(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
US Births Drop to Lowest Level in More than 40 Years
U.S. health officials say the nation's birth rate in 2020 fell to its lowest level in more than 40 years.
The rate fell 4 percent in 2020 to about 3.6 million babies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a new report. That is the lowest number of U.S. births since 1979.
The CDC said it was the sixth year in a row that the U.S. saw a decrease in births after the last increase in 2014. The rate has dropped an average of 2 percent per year since 2015.
The birth rate dropped for women in every major race and ethnicity, and in nearly every age group.
The CDC said the U.S. fertility rate -- which measures the number of births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 -- declined by 4 percent in 2020.
U.S. births have been decreasing in younger women for many years, as many mothers started families later and had smaller families. Birth rates for women in their late 30s and in their 40s have slowly been increasing. But last year was different.
The CDC's Brady Hamilton was the lead writer of the report. He said one of the most surprising results was the decrease in births even for older mothers.
The CDC report was based on an examination of more than 99 percent of official birth records issued last year. The Associated Press found that births had fallen during the coronavirus pandemic by looking at 2020 data from 25 states.
Experts say the pandemic was one likely cause of the drop in U.S. birth rates. Fears about COVID-19 and its effects on the economy may have caused many couples to rethink having a child.
Many of the 2020 pregnancies, however, began well before the coronavirus pandemic. Hamilton said CDC researchers are working on a second report to explain the decrease.
Lorna Thorpe is the director of epidemiology at the Department of Population Health at New York University's Langone Hospital. She told Reuters that the latest birth rate drop was in keeping with the downward trend seen in recent years. But she added that the change in 2020 was also linked to "pandemic-related reductions."
Experts say the current generation in America is getting further away from having enough children to replace itself.
Many European countries have also been experiencing birth rate drops and population experts have predicted major decreases in babies born across the continent this year.
In Italy, births fell 22 percent in December 2020, nine months after the country went into Europe's first lockdown restrictions. Some large corporations, including Reckitt, Nestle and Danone, say lower birth rates also led to big sales drops in baby formula.
I'm Dan Friedell.
重点解析
重点讲解：
1. get away from 避免；摆脱；逃离
I won't be able to get away from the office before 7.
我7点钟之前无法离开办公室。
2. be based on... 基于；根据；以...为基础
The novel is based on a true story.
这部小说是根据真实的故事写成的。
3. in keeping with 与...一致
Everything in the room looks in keeping with the age of the building.
该房间里的一切看起来都和该楼的年代相符。
4. in a row 连续；成一排的
Inflation has fallen for the third month in a row.
通货膨胀率连续第三个月在下降。
参考译文
美国2020年新生儿数量创逾40年新低
美国卫生官员表示，该国2020年出生率降至40多年来的最低水平。
美国疾病控制与预防中心(CDC)在一份新报告中称，2020年美国的生育率下降了4%，出生了大约360万名婴儿。这是1979年以来美国出生人口的最低水平。
美国疾病控制与预防中心表示，这是自2014年出生率最后一次增长后，连续6年出现下降。自2015年以来，美国的生育率平均每年下降2%。
每个主要种族，以及几乎所有年龄阶段的女性的生育率都有所下降。
美国疾病控制与预防中心表示，该国2020年一般生育率下降了4%，一般生育率用于衡量每1000名15到44岁育龄妇女中的生育数量。
多年来，美国年轻女性的生育率一直在下降，因为很多女性晚婚、少育。三十多岁和四十多岁的女性的生育率一直在缓慢增长。但是去年该形势发生了变化。
美国疾病控制与预防中心的布雷迪·汉密尔顿（Brady Hamilton）是这篇报告的主要作者。他说，最令人惊讶的结果之一是年纪较大的女性的生育率也在下降。
美国疾病控制与预防中心的报告是基于对去年发布的超过99%的官方出生记录的核查。美联社通过分析25个州在2020年的数据后发现，新冠病毒疫情期间的出生人数也有所下降。
专家表示，疫情可能是导致美国生育率下降的原因之一。对新冠病毒及其对经济影响的担忧可能会让许多夫妇重新考虑生育。
然而，2020年的许多孕妇是在新冠疫情开始前怀孕的。汉密尔顿表示，美国疾病控制与预防中心的研究人员正在准备第二份报告，解释生育率下降的原因。
洛娜·索普（Lorna Thorpe）是纽约大学朗格尼医院人口健康部门的流行病学主任。她对路透社表示，近期生育率下降跟近年来的下降趋势一致。但她还指出，2020年的变化还跟疫情相关的人口缩减有关。
专家表示，美国这一代人正在老去，却没有足够的新生儿完成人口更替。
许多欧洲国家的出生率也在下降，人口专家预测，今年欧洲大陆的婴儿出生率将大幅下降。
2020年12月，在意大利进入欧洲首次封锁禁令九个月后，该国的出生率下降了22%。包括利洁时(Reckitt)、雀巢(Nestle)和达能(Danone)在内的一些大公司表示，出生率下降也导致婴儿配方奶粉销量骤减。
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译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
