On Marriage

nancy

A good marriage means growing as a couple but also growing as individuals. This isn’t easy, marriage has always been difficult. Why then are we seeing so many divorces at this time? Yes, our modern social fabric is thin, and the permissiveness of society has created unrealistic expectations and thrown the family in disorder. But divorce is so common because people today are unwilling to exercise the self-discipline that marriage requires. They expect easy joy, like the entertainment on TV, the thrill of a good party.
Marriage takes some kind of sacrifice, not dreadful self-sacrifice of the soul, but some level of compromise. Some of one’s fantasies , some of one’s legitimate desires have to be given up for the value of the marriage itself. ”While all marital partner feels shackled at times, it is they who really choose to make the marriage ties into confining chains or supporting bonds” ,says Dr. Whitaker. Marriage requires sexual, financial and emotional disciplines. A man and a woman cannot follow every impulse, cannot allow himself or herself to stop growing or changing.
A divorce is not an evil act. Sometimes it provides salvation for people who have grown hopelessly apart or frozen in patterns of pains or mutual unhappiness. Divorce can be like the first cut of the surgeon’s knife, a step toward new health and a good life. On the other hand if the partners can stay past the breaking up of the romantic myths into the development of real love and intimacy, they have achieved work as amazing as the greatest cathedrals of the world. Marriages that do not fail but improve, that persist despite imperfection, are not only rare but offer a wondrous shelter in which the face of our mutual humanity can safely show itself.
译文： 美满的婚姻不仅意味着夫妻共同发展与进步，还意味着夫妻二人作为独立的个体也能取得进步。能做到这一点不是一件简单的事，而事实上，婚姻总是不容易的。当今社会，我们为什么会看到如此多的离婚现象呢？是的，我们的社会结构很单薄，同时社会对离婚的纵容态度使人们产生了不切实际的期望，最终把自己的家庭弄得一团糟。但离婚现象之所以很普遍是因为现代人不愿意履行婚姻中的自我约束原则。他们想要瞬间的喜悦，就像电视上的娱乐节目或是一场不错的聚会所能带来的喜悦一样。
婚姻需要某种牺牲，这种牺牲不是指可怕的精神上的自我牺牲，而是指某种程度上的让步。为了婚姻本身一个人不得不放弃某些美好的幻想和某些合理的愿望。威特克博士说：“虽然夫妻双方有时会感到受到了束缚，但事实上，婚姻关系是变成限制自由的枷锁，还是变成相互扶持的纽带是由夫妻双方自己决定的。”婚姻需要性、金钱和情感方面的自律。男人和女人都不能凭冲动做事，也不能允许自己不成长、不改变。
离婚不是一种罪恶的行为。有时候，对生活在毫无希望的婚姻中的人或沉溺在痛苦和不幸中的人来说，离婚是一种解脱。离婚就像外科医生切下的第一刀，虽然痛苦但却是通向健康和美好生活的第一步。从另一方面说，如果夫妻双方能熬过浪漫幻想破灭的打击，在婚姻生活中建立起亲密关系，让真爱得以发展，那么他们就好比完成了一项可与世界上最宏伟壮丽的教堂相媲美的杰作。那些没有破灭而是得到改善的婚姻，那些虽然并不完美却得以维系下来的婚姻，能给夫妻双方提供一个真实展现人性的庇护所，可是这样的婚姻在生活中是很少见的。
  沈文文

Cinderella

Sometimes it provides salvation for people who have grown hopelessly apart or frozen in patterns of pains or mutual unhappiness_______当夫妻已毫无共处的希望，或已冰冻在痛苦的夫妻关系中无以自拔，此时离婚也是一种解脱。

全文翻译得忠实，但是如果能更具语言的美感，就完美了

一起加油哦~~~~