台湾年轻女性不惧当“剩女”

    　'Women now have choices,' says Violeta Zhang, a 33-year-old accountant who says she plans to stay single. 'I can hang out with you, but I'm not bound to you. That's a choice.'

　　“女性现在有多种选择。”33岁打算独身的会计张小姐说，“我可以跟你约会，但不会受你束缚，这就是多种选择中的一种。”

　　Family and friends often see the lifestyle as a phase and expect the singletons to settle down, and many singletons do insist they're not opposed to marriage, just determined not to commit until they find the right partner -- one who respects their independence and shares their life goals. Presumably that means not expecting a wife to stay home and put up with a meddling mother-in-law.

　　独身女性的亲友往往将其单身生活视为一个阶段，希望她们最终安定下来，结婚生子。此外，不少独身主义者坚持说，她们并不反对结婚，只是下决心在找到理想的另一半前坚守阵地。理想的另一半必须尊重她们的独立性，拥有共同的生活目标；也就是说，不能指望妻子呆在家里相夫教子，忍受婆婆的指手划脚。

　　'Men have to change,' says Lan Pei-chia, a sociologist at National Taiwan University.

　　“男人必须改变自己的想法，”台湾大学的社会学者蓝佩嘉说道。

　　'I'm selfish. Most single women are selfish,' says Jiang Chun-mei, a 43-year-old English teacher.

　　“我很自私，大多数独身女性都很自私。”43岁的英语教师江春梅(音)说道。

　　In her 20s, Ms. Jiang had a steady Taiwanese boyfriend, but was put off marriage by the prospect of moving in with his family and becoming 'one more chopstick' at the table. After seven years she broke it off. (Her former boyfriend married another woman within a year; the couple now has two children.)

　　20多岁时，江春梅有一个稳定的台湾男朋友，但她由于不愿接受住进他的大家庭，成为“多添一双筷子”的那个，因此推迟婚期。七年后，她提出分手。（她前男友一年后娶了另一个女孩，已有两个孩子。）

　　Today Ms. Jiang dates only foreign men who don't want to tie her down. Her circle of friends includes both single and married women. She jokes with her single friends that their future will be a Taiwanese version of the 'Golden Girls,' an American TV show about four female retirees living together in Florida. 'It's just my lifestyle,' she says. 'It's natural, quite comfortable.'

　　现在，江春梅只跟不想把她拴在身边的外国男人约会。她的朋友圈既有单身女性，也有已婚女性。她和自己的单身朋友开玩笑说，她们的未来将是台湾版的《黄金女郎》(Golden Girls)，这是一部讲述四个女性退休后一起住在佛罗里达的美剧。“这就是我想要的生活方式，”她说，“这很自然，也很舒服。”

　　Last year, Ms. Jiang took a month off to visit France, staying with friends. Ms. Zhang, the accountant, can't get enough of Spain and is fluent in the language. For Ms. Chen, the singleton guru, the hot destination is Bangkok. She recently wrote a Bangkok guidebook, spliced with photos of her shopping for clothes and eating her way around town.

　　去年，江春梅去法国度了一个月的假，跟朋友住在一起。会计张小姐特别喜欢西班牙，说一口流利的西班牙语。独身名人陈仪丽最喜欢的地方是曼谷，最近写了一本曼谷的旅行指南，里头有不少她买衣服和品尝美食的照片。