US Births Drop to Lowest Level in More than 40 Years
美国出生率降至40多年来的最低水平
U.S. health officials say the nation's birth rate in 2020 fell to its lowest level in more than 40 years.
美国卫生官员说，美国2020年的出生率降至40多年来的最低水平。
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.
美国疾病控制与预防中心(CDC)在一份新报告中称，在2020年，出生率下降了4%，降到约360万新生儿。这是1979年以来美国出生人数的最低水平。
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.
美国疾病控制与预防中心表示，这是美国出生人数连续第六年下降，2014年是最后一次增长。自2015年以来，平均每年下降2%。
The birth rate dropped for women in every major race and ethnicity, and in nearly every age group.
对所有主要的种族、民族和几乎所有年龄组的女性来说，出生率都出现了下降。
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.
美国疾病控制与预防中心表示，美国生育率——衡量每1000名15至44岁女性生育的数量——在2020年下降了4%。
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.
多年来，美国年轻女性的生育率一直在下降，因为许多母亲组建家庭的时间较晚，家庭规模也较小。35岁后和40多岁女性的生育率一直在缓慢上升。但去年情况开始出现不同。
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.
疾病控制中心的布雷迪·汉密尔顿(Brady Hamilton)是该报告的主要作者。他说，最令人惊讶的结果之一是：即使是年龄较大的母亲，她们的生育率也在下降。
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.
对去年发布的超过99%官方的出生记录进行检查后，产生了这份报告。美联社(Associated Press)通过分析25个州2020年的数据发现：在新冠疫情蔓延期间，出生率已经开始下降。
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.
专家说，疫情可能是导致美国出生率下降的一个原因。对COVID-19和其对经济影响的担忧，可能导致许多夫妇重新考虑是否去要孩子。
Many of the 2020 pregnancies, however, began well（表示程度很大） before the coronavirus pandemic. Hamilton said CDC researchers are working on a second report to explain the decrease.
然而，2020年的许多孕妇早在疫情之前就怀孕了。汉密尔顿说，疾控中心的研究人员正在研究第二份报告来解释下降的原因。
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."
洛娜·索普(Lorna Thorpe)是纽约大学朗格尼医院人口健康系的传染病学的主管。她对路透社表示，最近的出生率下降与近年来的下降趋势一致。但她补充说，2020年的变化也与“疫情造成下降”有关。
Experts say the current generation in America is getting further away from having enough children to replace itself.
专家表示，美国当前这代人越来越不可能生足够多的孩子来取代自己。
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.
许多欧洲国家的出生率也一直在下降，人口专家预测，今年欧洲大陆出生的婴儿数量将大幅下降。
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.
在意大利，在2020年12月，也就是该国进入欧洲首次封锁限制九个月后，出生率下降了22%。很多大公司，包括利洁时(Reckitt)、雀巢(Nestle)和达能(Danone)，纷纷表示：出生率下降导致婴儿配方奶粉的销量大幅下降。
【重点单词和词组】：
major：主要的、大量的
fertility rate：生育率
was based on…：基于…
restriction：限制，约束
lead to：导致
formula：公式、准则、配方、婴儿奶粉
