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There have been many different things written and said about marriage.
已经有各种不同文字记录和讨论着关于婚姻的话题。
From the sweetly inspirational to the hilariously cynical.
从甜蜜励志的到诙谐讽刺的。
But what many of them have in common is that they sound like they express a universal and timeless truth,
但是他们的共同点是他们听上去像在表达着一个横贯中西，纵横古今的真理。
when in fact nearly everything about marriage, from its main purpose to the kinds of relationships it covers to the rights and responsibilities involved,
而事实上，几乎所有关于婚姻从她的主要意图，到其中牵涉的各种关系，再到与之相关的义务，
has varied greatly between different eras, cultures and social classes.
在不同的时代、文化和社会阶级间都大相径庭。
So, let's take a quick look at the evolution of marriage.
那么，就让我们快速浏览一下婚姻的演变。
Pair bonding and raising children is as old as humanity itself.
成家立室和养育子女就和人类本身一样历史悠久。
With the rise of sedentary agricultural societies about 10,000 years ago,
随着定居型的农耕社会的兴起，大约一万年前，
marriage was also a way of securing rights to land and property by designating children born under certain circumstances as rightful heirs.
婚姻也是一种确保土地权和财产权的方式，（这种方式）通过指定在某些情况下出生的孩子为合法继承人（来实现）。
As these societies became larger and more complex, marriage became not just a matter between individuals and families,
随着这些社会变得更大更复杂，婚姻已不仅仅成为个人和家庭间的事情，
but also an official institution governed by religious and civil authorities.
她也成为了由宗教和民事行政机构管辖的一种官方制度。
And it was already well established by 2100 B.C.
至公元前2100年，这种制度已经被完善地建立起来。
when the earliest surviving written laws in the Mesopotamian Code of Ur-Nammu provided many specifics governing marriage,
那个时候订立了现存最早的成文法并记录在美索不达米亚的乌尔纳姆法典中，该法律规定了许多细节来制约管理婚姻，
from punishments for adultery to the legal status of children born to slaves.
从对通奸的处分到出身于奴隶家庭孩子的合法身份。
Many ancient civilizations allowed some form of multiple simultaneous marriage.
许多古代文明允许多重婚姻制度。
And even today, less than a quarter of the world's hundreds of different cultures prohibit it.
甚至到今日，在全世界几百种不同的文化中，只有四分之一的文化是禁止多重配偶制。
But just because something was allowed doesn't mean it was always possible.
但是，有些事情存在并不代表它总是可行的。
Demographic realities, as well as the link between marriage and wealth,
人口的现实问题，以及婚姻和财富的连带关系，
meant that even though rulers and elites in Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and Israel had multiple concubines or wives,
意味着即使在古代的美索不达米亚，埃及和以色列的统治者和精英贵族妻妾成群，
most commoners could only afford one or two tending towards monogamy in practice.
但大部分的老百姓只负担得起一个或者两个妻子，所以实际情况是更趋向于一夫一妻制。
In other places, the tables were turned, and a woman could have multiple husbands as in the Himalayan Mountains
在其他一些地区，情况正好相反，一位女性可以有多位丈夫，比如在喜马拉雅山地区，
where all brothers in a family marrying the same woman kept the small amount of fertile land from being constantly divided into new households.
那里有一个家庭中的所有男性与同一名女性结了婚，他们用婚姻保护着一小片有限而肥沃的土地，以防止它被新成立的家庭不断分割。
Marriages could vary not only in the number of people they involved but the types of people as well.
婚姻可以多种多样，不仅是其参与其中的人数也包括人的性别类型。
Although the names and laws for such arrangements may have differed,
虽然关于同性婚姻的名称和法律可能有所不同，
publicly recognized same-sex unions have popped up in various civilizations throughout history.
但是公开承认同性婚姻已经在历史长河中的各种文明里出现。
