托福词汇介绍之晚婚Late Marriage

民政部本周发布的统计公报称，我国公民晚婚正呈逐年上升趋势。去年，我国25-29岁办理结婚登记的公民占到了结婚总人数的34%，较上年增加了0.8个百分点。

【相关的英文报道】

More Chinese are preferring to late marriage， with an increasing number tying the knot after reaching 25， according to statistics issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Wednesday.

据民政部本周三发布的统计数据，越来越多的中国人选择晚婚，25岁以后结婚的人数正逐年增加。

The number of Chinese getting married between 20 and 24 years old made up the largest proportion， accounting for 35.5 percent of last year‘s total marriage registrations.

20~24岁结婚的人是最多的。去年，该年龄段结婚的人数占到了结婚登记总人数的35.5%，

The figure has decreased by about 1.1 percentage points annually. Meanwhile，

而这个数字正以每年约1.1%的比率下跌。

the 25-29 age bracket saw an increasing number of marriage registrations last year， up by 0.8 percentage points from the previous year to 34.2 percent.

与此同时，25~29岁结婚的人数有所增加，去年，该年龄段占到了结婚登记总人数的34.2%，较上一年增长了0.8个百分点。

The legal age for marriage in China is 22 for males and 20 for females.

中国的法定结婚年龄为男性公民22岁，女性公民20岁。

【单词讲解】

文中的late marriage就是“晚婚”的意思，也可以说成是marry at a late age。类似的表达法还有late arrival 迟到、晚点；late spring 晚春；late work 晚期作品；the late 19th century 十九世纪末；late payment 逾期付款；late hour 深更半夜。

此外，文中还有一些表达法值得一学。段的tie the knot为习惯用法，意思是“结婚”、“喜结良缘”；the Ministry of Civil Affairs 民政部；还有第二段的marriage registration意思是“结婚登记”。