雙語閱讀：中國夫婦爲何不愛“羊”寶寶
摘要:據《華盛頓郵報》報道，有些人生來就是幸運的，然而中國的父母們可不想僅憑機遇來決定他們孩子的命運。
Some people are born lucky. Parents in China, however, would rather not leave their kids’ fate to chance.
For the past few weeks, many couples have been trying desperately to conceive, racing against time to have a baby in the fortuitous Year of the Horse. Their reasoning: No one wants a baby born in 2015, the dreaded Year of the Sheep.
據《華盛頓郵報》報道，有些人生來就是幸運的，然而中國的父母們可不想僅憑機遇來決定他們孩子的命運。
中國夫婦爲何不愛“羊”寶寶
過去幾周內，許多夫妻拼命努力地嘗試受孕，爭分奪秒地想要在幸運的馬年生下一個寶寶。他們的理由很簡單：沒人想在可怕的羊年要小孩。
Sheep are meek creatures, raised for nothing more than slaughter. Babies born in the Year of the Sheep, therefore, will grow up to be followers rather than leaders, according to some superstitions. The children are destined for heArtbreak and failed marriages, and they will be unlucky in business, many Chinese believe. One popular folk saying holds that only one out of 10 people born in the Year of the Sheep finds happiness.
羊是一種溫順的動物，養着就是爲了長大後宰掉吃肉的。按照一些迷信的說法，羊年出生的小孩長大後會像溫順的羊一樣永遠只能追隨別人、永遠都成爲不了領袖。很多中國人認爲，羊年出生的孩子註定要遭受痛苦的心碎，失敗的婚姻和生意上的黴運。其中一個流傳甚廣的民間說法是在十個羊年出生的人中只有一個能找到幸福。
Health professionals say fertility consultations have spiked in recent months. Some doctors even have expressed worries that there may be a corresponding jump in abortions later this year, as couples realize they missed the horse-year cutoff.
健康專家表示，近幾個月的生育諮詢數量大增。有些醫生甚至擔憂年末會有大量的夫婦因錯過馬年生育而選擇墮胎。
According to the Chinese lunar calendar, the Year of the Sheep (also called goat or ram) begins Feb. 19, 2015, so the window for conception closes around the end of this month.
根據中國農曆日曆，羊年(亦稱山羊或綿羊年)從農曆2015年2月29日開始，所以今年最理想的懷孕日期大概在本月月末。
Many patients have inquired about early delivery via Caesarean section to ensure a horse-year birth, said Li Jianjun, an obstetrician at Beijing’s United Family Hospital.
北京和睦家醫院產科醫師李建軍表示，很多夫婦都詢問過可否通過剖腹產以提前在馬年產下孩子。
Some doubt the furor will have a significant effect on the Chinese birthrate this year. But the babymania is so widespread that the state-run China News Service issued a report trying to debunk the “unfounded” myth of bad luck for those born in Year of the Sheep.
有些人認爲這種“馬年趕着生小孩”的狂熱會給今年中國的出生率帶來巨大影響。這種過度狂熱、且大幅傳播的“嬰兒潮”促使官方的中國新聞社專門發表了一期報道，以揭穿“羊年生的小孩走黴運”這種“毫無根據”的民間傳說。
“We try our best to dissuade couples from believing the sheep superstitions,” one official at China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention said. The woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to give an interview, said the subject has become such a prominent issue that it is often addressed in classes for would-be parents.
中國疾病預防控制中心一名不願透露姓名的女官員表示，“我們正盡力規勸夫婦不要相信所謂的羊年迷信。”她表示，關於羊年的迷信已經成爲一個很嚴重的問題，甚至很多時候需要專門的課程來幫助“準父母”們在這方面答疑解惑。
But the medical professionals do not have an easy sell. The official said that even her colleagues at the disease-control center are obsessed with the supposed luck a horse year brings.
但醫務人員不容易。這位官員說，即便是她在疾病控制中心的同事，也對這種馬年好運的說法深信不疑。
‘All that pressure’
“全都是壓力”
It’s unclear how the Year of the Sheep came to acquire its bad reputation.
沒有人清楚羊年黴運的臭名是從哪裏得來的。
Each of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac has it virtues and faults. The undisputed favorite is the dragon, often followed by the tiger and the horse — an energetic animal closely associated with success, according to Chinese sayings.
中國的十二生肖各有優缺點。最受人們喜愛的生肖當屬龍、虎和馬，因爲根據中國的民間說法，這三種充滿力量的動物往往會帶來成功。
Even rats (considered clever and agile) and snakes (which look like mini-dragons) are considered lucky. But sheep have fewer advantageous qualities, according to some interpretations.
即便是老鼠(通常被認爲是聰明和靈巧的)還有蛇(看起來像是一條小龍一樣)都被認爲是幸運的生肖。但就一些對生肖的解讀而言，羊的優點卻寥寥無幾。
Those born in sheep years are thought of as passive, loyal, generous and kind. Some of those virtues may be wonderful in an ideal world, but not so useful in the dog-eat-dog real world.
羊年出生者通常被認作是被動，忠誠，慷慨和善良的人。這些品德在理想的世界裏或許是美好的，但在“狗咬狗”的現實世界中卻沒什麼用途。
“It’s an unfair and outdated superstition,” said Dong Mengzhi, 74, honorary president of Beijing’s Folk Literature and Art Society. “But it’s a convenient way for many to explain an unpredictable world.”
