Women in Hong Kong looking for romance can't turn to the latest government statistics for inspiration. According to official figures, the city's gender imbalance is currently the worst on record: Hong Kong's sex ratio is 876 men for every 1, 000 women.
渴望爱情的香港女孩看到香港政府公布的最新数据后可能要失望了。据官方统计，目前香港人口男女比例失调达到了前所未有的严重水平，男性和女性的比例为876比1,000。
One in five women born today in Hong Kong can expect to remain single for the rest of their lives, says Paul Yip, a demographer at the University of Hong Kong. 'And the situation will get worse, ' he says. 'You can see already that the number of singletons in Hong Kong has gone up.' In 2011, there were 209, 000 women living alone in Hong Kong, a figure that's more than doubled since 1996.
香港大学(University of Hong Kong)人口统计学家叶兆辉说，如今出生于香港的女性中，每五人中就有一人将到死也没有结婚。他说，男女失调的情况还在继续恶化，可以看到的是，香港的单身人士越来越多。2011年，香港有20.9万名单身女性，这个数字比1996年增长了一倍还多。
A number of dating agencies have lately sprung up to service Hong Kong's lonely female hearts, alternately offering overseas matchmaking trips and high-priced dinner parties promising to help Hong Kong women meet eligible foreigners. The city's gender imbalance also inspired the launch of one recent reality TV show, 'Bride Wannabes, ' which followed a group of 30-something Hong Kong women on their quest to find a husband, stopping at cosmetic surgery clinics and submitting to various coaching from dating 'experts' along the way.
最近，香港的一些婚介机构开始为单身女性排忧解难，他们提供海外相亲旅行和高价的晚宴聚会，帮助香港女性结识合乎条件的外国人。香港性别比例失调的状况还催生了前一段时间推出的真人秀节目《盛女爱作战》(Bride Wannabes)。《盛女爱作战》追踪了一组30岁左右的香港女性寻找真爱的遭遇，在这一过程中，他们要接受整容手术，还要听从两性关系专家的指导。
Today, Hong Kong's sex ratio is the most skewed the city's clocked since it was first officially recorded in 1961, when the number of men in Hong Kong slightly eclipsed the number of women. In recent years, though, the sex ratio has flipped, as rising numbers of Hong Kong men have pursued marriages across the border in mainland China, where women are seen as more pliant and less choosy than their Hong Kong counterparts. An influx of mostly female domestic helpers from the Philippines and Indonesia岸there are currently some 300, 000 in town岸has also helped deepen the city's gender imbalance. When domestic helpers are removed from the calculation, Hong Kong's sex ratio stands at a more balanced (if still lopsided) 948 men per 1, 000 women.
如今，香港的性别比例出现了1961年有官方记录以来最严重的失调状况，当时香港的男性数量只是略微超过了女性。不过最近几年，由于越来越多的香港男性到中国内地寻找配偶，香港的性别比例出现严重失调。与香港女性相比，内地女性更加顺从，也没有那么挑剔。大量涌入香港的菲律宾籍和印度尼西亚籍家庭佣工（目前有30万人左右，其中多为女性），也加剧了香港的男女比例失调。如果把家庭佣工排除在外，香港的男女比例更趋于平衡（仍然失调），为948比1000。
By contrast, mainland China is home to many more men than women: there, the UN reports, the sex ratio is 108 men per 100 women, thanks to the one-child policy and a traditional preference for sons. A number of enterprising dating companies have tried to capitalize on this imbalance岸for example, by setting up Hong Kong women with mainland men.
相比之下，中国内地的男性数量则多于女性，根据联合国(United Nations)发布的报告，中国内地的男女比例是108比100，这主要源于中国的独生子女政策和重男轻女的传统思想。一些大胆的婚介公司已经尝试利用这个失调，例如，他们会为香港女性和内地男性安排相亲。
According to the city's deputy commissioner for census and statistics, Hong Kong's sex ratio will likely grow more exaggerated in the coming decades, widening to 788 men per 1000 women by 2026 and 712 per 1000 women by 2041.
香港政府统计处副处长说，香港的男女比例失调很可能在未来几十年进一步加剧，到2026年将达到788比1000，2041年达到712比1000。
Given how well-educated and financially independent many of them are, Hong Kong women are famously 'selective and very picky' when it comes to choosing a partner, says Mr. Yip. Still, he says, high rates of singlehood are ultimately about a shortage of men.
叶兆辉说，由于许多人都接受过良好的教育且经济独立，香港女性在择偶时出了名的挑剔。他说，尽管如此，单身比例高归根结底还是因为男性数量不足。
'Even if they lower their standards, ' he says of Hong Kong women, 'many still won't find husbands.'
叶兆辉提到香港女性时说，即使她们降低标准，许多人也找不到老公。
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