爲什麼越來越多的亞洲男性娶洋媳婦?
Increasing numbers of southeast Asian men, particularly in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are marrying foreigners because fewer women in their homelands are willing to wed, a new study said Monday.
本週一發佈的一項最新調查稱，由於當地的願嫁女越來越少，東南亞越來越多的男性開始娶外籍媳婦，這一現象在日本、韓國和中國臺灣地區最爲突出。
The phenomenon, which dates back more than a decade, has even created a detectable trend in women's migration, said the study by Daniele Belanger of the University of Western Ontario University.
這項由加拿大西安大略大學的丹尼爾•貝朗格開展的研究稱，這一現象在十幾年前就開始出現，甚至催生了一股明顯的女性移民潮。
"Since the beginning of the 1990s, more and more men in southeast Asia are looking abroad to find a wife," wrote Belanger in the journal of France's National Institute for Demographic Studies (INED).
貝朗格在發表於法國人口研究所期刊上的報告中寫道：“自上世紀90年代初以來，東南亞地區越來越多的男性開始娶外國老婆。”
In Taiwan, 15 percent of wives were of foreign origin in 2009; eight percent in South Korea.
據統計，中國臺灣地區2009年的外籍媳婦比例爲15%，韓國的這一比例爲8%。
In Japan, the phenomenon started earlier, in the 1980s, but has remained at a modest level: only five or six percent of marriages in the mid-2000s involved foreign wives.
在日本，這一現象出現於更早的80年代，但外國媳婦這一羣體的數量一直沒有大的增長：21世紀初期中葉，日本“洋媳婦”的比例僅爲5%至6%。
But in all three places, foreign brides represented the largest group of new immigrants apart from the temporary workers, wrote Belanger. And the reason was the lack of women at home, she added.
貝朗格寫道，在以上三個地區，外籍媳婦成爲除臨時勞工外最大的新移民羣體。據她分析，這一現象的主要原因是這些地方想結婚的女性越來越少。
With women's education levels rising so was their representation in the workplace, she explained.
她解釋稱，隨着女性受教育水平的提高，她們在職場的地位也得以提升。
Increasing numbers of them were not willing to settle for the traditional role of a wife -- at least as it exists in its current form. They preferred to keep their jobs and stay single.
越來越多的女性不再滿足於做一個賢妻良母——至少目前存在這種情況。她們希望能繼續工作，不着急結婚。
For men however, "they have the responsibility to continue the paternal line by giving birth to a son and, in many cases, looking after their aged parents," Belanger wrote.
貝朗格寫道，但對於男性來說，“他們肩負着傳宗接代的任務，很多人還有照顧雙親的重任。”
They could not therefore remain bachelors.
因此他們不可能到了一定的年齡還不結婚。
There were even marriage agencies specialising in this sector, charging the man's family between 5,000 and 10,000 euros.
一些地區甚至還有此類的婚介機構，費用爲五千至一萬歐元不等。