“這是一個不公平的、過時了的迷信，”74歲的北京民間文藝家協會名譽主席董夢知說，“但是對很多人而言，這是一種便於用來解釋不可預知世界的方法。”
Unfair or not, one of the first things Zhang Xiaolei’s parents did when she got engaged in 2012 was to sit down with a Chinese zodiac calendar.
不管這個生肖的說法公不公平，張小蕾2012年訂婚時，她父母首先做的事情就是坐下來仔細地研究中國的黃道日曆。
“We all agreed to hurry up and avoid the sheep,” said Zhang, 26, a government worker in Shangdong province.
“我們都想要快點生孩子，避免趕上羊年。”26歲的山東省政府工作者張女士說。
Her husband quit drinking and started exercising in an effort to increase his fertility. Zhang went on a diet and got more sleep. But after a year and half of trying, nothing.
她的丈夫戒酒同時也開始了鍛鍊，努力提高生育率。張女士也開始節食並且增加了睡眠。但是經過一年半的嘗試之後，張女士還是沒有懷上孩子。
“I don’t know what happened,” she sighed. “Maybe it was all that pressure.”
“我不知道怎麼回事，”張女士嘆息道，“可能都是迷信帶來的壓力。”
She and her husband — both born in a dragon year, the luckiest of all — have consoled themselves with the hope that, if they do conceive later this year, their baby will be that one lone sheep in 10 to find happiness.
張女士和她的丈夫都出生於最幸運的龍年，他們安慰自己“如果在今年後段懷孕，他們的孩子一定會是十個羊年生人中的可以找到幸福的那一個”。
Others who fear they will miss their window have flocked to support groups that have sprung up online.
其他擔心錯失生育良機的夫婦紛紛蜂擁向迅速涌現的在線支持組尋求幫助。
Boom periods
繁盛時期
While demographers acknowledge the Chinese zodiac’s cultural importance, some have thrown cold water on the idea that it affects birthrates on a national scale.
雖然人口學家承認中國十二生肖文化的重要性，有些人還是向這種文化潑來了冷水，因爲他們認爲這種文化影響了全國人口的出生率。
Some Chinese provinces and hospitals have at times shown increases in births during lucky animal years and decreases in sheep years, but there is no discernible effect on national demographics, according to Duan Chengrong, a population expert who in 2003 published one of the only studies available on the phenomenon.
根據人口學專家段成榮所言，雖然中國的一些省份和醫院的新生兒出生數屢次在幸運生肖年和羊年之間起落，但是它對國家人口卻沒有什麼明顯的影響。段成榮先生在2003年出版了對這一現象研究僅有的幾部可用專著之一。
“It doesn’t mean it isn’t a factor,” he said by phone last week. “But its effects are likely diluted and overshadowed by others.”
“這並不意味着生肖迷信沒有影響，”他在上週的一次電話通話中說，“但這種迷信的影響可能被其他因素的影響給淡化或者掩蓋了。”
Among the factors that have affected China’s birthrate in recent decades, and complicated the interpretation of such data, are political and economic upheaval and the government’s one-child policy.
在近幾十年來影響中國人口出生率的因素中，使這些數據很難解讀的一大部分原因就是政治經濟動盪和獨生子女政策。
In other countries, demographers have also grappled with theories of baby booms linked to specific events.
在其他國家，人口統計學家還堅持着嬰兒潮與特定事件有關聯的理論。
In the United States, for example, New York newspapers famously announced a boom in pregnancies after the massive blackout of 1965, during which couples supposedly had nothing better to do than procreate. But such a phenomenon was debunked in later years by population experts.
比如在美國，紐約的報紙曾宣佈，在1965年大規模停電後，懷孕者數量大增，因爲在這期間夫婦可能除了生育之外沒有什麼其他可以用來消遣的事情了。但在一些年後，人口專家揭露了這種現象的真實原因。
For those in China most schooled in the mystical arts of fortunetelling, all this attention to the Chinese zodiac calendar year is wasted.
對於中國那些精於算命的人而言，所有對中國生肖日曆年的關注都是徒勞的。
“Ordinary people only care about the zodiac because it is much easier to understand than the truth. To us true feng-shui masters, the zodiac doesn’t matter at all,” said Wen Chaoliang, 39. “What matters most isn’t the year you are born but the exact time of delivery.”
“平常人僅僅關注生肖而非真理是因爲生肖更加簡單易懂。對我們而言真正有影響的是風水，而非生肖，”39歲的文超良說，“對你命運真正有影響的不是你出生的年份而是你出生的具體時間。”
Feng shui is the ancient art of arranging objects or numbers to improve luck.
風水是一種通過合理安排物品或數目來提升運勢的古老藝術。
For $500, Wen said, he has been helping couples pick the most fortuitous hours for their planned C-sections-.
交五百美元，文超良就會幫助夫婦挑選最幸運的時間進行剖腹產。
For an extra $130, he throws in a lucky name. For $3,000, he will rearrange your home’s furniture to ensure the best possible future for your child.
再交130美元，他就會給孩子起一個交好運的名字。交3000美元，他就會重新安排你傢俱的位置，以確保孩子最優秀的未來發展。
“Don’t you want your baby to be successful? Don’t you want your baby to be healthy and beautiful?” he said. “Think about it. Isn’t it worth it?”
“你不想讓你的孩子成功嗎?你不想讓你的孩子健康可愛嗎?”他說，“認真考慮考慮吧，這不是很值得的交易嗎?”
