe it would be not such a bad idea to kill off a culture that dirties and kills the whole planet for the sake of the top 15%.
1、除了孩子，生活中還有更多的東西。此外，在不同文化中，其他人許多都有了孩子，所以人類并沒有滅絕的危險。
2、我們？一小部分人消耗了這個星球上大量的資源。即使是現(xiàn)在，我們的人口約占地球人口的15%的時候，我們的生活方式也是不可持續(xù)的。為了前15%的人口，扼殺一種會污染并殺死整個地球的文化，也許并不是一個壞主意。
Western culture is based in Europe. Europe is overcrowded and Europeans have spread out over the globe. Maybe our (White) numbers are declining slightly, but there’s still a huge number of us on the earth. The real menace to Western culture is not low birthrates of Whites but high birthrates of others. The solution is to promote family planning among ALL people. Then we won’t need to exploit other countries for their resources and they will be able to support themselves and not immigrate to Western countries.
Stop the “baby race” of trying to have the most babies in order to not be outnumbered, because that results in ruin for all of us.
西方文化植根于歐洲。歐洲人滿為患，歐洲人遍布全球。也許我們（白人）的數(shù)量略有下降，但地球上仍然有大量的人。對西方文化的真正威脅不是白人的低出生率，而是其他人的高出生率。解決辦法是在所有人中促進計劃生育。那么我們就不需要為了資源去剝削其他國家了，他們也將能夠養(yǎng)活自己，而不是移民到西方國家。
停止這種為了不被超過而試圖生育最多嬰兒的“嬰兒競賽”，因為這會導致我們所有人的毀滅。
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Within my own lifetime, the population of the USA has doubled. So has the population of the Earth.
As far as I can tell, it defies common sense to imagine that US culture will grind to a halt due to under-population.
在我有生之年，美國的人口翻了一番。地球上的人口也是如此。
據(jù)我所知，想象美國文化會因人口不足而陷入停頓是違反常識的。
You shouldn’t have children to “continue a culture, or at least I hope that isn’t the reson people have children. I wouldn’t know, never had any myself.
I’m curious though. Why should our culture be continued?
你不應該為了“延續(xù)一種文化”而生孩子，或者至少我希望這不是人們生孩子的原因。我不知道，我自己從來沒有生過孩子。
不過我很好奇。為什么我們的文化要延續(xù)下去？
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Really?
I have a daughter, who is 16 and has TWO daughters of her own with her partner, who is nearly 18 years old himself.
I am 36 years old as of date with a new romantic partner and hoping to get pregnant again.
Planning on popping a few more babies out!
真的嗎？
我有一個女兒，她16歲的時候和她的伴侶有了兩個女兒，現(xiàn)在她18歲了。
到目前為止，我已經(jīng)36歲了，有了一個新的浪漫伴侶，希望能再次懷孕。
計劃多生幾個孩子！
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In the US, people can barely afford studio apartments. Imagine needing a 2 or 3 bedroom home, especially with rising rental and purchase prices and the public's insistence that Medicaid and food stamps be stopped. Who the heck is going to have 3 kids and not be able to have housing, food, or medical care for their kids. If people stopped having so many kids, maybe housing prices will fall so people already living here can afford to live inside.
在美國，人們幾乎買不起一室公寓。
想象一下，需要一套2或3居室的房子，尤其是在租金和購買價格不斷上漲，公眾堅持停止醫(yī)療補助和食品券的情況下。誰會想要三個孩子。你無法為孩子提供住房、食物或醫(yī)療服務。如果人們不再生那么多孩子，也許房價就會下跌，然后還活著的人就可以負擔得起住房開支了。
People haven’t stopped having kids, it’s just that more people are choosing not to do so or deciding to wait until they’re ready for them. Back in the day there was a huge stigma against unmarried and childless people (especially women), but nowadays we’ve come to accept that not everybody thinks of those two things as the most important things in their lives, as they did back when child death rates were ridiculously high. Quite frankly, a lot of the people that would be considered at the point that they should start raising families don’t have very reliable or well-paying sources of income relative to their cost of living, so it would probably be for the best that they wait until life gives them a break to have kids.
人們并沒有停止生孩子，只是越來越多的人選擇不生孩子，或者決定等到他們準備好了再生。
在過去，人們給未婚和無子女的人（尤其是女性）打上巨大的羞恥烙印。但現(xiàn)在我們已經(jīng)接受了這樣一個事實，即并不是每個人都認為這兩件事是他們生活中最重要的事情，他們現(xiàn)在并不需要做在兒童死亡率高得離譜時所做的事情。
坦率地說，很多人應該好好考慮，在他們剛剛開始養(yǎng)家的時候，相對于他們的生活成本來說，他們并沒有非?？煽炕蚴杖胴S厚的收入來源，所以他們最好等到生活給了他們喘息的機會的時候再生孩子。