This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
这是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。
Rachel Valltos and Evan Sapperstein are dentists who share an office and a life together. In nine years of marriage, they have built not just a successful dental practice, but also a family.
瑞秋（Rachel Valltos）和埃文（Evan Sapperstein）都是牙医，他们共用一间办公室，同时生活在一起。在九年的婚姻生活中，他们不但建立了一个成功的牙科诊所，还建立了一个和谐的家庭。
Rachel and Evan laugh about the last time they argued at their Washington-area home. He wanted her attention. So did one of their three children. Evan yelled at the child.
瑞秋和埃文自嘲了他们最近在华盛顿家中的一次争吵。埃文和他们三个孩子中的一个想引起瑞秋的关注，于是埃文冲孩子们大吼。
Rachel told Evan that he was the one acting like a baby. That only brought more yelling, which Rachel ignored.
瑞秋告诉埃文，他做事就像一个小孩。那样做只能带来更多的喊叫，而瑞秋对此置若罔闻。
RACHEL VALLTOS: "In the heat of the argument, I usually will back away because I want to avoid confrontation in front of the children. But I always have plans to go back and have a discussion about it later."
瑞秋：“在激烈的争论中，我通常会退让，因为我想避免在孩子面前发生冲突。但之后我通常会回顾并讨论它。”
Rachel and Evan made peace. But researchers might describe the way she dealt with the argument at first as a withdrawal strategy.
瑞秋和埃文握手言和。但研究人员可能会形容她最初处理争吵的方式是一种退让策略。
A team at the University of Michigan recently published a study of how married couples fight. They also looked at how different "styles" of arguing might predict the future of a marriage.
密歇根大学的一个研究小组最近发表了一项关于已婚夫妇吵架的研究成果。他们还关注了不同的“吵架风格”在婚姻上会导致何种不同的结果。
The findings appeared in the Journal of Marriage and Family.
这项研究成果刊登在《婚姻和家庭》杂志上。
The study followed three hundred seventy-three couples over sixteen years. Forty-six percent of them had divorced by the final year in two thousand two.
该研究跟踪调查了373对夫妻超过16年。截止2002年，研究的最后一年，他们中的46%的都已离婚。
The couples were asked at four different times to report on their most recent conflict. First, they had to agree on which conflict was their most recent.
这些夫妻们分别在4次不同的时间被问到他们最近一次冲突。首先，夫妻双方必须就哪次冲突算是最近一次达成一致。
The husbands and wives each had to choose from a list of behaviors to describe the strategies they used. The list included behaviors like calm discussion, listening, and trying hard to find out the other person's feelings.
每位丈夫和妻子都必须从一个行为清单中选择一项，来形容他们在吵架中使用到的策略。这个清单包括像冷静讨论、倾听、试图努力找出对方感受等行为。
The list also included behaviors like yelling, using insults, walking away or not communicating -- in other words, the silent treatment.
该清单同时还包括像大喊大叫、辱骂、走开或不沟通 -- 换言之即冷战等行为。
Assistant professor Kira Birditt led the study.
助理教授基拉·博蒂特（Kira Birdit）领导了这项研究。
KIRA BIRDITT: "The husbands were more likely to use the constructive strategies like discussing the problem, finding solutions, and the wives were more likely to use those destructive or withdrawal strategies."
博蒂特：“丈夫们更多采用建设性的策略，例如讨论问题，找到解决方案。而妻子们更多采用破坏性或退让策略。”
But Professor Birditt says the study found that over time, wives became less destructive in the way they argued. Husbands stayed the same.
但博蒂特教授表示，研究发现，随着时间的推移，妻子在吵架时采用的方式的破坏性降低，而丈夫却保持不变。
KIRA BIRDITT: "It looked like wives got better at dealing with conflict over time using the fewer destructive and withdrawal strategies."
博蒂特：“它看起来像是，在一段时间后，妻子们越来越少使用破坏性或退让策略，对冲突处理得越好越好。”
She says the researchers also found that different combinations of strategies may help predict whether a couple will stay together. The chances decrease if only one partner uses constructive strategies.
她称研究人员还发现，策略的不同组合可能有助于预测一对夫妇是否将继续生活。如果夫妻双方只有一方使用建设性的策略，继续生活的可能性会降低。
KIRA BIRDITT: "So try as you might to use the constructive strategy, you have to have both partners using that strategy."
博蒂特：“所以你应当尝试，在你使用建设性策略时，让对方也使用这种策略。”
So now back to Evan and Rachel. We spoke with Doctor Sapperstein just after he finished a long, difficult root canal on a patient. If he had to choose between another operation like that or a fight with his wife?
现在回到埃文和瑞秋。我们在埃文刚做完一个耗时长、难度大的牙根管治疗手术后对其进行了采访，你是选择再做一次这样的手术治疗，还是选择和妻子吵架？
EVAN SAPPERSTEIN: "Oh, definitely, the root canal."
埃文：“哦，当然是根管治疗手术。”