長期以來，人們認為職業女性推遲當媽媽是因為她們認為事業比孩子重要。但有調查稱，大多數冷凍卵子的女性之所以這樣做并不是因為事業，而是因為她們找不到和自己同樣成功的男性。耶魯大學人類學教授馬西亞?英霍恩稱，職業女性冷凍卵子，主要是因為找不到和自己一樣聰明、上進的男性。“可供她們選擇的高材生不夠多。簡而言之，就是受教育的女性供過于求。”

Most women freeze their eggs because they cannot find a similarly successful man (stock)

Career women have long been thought to be putting motherhood on ice because they choose their job over a baby.
長期以來，人們認為職業女性推遲當媽媽是因為她們認為事業比孩子重要。

However, most women who freeze their eggs are doing so not because of their career but because they cannot find a similarly successful man.
但是，大多數冷凍卵子的女性之所以這樣做并不是因為事業，而是因為她們找不到和自己同樣成功的男性。

The claim was made following reports that women are a third more likely to attend university than men in the UK.
這種說法的根據是，有報道稱英國女性讀大學的概率比男性高出1/3。

Their problem, according to US and Israeli researchers, is that they are unable to find similarly clever, driven men because fewer males are entering higher education.
據美國和以色列研究人員稱，她們的問題是找不到和自己一樣聰明、上進的男性，因為受過高等教育的男性更少。

Their findings have been backed up by British fertility clinics.
他們的發現得到了英國生育診所的證實。

The study's author Marcia Inhorn, professor of anthropology at Yale University, said of women who freeze their eggs: 'There are not enough graduates for them. In simple terms, this is about an oversupply of educated women.
耶魯大學人類學教授馬西亞?英霍恩是這項研究報告的作者，他稱，冷凍卵子的女性“可供選擇的高材生不夠多。簡而言之，就是受教育的女性供過于求。”

'In China they call them "leftover women". '
“在中國她們被稱為‘剩女’。”

Professor Geeta Nargund, medical director of Create Fertility, said: 'Women tell us frequently that they are freezing their eggs because the men they meet feel threatened by their success and so are unwilling to commit to starting a family together.'
創造生育力診所的主任醫師吉塔?納爾古恩德教授表示：“經常有女性稱，她們冷凍卵子是因為，她們的成功讓遇見的男子倍感威脅，所以不愿承諾一起組建家庭。”

Freezing eggs as an 'insurance policy'
保險起見：冷凍卵子

In western countries soaring numbers of women are freezing their eggs as an 'insurance policy' to beat their biological clock.
在西方國家，越來越多的女性將卵子冷凍起來，以此作為對抗人體生理鐘的“保險對策”。

The latest study examined 150 women in the US and Israel, more than 90 percent of whom said they were not intentionally 'postponing' their fertility because of their education or career.
這項美國和以色列的最新研究對150名女性進行了調查，其中超過90%的女性稱，她們并不是因為學業或事業而故意“推遲”生育。

Rather, they were desperately 'preserving' their fertility before their eggs ran low and they lost their chance to have a child, because they were single or without a man to marry.
相反，在卵子數量耗盡、失去生育機會之前，她們極力“保存”自己的生育能力， 因為她們還是單身或還沒結婚。

More university educated women than men
受高等教育的女性比男性多

Last year 30,015 more women aged 18 were accepted for university in the UK than men of the same age, according to UCAS.
據英國大學入學申請辦事處（UCAS）稱，去年英國大學錄取的年齡在18歲的女性比同齡男性多30015人。

In that year, 56 percent of acceptances were for females.
去年56%的被錄取者是女性。

Up until 2014, 3,676 women in Britain had opted to have their eggs frozen, with experts saying it is now more popular than ever.
截至2014年，英國有3676名女性選擇冷凍卵子，專家稱“凍卵”從未像現在這么受歡迎。

University admissions service UCAS said while 36.8 percent of women entered higher education in 2016, the figure for men was 27.2 percent, with more women than men on two-thirds of courses.
UCAS稱，2016年有36.8%的女性接受了高等教育，而男性僅有27.2%接受高等教育，有2/3的課程女學生比男學生多。

The gender gap for higher education is now as large as that between rich and poor people, which was described as a 'worrying inequality' by former UCAS chief executive Mary Curnock-Cook.
如今高等教育中的性別差距和貧富差距一樣嚴重，UCAS前負責人瑪麗?科諾克-庫克稱之為“令人擔憂的不平等”。

What the experts say
專家怎么說

Describing the phenomenon, Professor Inhorn said: 'This is an issue that has been misinterpreted so much - this idea of a selfish career woman, putting her fertlility on hold.'
針對這一現象，英霍恩教授說：“有人認為推遲生育的職業女性很自私，這是一種很深的誤解。”

She added: 'Maybe women need to be prepared to be more open to the idea of a relationship with someone not as educated.
她說：“也許女性需要做好準備，以更加開放的態度對待和教育程度不如自己的人談戀愛這件事。”

'But also may be we need to be doing something about our boys and young men, to get them off to a better start.'
“但可能我們也需要采取一些行動，讓年輕的男孩們有更好的起點。”

Professor Simon Fishel, founder of Care Fertility, said: 'Anthropologically we are always searching, consciously or unconsciously, for like-minded people so it is not a great leap to understand that women are looking for someone on the same level, who is university-educated or a professional.
創造生育力診所的創始人西蒙?費舍爾教授稱：“從人類學的角度來看，我們一直有意或無意地尋找志同道合的人，因此，受過高等教育的女性或職業女性尋找與之水平相當的對象是人之常情。”

'They certainly ask about that when looking for a sperm (or egg) donor, so it is likely to apply to a partner.
“人們在尋找精子（或卵子）捐贈人時肯定會考慮這個問題，所以在尋找伴侶時很可能也是這樣的。”

'This problem of "missing men" is absolutely the case in many situations in the UK, but there is a wider problem behind the increasing desire for egg freezing, not least about men and women being too unaware of their biological clocks.'
“在英國，很多時候都存在‘男性匱乏’問題，但越來越多女性希望冷凍卵子的背后隱藏的更普遍問題是，男人和女人對于人體的生理鐘一無所知。”

英文來源：每日郵報
翻譯&編輯：董靜
審校：yaning