导读: 如今，美国独居老人的数量比以往任何时候都多。

In many ways, the nation's housing stock has grown out of sync with these shifting demographics.

在许多方面，美国的住房存量已经与这些不断变化的人口结构脱节。

Many solo adults live in homes with at least three bedrooms, census data shows, but find that downsizing is not easy because of a shortage of smaller homes in their towns and neighborhoods.

人口普查数据显示，许多单身成年人住在至少有三间卧室的房子里，但他们发现缩小住房面积并不容易，因为他们所在的城镇和社区缺少较小的房子。

Compounding the challenge of living solo, a growing share of older adults — about 1 in 6 Americans 55 and older — do not have children, raising questions about how elder care will be managed in the coming decades. "What will happen to this cohort?" Dr. Schafer asked.

让独居的挑战雪上加霜的是，越来越多的老年人——55岁及以上的美国人中约有六分之一——没有孩子。这引发了未来几十年如何照顾老年人的疑问。“这群人的未来将走向何处呢？”谢弗医生问道。

"Can they continue to find other supports that compensate for living alone?" For many solo adults, the pandemic highlighted the challenges of aging.

“他们还能找到其他帮助，以补偿独居的孤寂吗？”对于许多单身成年人来说，这场疫情突显了老龄化的挑战。

Ms. Selman, the 55-year-old professor, lived in Terre Haute, Ind., when Covid-19 hit. Divorced for 17 years, she said she used the enforced isolation to establish new routines to stave off loneliness and depression. 当新冠肺炎来袭时，现年55岁的塞尔曼教授住在印第安纳州的特雷豪特。离婚17年的她说，她利用强制隔离期来养成新的习惯，以缓解孤独和抑郁。

She quit drinking and began regularly calling a group of female friends. This year, she got a new job and moved to Normal, Ill., in part because she wanted to live in a state that better reflected her progressive politics.

她戒酒了，并开始定期给一群女性朋友打电话。今年，她找到了一份新工作，搬到了伊利诺伊州的诺默尔，部分原因是她想生活在一个更能反映她的进步主义政治的州。

She has met new friends at a farmers' market, she said, and is happier than she was before the pandemic, even though she occasionally wishes she had a romantic partner to take motorcycle rides with her or just to help carry laundry up and down the stairs of her three-bedroom home.

她说，她在一个农贸市场结识了新朋友，比疫情爆发前更快乐，尽管她偶尔希望有一个恋人和她一起骑摩托车，或者只是在她的三居室家里帮忙把洗好的衣服搬到楼上楼下。

1. compound

v.使加重，使恶化；合成，混合；以复利计算支付；和解，私了

n.混合物，化合物；复合词；大院，有围墙的场地

adj.复合的，混合的；以复利计算的

E. g. The problems were compounded by severe food shortages. 严重的食物短缺使问题进一步恶化。

2. enforce

v. 实施，执行（法律、规章）；强迫，迫使；

E.g. It's the job of the police to enforce the law. 警察的工作就是执法。

3. stave off

避开；延缓

E.g. There's no sense of straining to stay awake or to stave off sleep. 

并没有那种持续的竭力保持清醒，从而延缓睡觉的感觉，我根本就没有睡意。

She regularly drives 12 hours round trip to care for her parents near Detroit, an obligation that has persuaded her to put away her retirement fantasy of living near the beach, and move someday closer to her daughter and grandson, who live in Louisville,Ky.

为了照顾住在底特律附近的父母，她经常开车往返12个小时，这一义务使她放弃了退休后住在海滩附近的幻想，也让她需要在将来搬到离住在肯塔基州路易斯维尔的女儿和孙子更近的地方。

"I don't want my daughter to stress out about me," she said. Watching their own parents age seems to have had a profound effect on many members of Gen X, born between 1965 and 1980, who say they doubt that they can lean on the same supports that their parents did: long marriages, pensions, homes that sometimes skyrocketed in value.

“我不想让我女儿因为我感到有压力，”她说。观察自己父母的年龄似乎对出生于1965年至1980年之间的许多X世代成员产生了深远的影响。他们说，怀疑自己能否拥有像父母那样的依靠：长久的婚姻、养老金，以及有可能会价值飙升的住房。

When his mother died two years ago, Mr.Miles, the videographer, took comfort in moving some of her furniture into his house in New Haven, Conn.

两年前，他的母亲去世了。摄影师迈尔斯把她的一些家具搬到了他位于康涅狄格州纽黑文的房子里，这让他感到欣慰。

"It was a coming home psychologically," he said, allowing him to feel rooted after decades of cross-country moves and peripatetic career explorations, shifting from the music business to high school teaching to producing films for nonprofits and companies.

“这是一次心理上的回家旅程，”他说，这让他在数十年的越野搬家和巡回职业探索之后感到扎根。他从音乐行业转向高中教学，再到为非营利性组织和公司制作影片。

"I still feel pretty indestructible, foolishly or not," he said. Still, caring for his divorced mother made him think about his own future. She had a government pension, security he lacks.

“我仍然觉得自己坚不可摧，不管这是不是愚蠢。”他说。尽管如此，照顾离异的母亲还是让他思考了自己的未来。他的母亲有政府养老金，这种保障是他所缺乏的。

Nor does he have children. "I can't call my kid," he added, "the way I used to go to my mom's house to change light bulbs."

他也没有孩子。“我不能打电话给子女，”他补充道，“没有人像我过去那样去我妈妈家 换灯泡。

His options for maintaining independence are "all terrible," he said. "I'm totally freaked out by it."

他说，他为保持独立所做的选择“都很糟糕”。“我完全被它吓坏了。”

Several Gen X solo dwellers said they had begun exploring options to live communally as they age, inspired, in part, by living arrangements they had enjoyed in college years and young adulthood.

几个X世代的独居者说，随着年龄增长，他们已经开始探索集体生活的可能性，部分灵感来自于在大学和年轻时的生活安排。

"I've been talking to friends about end-of-life issues and how we might want to get together," said Patrick McComb, 56, of Riverview, Mich., a graphic artist. "Being alone till the end would not be the worst thing in the world. But I would prefer to be with people."

56岁的帕特里克·麦库姆住在密歇根州的里弗维尤，他说：我一直在和朋友们谈论临终关怀的问题，以及我们可能想要住在一起。他是一位平面艺术家。“孤独终老并不是世界上最糟糕的事情。但我更喜欢和其他人在一起。”

1. obligation

n.（法律上或道义上的）义务，责任；恩惠，人情债；（承诺付款等的）合同，契约；必须要做的事情

E.g. She did not feel under any obligation to tell him the truth. 她觉得没有义务告诉他实情。

2. peripatetic

adj.漫游的；逍遥学派的

n.走来走去的人；逍遥学派的人

Her father was in the army and the family led a peripatetic existence for most of her childhood. 

她父亲是军人，全家人在她童年的大部分时间过着一种流动的生活。

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