单身生活的代价

choi

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BBC Chinese, Aug. 9, 2010.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ukchina/simp/uk_life/2010/08/100809_life_single_life.shtml

My comment:
(a) 规模经济 economies of scale
(b) The above report has an English-language counterpart, which is more
detailed.

The Price of Being Single; Living alone costs singletons an extra £250,
000 over a lifetime compared to couples, it is claimed. So what is the "
singles tax", asks Tom de Castella. BBC, Aug. 9, 2010.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10892142

* Tom de Castella is the reporter/author of the report.
* uSwitch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USwitch
(started in 2000; According to The Times, uSwitch, together with
moneysupermarket.com, is one of the two most established price comparison
websites)

* bloody (adv): "sometimes vulgar —used as an intensive" www.m-w.com
* flat (n): "chiefly British : an apartment on one floor"
* hellhole (n): "a place of extreme misery or squalor"
* For "two Visa cards with which to hit John Lewis," see

John Lewis Partnership
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lewis_Partnership
(a major United Kingdom worker co-operative retailer which operates John
Lewis department stores, Waitrose supermarkets and the direct services
company Greenbee; John Spedan Lewis founded it in 1920 at London)

* nada (n): "NOTHING"
* SWOFTIES is the plural form of SWOFTY- Single Woman Over FifTY
* carpe diem (n; Latin, literally, pluck the day): "the enjoyment of the
pleasures of the moment without concern for the future"
* The Lone Ranger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lone_Ranger
(first appearance in mass media of America: 1933)

(c) The uSwitch report:

Press release: The Penalty for Being Single: £250,000 Over a Lifetime.
uSwitch, July 21, 2010.
http://www.uswitch.com/press-room/press-releases/the-penalty-for-being-single-%C2%A3250,000-over-a-lifetime-1735.pdf

(d) The Chinese-language report states, "英国预算研究学院（Institute for
Fiscal Studies）的高级经济研究员斯图尔特·亚当（Stuart Adam） * * * 说，还必
须考虑社会福利制度的影响，这种制度总体而言有利于单身者的，单身者每周平均可以
多领45镑补贴，等于每年多获得大约2340英镑的好处，所以至少在社会底层单身可能还
是有益处."

The corresponding part in the English-language report is: "Recent research
by the IFS has quantified that single people claiming benefits are on
average £45 a week - or £2,340 a year - better off than those in a
couple. So, for those at the bottom of the income league there may be a
benefit to being single, although this must be balanced against savings that
couples make from economies of scale, he [Stuart Adam of IFS] says."

Having never been to United Kingdom, I am clueless as to what it means.
Judging from the context, though, it suggests welfare payments for the poor-
-concerning difference of a singleton or a couple.

I notice that the English-language report uses "Stuart Adam" and "Stuart
Adams" once each. His name is Stuart Adam.
http://www.ifs.org.uk/people/profile?id=11

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