Generation Maybe(“也许一代”：对推迟或放弃生育的年轻人的称呼). By Camilla Cavendish. Bodley Head(英国知名出版社，隶属企鹅兰登集团); 304 pages; £25
《也许一代》。卡米拉·卡文迪什著。博德利·黑德出版社；304页；25英镑
IT’S ALL gone to the dogs(变得一团糟；败落). In South Korea sales of buggies(婴儿推车；轻便小车) for pets have overtaken those for children. Shrines in Japan sometimes bless more canines(犬科动物；狗) than babies. Conventional wisdom once held that when a couple got a puppy, they would start to conceive of parenthood(设想为人父母)—and then start trying to conceive. But a growing number of pet “parents” see four-legged creatures as a permanent substitute for two-legged offspring(后代；子女). Some firms have begun to offer “pawternity(宠物产假（仿paternity造词）)” leave, so employees can bond with(与……建立感情) a new pet or tend to(照料；倾向于) it when it is sick.
一切都“让狗给占了”。在韩国，宠物推车的销量已经超过婴儿推车。日本的一些神社有时为狗祈福的次数比婴儿还多。传统观念曾认为，一对夫妇养了小狗之后，就会开始设想为人父母，然后开始尝试怀孕。但越来越多的宠物“父母”把四条腿的动物视为两条腿后代的永久替代品。一些公司开始提供“宠物产假”，让员工能与新宠物建立感情，或在宠物生病时照顾它。
Some find nothing cute or cuddly(令人想拥抱的；可爱的) about the trend. Pope Francis(教皇方济各，现任罗马天主教教皇) warned about a “demographic winter(人口寒冬：指生育率骤降、人口萎缩)” and frostily(冷峻地；冷淡地) decried(谴责；公开反对) the choice not to have children as “selfish”. Elon Musk(埃隆·马斯克，科技企业家，多次警告低生育率危机) has said falling birth rates are the “biggest danger civilisation faces by far”. The largest 15 countries by GDP are now all below the population replacement rate(人口更替水平（通常为2.1）), including America, China and India. Declining birth rates could cause the world’s population to shrink later this century for the first time since the Black Death(黑死病：14世纪席卷欧洲的鼠疫大瘟疫) killed tens of millions in the 14th century.
有些人觉得这一趋势毫无可爱或温馨之处。教皇方济各曾警告“人口寒冬”，并冷峻地谴责不生育的选择是“自私”。埃隆·马斯克称出生率下降是“文明迄今面临的最大危险”。按GDP计算最大的15个国家现在全部低于人口更替水平，包括美国、中国和印度。出生率下降可能导致本世纪晚些时候世界人口萎缩，这将是自14世纪黑死病夺去数千万人生命以来的首次。