Our children, of course, are priceless. But they do have a cost: about a quarter-million dollars。

　　我们的孩子当然是无价之宝。但养育他们确实是需要成本的：大约25万美元。

　　A new government report estimated that a middle-income family with achild born last year will spend about 221,000 raising that child from birth through age 17, according to the Associated Press. (The numberrises to some 292,000 when adjusted for inflation。) The figures don't count the cost of college or childbirth。

　　据美联社报导，一份新的政府报告估计，一个中等收入家庭将去年出生的孩子抚养到17岁将花费大约22.1万美元。(经通胀调整后的数字约为29.2万美元。)这一数字不包括孩子上大学的费用或生孩子的费用。

　　Annual child-rearing expense estimates ranged between 11,610 and 13,480 per-child in married, middle-class family with two children。

　　有两个孩子的中产阶级家庭每年平均在每个孩子身上花的钱大约在11,610美元至13,480美元。

　　The report, by the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion,said that housing was a family's single largest expense, followed by food and the costs of child care and education。

　　美国农业部的营养政策与宣传中心发布的这份报告说，住房是家庭最大支出，其次是食品和孩子的抚养及教育费用。

　　Money spent on child-related costs increases as a family's incomegoes up. For instance, those with an income between 57,000 and 99,000 spend about 221,000 and those with higher incomes are expected to spendroughly 367,000 through age 17. Costs of raising a child are highest inthe urban northeast and lowest in the urban south and rural areas。

　　用在孩子身上的开支随家庭收入增长而增加。举例来说，收入在5.7万美元至9.9万美元之间的家庭将孩子养到17岁大概要花22.1万美元，而收入更高的家庭大约花费36.7万美元左右。东北部城市养育孩子的花费最高，南部城市和农村地区则最低。

　　We've written before about the decision to add to the family intough economic times. How much thought did you give to the cost of raising children in your decision to have a family or to have additional children? What are your biggest costs in raising your children?

　　此前我们讨论过经济困难时期家庭所需要做的决定。在决定要孩子或是多生孩子时，你有没有考虑过养育孩子的成本？你抚养孩子最大的开支是什么？