幾月最容易分手？說出來你別不信！

Sometimes it feels like everyone you know is either coupling up or breaking up all at the same time - and new research suggests that when it comes to divorce, at least, there really is a seasonal pattern couples tend to follow.
有時候好像你認識的每個人幾乎都在同一時間戀愛或者分手了——新的研究發現，當談到離婚的時候，至少，情侶們真的趨向遵循一個季節性規律。

After analysing all of the divorces filed in the US state of Washington between 2001 and 2015, researchers have shown that there are two months every year when divorce spikes - March and August.
研究人員們分析了2001年至2015年期間美國華盛頓州的離婚數據之後，發現每年3月和8月是離婚高峯期。

The researchers from the University of Washington say this is the first quantitative evidence of biannual patterns for divorce filing, and suggest that the peaks might be a sign of divorce following a "calendar ritual", where couples want to stay together for the Christmas and summer holidays before making their decision.
來自華盛頓大學的研究人員們表示這是第一個有定量證據表明一年期間離婚有兩個高峯期的研究，該研究表明這些高峯期也許是人們遵循“日曆儀式”之後的結果，夫妻們想要在聖誕節和暑假期間待在一起，隨後纔會做決定。

"People tend to face the holidays with rising expectations, despite what disappointments they might have had in years past," said one of the researchers, Julie Brines.
其中一個研究員朱莉·布萊恩斯說：“儘管一年內累積了不少埋怨，但在面對假期時往往傾向抱有較高的期待。”

"They represent periods in the year when there's the anticipation or the opportunity for a new beginning, a new start, something different, a transition into a new period of life. In a sense. They're very symbolically charged moments in time for the culture."
“這兩個高峯期代表着人們對全新開始的期待和機會，一個不同的新開始，一個進入生活的新時期。從某種程度上來說，離婚象徵性地給身處美國文化中的人們的生活重新注入了能量。”

The team presented their research on Sunday at the 111th American Sociological Association annual meeting in Seattle, but their findings have yet to be peer-reviewed, so the pattern needs to be independently verified before we can take it too seriously.
這一研究結果於8月21日週日在西雅圖每年召開的第111屆美國社會學會研討會上公佈。但是他們的研究結果還需等待同行的審議，因此在這個說法驗證成立之前我們不要太當真。