Finding a man and settling down is the top priority for two-thirds of women born in 1979, a survey has found.

Women approaching 30 might once have modelled themselves on the feisty, ambitious heroine of the film Working Girl - willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead in business.

But it seems today's 30-year-olds are more likely to get their inspiration from hopeless romantic Bridget Jones.

Finding a man and settling down is the top priority for two-thirds of women born in 1979, a survey has found.

The poll of 1,800 women approaching the milestone¹ birthday found that 70 per cent considered it to be the right time to put their relationships and personal lives ahead of their careers.

More than 80 per cent said they thought it was the perfect age to get married.

But while love was a priority, only one in five of the women polled said they expected to be more attractive to the opposite sex, the Turning 30 report for Elle magazine found.

A third of the women thought they would be more unappealing and the same proportion said entering their fourth decade 'filled them with dread²'.

The survey bucks³ the trend of the past decade, which has seen women prioritise their career well into their thirties. This has led to a rise in women having their first child in their late 30s and early 40s.

The number of live births to mothers over 40 almost doubled between 1997 and 2007, from 12,914 to 25,350.

Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, author of Why Women Mean Business, said it was good to redefine goals. 'Women don't necessarily want to get to the top,' she said.

'They want to be excellent at everything they do, as mother, daughter, wife, girlfriend, professional and volunteer.'

以往的“奔三女”们可能会以电影《上班女郎》中精力充沛、雄心勃勃的女主人公为榜样，为了事业成功不惜一切代价。

而如今的“奔三女”们则似乎更倾向于从（《BJ单身日记》中）无望而浪漫的布里奇特•琼斯身上受到启发。

一项最新调查表明，在1979年出生的女性中，有三分之二的人认为找到一个伴侣，让生活稳定下来是头等大事。

这项对1800名即将跨过30岁“门槛”的女性的调查发现，70%的受访者认为现在最应该考虑的是感情和个人生活问题，而非事业。

80%的受访者认为，现在是结婚的黄金年龄。

Elle杂志开展的这项“迈进三十”的调查发现，尽管爱情成为眼下的首要问题，但仅有五分之一的受访女性认为自己对异性的吸引力增强。

三分之一的受访女性认为自己的魅力会下降，同等比例的受访者称进入人生的第四个十年“让他们觉得恐惧”。

该调查结果与过去十年的流行趋势恰好相反。在过去十年间，女性在三十多岁时通常将事业摆在首位，这一趋势导致在快到40岁和40岁出头才生第一个孩子的女性数量增加。

从1997年至2007年间，40岁以上女性安全生育的数量增长了近一倍，从12914例增至25350例。

《女人不容小觑》一书的作者阿维娃•维滕贝格•考克斯称女性重新定义人生目标的想法非常好。她说：“女人不一定要去争第一。”

“她们希望在各方面都做得优秀，无论是作为母亲、女儿、妻子、女友、职场人士还是志愿者。”

Vocabulary:

model on:以……为榜样

feisty:full of spirit or pluck; frisky⁴ or spunky（精力充沛的或活跃的）

unappealing: not appealing to the senses, as in appearance, taste, or aroma⁵.（不吸引人的：形象，味道或气味不吸引人的）

buck the trend: 逆市而动