Trophy wives were once the must-have accessory for successful men. Instead of going out to work these 'kept' women would look after the home and bring up the couple's children. But it seems that professional men are now more likely to seek out partners who have high-flying jobs too.

　　"花瓶妻"（trophy wife）也被译作"奖杯妻"，指有钱有势的男人像赢得竞技场上的奖杯一样取美女作老婆。"花瓶妻"曾被认为是一个成功男人的必要"配件"。她们通常为了照顾家庭和孩子放弃自己的工作甚至事业。然而，美国经济学家最新的研究结果颠覆了这一传统观念，因为现代职业男性在择偶时更钟情于那些在事业上同样有抱负的女强人型女人。

　　Labour husband-and-wife ministers Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper are typical of these so-called "power couples", as are Hollywood stars Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Paul Carlin, of Purdue University in Indiana, noticed the decline of trophy wives when comparing how much British men earn with how much their partners work.

　　据英国《每日邮报》16日报道，英国工党的夫妻大臣埃德·巴尔斯和伊薇特·库珀即是这种所谓的"强势夫妻"的代表人物。此外，英国天空卫视新闻频道时政新闻编辑亚当·鲍尔顿和活跃在布莱尔身边的政治家妻子安吉·亨特，还有好莱坞巨星夫妇迈克尔·道格拉斯和凯瑟琳·泽塔－琼斯都是夫妻中"强强结合"的典型例子。

　　In the 1980s, the higher a professional man's salary, the fewer paid hours his wife would put in. Over the past two decades, however, the situation has reversed. A man's salary now goes up around half a per cent for every 100 hours his wife works in a year. The study suggests that successful men no longer feel threatened by powerful women.

　　美国印地安那州普渡大学的经济学教授保罗·卡林指出，在对比英国丈夫的收入与妻子的工作时间时发现，"花瓶妻"的数量正在减少。上世纪80年代，丈夫的收入越高，妻子外出赚钱的时间就越少。但这一情况在过去的20年里发生了逆转--妻子一年中每工作100个小时，其丈夫的薪水就会上涨0.5％。

　　Professor Carlin, who teaches economics, said: "This is the first strong evidence of a turnaround in the link between wives' hours and husbands' earnings for any country.

　　卡林教授表示："在任何国家，这是第一份证明了妻子的工作时间与丈夫的收入成正比的最强有力证据。"这一调查结果意味着，成功男性不再害怕老婆事业有成。

　　His research team examined age data, employment status, earnings and educational achievement. They found that during the 1980s most couples were similar in their level of education and sense of humour. But they consistently differed on income, with women generally earning far less than men. Wives tended to give up their careers to support successful men, the study showed. Other obstacles to women were the time taken off to have children and workplace discrimination. But changing attitudes have narrowed the pay gap between the sexes.

　　卡林领导的研究小组对被调查者的年龄、工作情况、收入和文化程度作了调查。结果发现，在上世纪80年代，大部分夫妻的文化程度和幽默感相当，但收入差距较大，妻子的薪水总体上比丈夫的少很多，妻子愿意放弃自己的工作来支持事业有成的丈夫。此外，需要时间照顾孩子和职场性别歧视也是促使女人愿意做全职太太的因素。

　　Men earnt 25 per cent more than their wives in 2002 compared with 45 per cent more in 1970. And, while in the early 1980s half of married mothers worked, more than two-thirds do so now.

　　然而，社会观念的转变已经缩小了性别间的收入差距。2002年，丈夫比妻子平均多挣25％，而这一数字在1970年为45％。同时，在上世纪80年代初，只有一半的已婚妇女继续工作，而目前这样的女性已经超过了三分之二。

　　Professor Carlin's study, will be published in the journal Labour Economics.

　　卡林的研究报道将被刊登在最新一期的《劳动经济学》杂志上。

　　（国际在线独家资讯 吴小蕊 未经允许请勿转载）

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