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Connubial bliss in America 幸福婚姻在美国 AMERICA is the country, said Alexis de Tocqueville, where the bonds of marriage are mostrespected and the concept of connubial bliss has its highest and truest expression. If theFrench aristocrat were to revisit Americas capital today, he might at first glance think hisobservation had withstood the test of time remarkably well. Not content with having in 1996put a Defence of Marriage Act on the statute book, Congress has now begun to holdhearings on a Respect for Marriage Act. Defended, respected: what could possibly ail marriagein America? 法国贵族托克维尔曾说，美国人最为尊重婚姻联系，夫妻美满生活的概念在美国也是达到了最顶级最真实的境界。今日，倘若托尔维尔能够重游华盛顿的话，乍一看也许觉得自己的评论如此经得起时间考验，历久弥新啊!美国于1996年曾经推行了一部《捍卫婚姻法案》，现今，不满足于仅此而已，国会又已着手于就出台《尊重婚姻法案》举行听证会。到底是该捍卫婚姻还是尊重尊重?到底哪个可能会蹂躏美国婚姻呢? Plenty. As the revisiting Norman would swiftly discover, Americans today are better atquarrelling about what marriage is and who should be allowed to enjoy its benefits than theyare at the more demanding work of getting and staying married themselves. The NationalMarriage Project at the University of Virginia points to a widening marriage gap. Traditionalfamily values are enjoying a revival among better-educated Americans, but are fraying in thelower middle class and have collapsed among the poor. As for laws defending and respectingmarriage, these are merely weapons in a battle that has rolled back and forth for more than adecade between those who say that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry and thosewho abhor the idea. | 
