Maybe later, baby

孩子，再等等

Why the middle-aged are replacing teenagers in maternity wards

為什么中年婦女正在取代年輕一代成為產(chǎn)房主力軍？

maternity ward/產(chǎn)科病房

The conception rate is rising for women over 40, even as it crashes among under-18s

40歲以上女性的懷孕率正在上升，而18歲以下女性的懷孕率卻在下降

Apr 17th 2019

IN HER 20S, Claire Fenelon was much too busy to have children. After going to university as a mature student, she spent a year in Australia then a few months in France, picking up the language. “I didn’t want to feel I was missing out,” she says. But by the time she was ready to settle down, she struggled to find the right man. At 39, she froze her eggs. Eight years later and still lacking a partner, she decided to “go solo”, giving birth to a son with the help of a sperm donor. “I was desperate to have kids,” she says. “But I didn’t want to have them with the wrong person.”

在她20多歲的時(shí)候，Claire Fenelon因?yàn)榉泵Χ鵁o空生孩子。作為一名超齡生進(jìn)入大學(xué)后，她在澳大利亞待了一年，然后在法國(guó)待了幾個(gè)月，學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)言。她說:“我不想感覺自己被遺漏了?！钡?dāng)她準(zhǔn)備安定下來的時(shí)候，卻很難找到合適的男人。39歲時(shí)，她把她的卵子冷凍起來。八年后，仍然沒有伴侶的她決定“自己生一個(gè)”，在捐精者的幫助下生下了一個(gè)兒子?！拔曳浅Ｏ胍⒆?，”她說?！暗也幌胱屗麄儯ㄗ约旱暮⒆樱┖筒缓线m的人在一起?！?/p>

詞匯

Sperm/精///子

Ms Fenelon belongs to a growing cohort of middle-aged women on maternity wards. As in other rich countries, the fertility rate in England and Wales is dwindling. But among women aged 40 and over the conception rate is rising. It jumped by 2.6% in 2017 and has more than doubled since 1990, according to statistics published on April 15th.

Fenelon女士是產(chǎn)房里越來越多的中年女性大軍中的一員。和其他富裕國(guó)家一樣，英格蘭和威爾士的生育率正在下降。但在40歲以上的女性中，懷孕率正在上升。據(jù)4月15日公布的統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)顯示，中年女性的懷孕了到2017年已經(jīng)躍升到了2.6%，根據(jù)4月15日的公布的調(diào)查數(shù)據(jù)，這一數(shù)值是自1990年來所記錄的數(shù)值的一倍多。

Cohort/一群；步兵大隊(duì)；支持者；同生群

Dwindling/減少

Meanwhile, at the other end of the age spectrum, an even starker change is afoot. The official figures chart the tenth consecutive annual fall in the rate of teenage pregnancies. Since 2007 the conception rate for 15- to 17-year-old girls has dived by 57%. The conception rates of the youngest and oldest mothers are now close to converging (see chart). Middle-aged maternity may soon be more common than teenage pregnancy.

與此同時(shí)，在年齡譜的另一端，一個(gè)更明顯的變化正在發(fā)生。官方數(shù)據(jù)顯示，少女懷孕率連續(xù)10年下降。自2007年以來，15至17歲女孩的懷孕率下降了57%?，F(xiàn)在，年齡最小的母親和年齡最大的母親的懷孕率接近于一致(見圖表)。中年孕婦可能很快就會(huì)比少女懷孕更為普遍。

詞匯

Spectrum/光譜；頻譜；范圍；余象

Stark/完全的；荒涼的；刻板的；

Afoot/在進(jìn)行中的；

Consecutive/連貫的；連續(xù)不斷的

Converging/聚合，集中于一點(diǎn)

Advances in health care help to explain the convergence. Although assisted conception accounts for only a small proportion of pregnancies, it is growing more popular and more successful. Between 1991 and 2016, birth rates from?in vitro?fertilisation treatment increased by more than 85%. In 2016 more than 20,000 babies were born following?IVF?(out of a total of 696,000 births that year). About three-fifths of women who use it are 35 or over. Demand is likely to increase as women learn of others whose treatment has been successful. Ms Fenelon was inspired by a magazine article about egg-freezing.

醫(yī)療保健的發(fā)展有助于解釋這種懷孕率逐漸趨于一致現(xiàn)象。雖然輔助受孕只占懷孕的一小部分，但它越來越受歡迎，也越來越成功。從1991年到2016年，體外受精治療的出生率增長(zhǎng)了85%以上。2016年，2萬多名嬰兒通過體外受精出生(當(dāng)年共有69.6萬名嬰兒出生)。借此生孩子的女性，約有五分之三年齡在35歲以上。隨著女性了解到其他體外受精成功得子的事例，需求可能會(huì)增加。Fenelon女士的啟發(fā)（冷凍卵子）來自雜志上一篇關(guān)于冷凍卵子的文章。

詞匯

in vitro fertilization/體外授精；試管內(nèi)授精