【新詞新意】starter marriage 起步婚姻.

　　前些年流行“閃婚”，聽說后來又流行“閃離”。大致意思就是兩個人一高興就結(jié)婚了，然后相處不高興就離婚了。原來開始和結(jié)束一段婚姻可以如此簡單!這一類婚姻大部分都可以歸入starter marriage的行列。

　　A starter marriage is a first marriage that lasts five years or less and ends without the couple having any children together. The term, a play on the expression "starter home", appears as one of the footnotes in Douglas Coupland&aposs 1991 novel Generation X. However, published usage of the term grew significantly after the publication of Pamela Paul&aposs 2002 book The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony.

　　Starter marriage(“起步婚姻”或“新手婚姻”)指雙方初婚、婚姻持續(xù)時間不到五年且沒有子女的婚姻。這個表達(dá)由starter home(首次置業(yè))演變而來，初現(xiàn)于(加拿大小說家)道格拉斯?柯普蘭1991年的小說《X世代》的腳注中。不過，這個表達(dá)在出版物中大量使用則是在帕米拉?保羅2002年的著作《新手婚姻與婚姻生活的未來》出版之后。

　　She claimed that some young couples get married for reasons not strong enough to support a long relationship, and that an increasing number of them end their marriages quickly. Paul&aposs book caused controversy for suggesting that these divorces are a good thing, if the couple have not had children.

　　帕米拉?保羅指出，有些年輕夫妻結(jié)婚時的理由不夠充分，不足以維持一段長久的關(guān)系，因此他們中很多人的婚姻很快就結(jié)束了。因為在書中暗示如果沒有孩子的話，這些婚姻結(jié)束是一件好事，保羅的這本書曾引發(fā)爭議。