来自《耶鲁大学开放课程：现代早期英国社会 第2集 第2集》

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  meant that the population was far younger than is the case today.
  也就是说 那时候的人比现在要年轻得多
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  Far fewer people lived through to their fifties
  能活到五十几岁甚至六十几岁
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  and even fewer to their sixties
  从而享受老年人权威的人
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  when they enjoyed these positions of authority.
  要比现在少得多
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  So then the young lived also in a situation of subordination.
  所以那时候的年轻人也一样只有从属地位
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  True adulthood came only when they eventually married
  只有当他们最终结了婚
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  and achieved economic independence
  取得了经济独立
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  and had households or workshops or their own.
  有了自己的家庭或工厂 才算真正成人
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  Then young men were transformed into masters of families,
  这时年轻男性变成家庭的男主人
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  young women were transformed into mistresses of families,
  年轻女性变成家庭的女主人
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  and their place in the social order shifted upwards accordingly.
  他们的社会地位也就由此上升
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  From that point on, differences in their rank
  从这一时刻起 他们的等级差别