上有老、下有小，在五六十年代是幸福而艱難的家庭；可在80 年代以后，卻是既幸福，而又輕松的家庭了。道理很簡單：如今小的只生一胎，老的一般都享受退(離)休待遇了。盡管如此，上有老下有小的一代人始終存在。這一代，英語有一個(gè)很簡便的表達(dá)法--- the sandwich generation：

1. Some women caring for elderly parents are members of the "sandwich generation , " wedged between the competing, often overwhelming needs of young children and sick parents.
在美國，據(jù)說這上有老、下有小的一代，其人數(shù)且有上升的趨勢：

2. Soon this group will become much larger, as women who delayed child-rearing—hoping they could juggle a career, a child and a relationship at the same time -- find that parent care is yet another part of the equation.
                                                                   —ibid.
筆者至今尚未發(fā)現(xiàn)一個(gè)比“sandwich generation”更合適的，用來譯“上有老下有小的一代”的英語詞語，讀者如有發(fā)現(xiàn)請隨時(shí)賜教。