"七年之癢"容易過"十二年之癢"是難關
Seven-years has traditionally been the time when love and affection give way to disillusion and disappointment.
But couples who manage to survive the seven-year itch would be wise not to get complacent.
The biggest threat to modern marriages actually comes from the 12-year itch, research has revealed.
The majority of couples who divorce have now spent more than a decade together before going their separate ways.
And they are increasingly likely to cite 'growing apart' or 'falling out of love' as the cause of their split.
There has been a four-fold increase in couples breaking up for these reasons in the last two years, amid increasing financial strain on families.
But infidelity is still responsible for more than a quarter of divorces. The seven-year itch - or the theory that adultery becomes impossible to resist after seven years - got its name from the 1950s film starring Marilyn Monroe.
The study by the Grant Thornton accountancy group, which was based on a survey of 90 of the country's biggest family law firms, echoed figures released last year which showed that marriages are most likely to fall apart around the 12-year mark.
Sally Longworth, of Grant Thornton's Forensic and Investigation Services, said: 'This rather dispels the age-old myth about marriages failing after seven years.
'It is impossible to put any scientific reasoning on why certain marriages succeed and others fail.'
傳統觀點認為，“七年”是婚姻的一個坎，結婚到了這個年頭，愛情漸漸變淡，取而代之的是幻想的破滅和失望。
但成功度過“七年之癢”的夫婦不要沾沾自喜。
一項研究表明，現代婚姻的最大威脅其實是十二年之癢。
現在很多人都是在結婚十幾年後分道揚鑣。
而至於離婚的原因，越來越多的人說是因為兩人的感情“漸漸疏遠”或“不再相愛”。
隨著家庭經濟壓力的增大，在過去兩年中因為這些原因分手的夫婦的數量增加了四倍。
然而，仍有四分之一的夫婦因為伴侶不忠而離婚。“七年之癢”的說法源於20世紀50年代瑪麗蓮•夢露主演的一部電影，描述夫妻在結婚七年後開始禁不住外面的誘惑。
這項由英國格蘭特·桑頓會計事務所開展的研究基於對英國規模最大的90家家庭律師事務所開展的一項調查，調查結果與去年的差不多，發現婚姻到了十二個年頭最容易出問題。
格蘭特·桑頓會計事務所法庭和調查服務部的薩莉•朗沃斯說：“這在一定程度上打破了多年來有關七年之癢的‘魔咒’。”
“要從科學上解釋婚姻的成功與失敗是不可能的。”
Vocabulary:
grow apart: 越來越疏遠
adultery: sex with someone that they are not married to（偷情）
