家庭和生活开销

"In many historical societies, it was assumed that men worked full time as small self-sufficient farmers, business owners, or employees, while women did full-time housework."

在历史上的许多社会里，普遍假设男人全职作工，做自给自足的小农、小店主或是雇员；而女人则全职家政。

"An unmarried man supported one person, himself, at the full cost of living."

没结婚的男人只供养一个人——他自己——花的是一整份的生活开销。

"If he married, his wife's domestic work in effect paid her cost of living in kind, but earned no surplus."

如果他结婚，他妻子在家里做的活计事实上以实物的方式支付了她的生活开销，但赚不到盈余。

Excess income after cost of living was the same either way.

两种情况下，超出生活开销的收入是一样的。

"A married man who could support a wife who didn't spend all day on menial tasks had an income good enough to pay the cost of living for them both, in effect paying for servants to do a wife's work - a visible sign of higher Status."

结了婚的男人如果负担了妻子的开销，他就不必整日操心鸡毛蒜皮的工作，而可以赚得更可观的收入来支付两个人的开销，如同花钱雇仆人来做妻子的工作——这是高{地位}的外在表现之一。

"In many contemporary societies, technology supports another approach."

在许多当代社会中，科技带来了另一种方案。

"Electrical appliances, frozen and other packaged foods, wrinkle-free fabric, easily cleaned surfaces, and other technologies substitute for domestic labor, freeing both halves of a couple to hold down jobs."

电器、包装好的冷冻食物、无褶面料、易擦洗的表面等等这些科技成果简化了家政工作，让夫妻双方都能外出上班。

"In that case, two full-time jobs pay two instances of cost of living, and may well generate a large surplus."

这时，两份工作的收入可以支付两份生活开销，而且可能会有很大的盈余。

"In effect, a collection of domestic conveniences replaces the need for a full-time housewife or servants, but two people have to find and keep jobs to pay for it all."

实际上，家务上的方便使得全职主妇或是仆人不再必要，但夫妻两人都要保持工作来支付这些方便的成本。

Giving Offense