发布时间 : 星期一 文章《高级英语》课文逐句翻译(20)Lesson Four BThe Tragedy（悲剧） of Old Age in America更新完毕开始阅读205fe9215901020207409ca5
慢而遭到不耐烦的司机呵斥。
Traffic lights turn red before they can get across the street . 还没等他们走过马路交通灯就变红了。
Revolving doors move too quickly . Subways usually have no elevators .(電梯)or escalators .
旋转门转动太快，地铁通常没有电梯或自动扶梯。 Old women fare worse than old men . 老年妇女比老年男子遭遇更惨。
Women have an average life expectancy of seven years longer than men and tend to marry men older than themselves ;
妇女的平均估计寿命比男子长 7年，她们一般倾向于和比自己年长的男子结婚，
so two-thirds ( six million ) of all older women are widows . 因此老年妇女中2／3（约六百万）是寡妇。
When widowed they do not have the social prerogatives as older men to date and marry those who are younger .
丧夫之后她们没有和老年男子一样的与比自己年轻的异性约会结婚的社会权利，
As a result , they are likely to end up alone 结果是她们很可能独自度过余生。
---an ironic turn 諷刺意義of events when one remembers that most of them were raised from childhood to consider marriage the
only acceptable state .
她们老年时的遭遇实在是个很有讽刺意味。如果人们记得她们中多数人从童年起受到的教育就是把婚姻看作是唯一可以接受的生活状况，
The income levels of older working women are generally lower than those of men ;
老年职业妇女的收入水平一般低于男子，
many never worked outside the home until their children were grown and then only at unskilled , low-paying jobs .
许多妇女直到子女长大才离家出外工作，结果只干些非技术性的、工资低的活。
Others who worked all their lives typically received low wages , with lower Social Security and private retirement benefits as a result .
还有一些妇女工作了一辈子工资还是很少，结果是社会福利和非官方退休津贴都很低。
Until 1973 , housewives who were widowed received only 82.5 per cent of their husband ‘s Social Security benefits even though they were full –time home –makers .
直到1973年为止，死去丈夫的家庭妇女，尽管她们专职全天工作持家，却只能领取去世丈夫的社会福利金的82．5％。 Black , Mexican –American and American Indian elderly all
have a lower life expectancy than whites , due to their socioeconomic disadvantages .
黑人、美籍西哥人、美国印第安人的老人，由于他们社会经济上的不利地位， 估计寿命都低于白人。
Although the life expectancy of 67.5 years for white men remained the same from 1960to 1968 , the life expectancy for black men declined a full year during that time ( from 61.1 to 60.0) . 从1960年到1968年，尽管白人男子的估计寿命保持在67.5岁，黑人男子的估计寿命在此期间整整减少了1岁（从61.1岁减至60岁）。
Blacks of all ages make up 11 per cent of the total United States population , but they constitute only 7.8 per cent of the elderly . 各个年龄段的黑人一共占美国总人口的11％，但在老人中黑人只占 7.8％。
The life expectancy for Mexican- Americans is estimated at 57 years , and for American Indians at 44 years .
美籍墨西哥人的估计寿命是57岁，美国印第安人为44岁。 Most do not live long enough to be eligible (符合條件)for the benefits of Social Security and Medicare .
多数人没有能活到有资格领取社会福利补助和享受国家医疗照顾
Poverty is the norm . Scant attention is paid to their particular cultural interests and heritage .
贫困是他们标准的生活方式， 对他们独特的文化兴趣与传统很少给予关注。