经济学人321:势利之国 Snob Nation

 　　ON FEBRUARY 25th Rick Santorum, the second-ranking Republican presidential hopeful, called President Barack Obama a snob¹ for advising everyone to get themselves a college education. America, apparently², is a nation of snobs³. In a recent poll 94% of parents said they expected their children to go to college. And in January almost 60% of Americans aged⁴ 16 to 24 were enrolled⁵ in one, an all-time high for that month.

　　2月25日，美国排名第二的共和党总统候选人瑞克?桑托伦(Rick Santorum)声称奥巴马总统鼓励每个人接受大学教育为势利之举。显然，美国是势利之国。最近一项投票显示，94%的家长希望他们的子女能上大学。1月份，将近60%16-24岁的美国人被至少一所大学录取，创造了空前的记录。

　　Enrolment has been rising for decades, egged on by parents, presidents of both political stripes (not to mention Mr Santorum, when a senator) and the rising wage premium⁶ that college graduates command. The recession added an extra kick. Enrolment rose from 57% in the 2007-08 academic year to 59% in 2010-11.

　　几十年来，大学录取率持续攀升，这不仅得益于学生家长、两派总统们（更不必说当时还身为参议员的桑托伦先生）的大力支持，亦归功于大学毕业生所得工资奖励日益升高。经济衰退增加了这一趋势。录取率由2007-08学年的57%上升至2010-11学年的59%。

　　Unemployment always hits the young particularly hard, reducing the opportunity cost of going back to full-time⁷ education. An expansion of both federal Pell grants, from 5.5m in 2007-08 to 9.6m in 2011-12, and of college tax credits has helped defray costs, which may help explain why the share of students holding down jobs also dropped sharply after 2008.

　　失业总是对年轻人造成巨大的打击，这也降低了重新接受全日制教育的机会成本。而联邦佩尔奖学金以及大学课税减免的额度亦大幅提升，可以用来支付开销，前者更是由2007-08学年的550万美金上升至2011-12年的960万美金，这也很好地解释了为什么08年以后仍坚持工作的学生的比例急剧下降。

　　This trend sheds light on one of the central mysteries of the recovery: why so many people have left the labour force. The proportion of the working-age population that is working or looking for work (the participation⁸ rate) has fallen from 66% in 2007 to below 64% in January. This has been an important part of the reduction in the headline unemployment figure. With fewer people entering the labour force, there are fewer job hunters to be counted as unemployed⁹.

　　这一趋势使得经济复苏最核心之谜浮出水面：人们放弃劳动之谜。2007年适龄劳动人口中工作或正在求职的比例（参与率）为66%，而到了今年一月份，这一比例下降到了64%，这是占据报纸头版头条的失业率下降的主要原因。进入劳动力市场的人越少，被统计的求职人员也就越少。

　　The drop has been by far the largest among 16-to-24-year-olds; their participation rate has dropped almost five percentage points since 2007. Alan Krueger, the chairman of Mr Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers¹⁰, reckons this can explain almost a third of the drop in the overall participation rate.

　　目前，16-24岁的人群是参与率是下降最多的，2007年下降了将近5个百分点。奥巴马政府的经济顾问委员会会长阿兰?克鲁格（Alan Krueger）估计这（前文提到的扩招趋势）能解释为什么总参与率下降了近1/3。

　　That puts a different spin on a trend most economists¹¹ have seen in a drearier¹² light. They thought a lacklustre economy was suppressing participation by driving discouraged workers out of the labour market altogether, and that participation would rebound¹³ along with the economy. Mr Krueger agrees that part of the drop is due to lack of demand for labour because of the recession, but thinks something else is at work: the underlying¹⁴ trend in participation in the past decade has already been falling because of an ageing work force and a downdrift in participation by women. It may tick up in coming years as the young people now in college graduate. When they do, Mr Krueger notes, they will have more human capital, which will, with luck, earn them higher wages and boost the economy’s overall potential. Which would be all to the good, since they will have hefty student loans to repay.

　　这转变了大多数经济学家在不明朗的情势下看到的趋势。他们曾认为疲软的经济使得灰心丧气的劳动者退出劳动力市场，从而压制了参与率，经济复苏可以使得参与率回升。克鲁格先生赞同这样的观点：经济衰退降低了劳动力需求从而降低了参与率，但他认为这后面另有玄机：过去的十年里参与率已经有潜在的下降的趋势，这时由于劳动力老龄化以及女性参与率下降造成的。不过在接下来的几年里，参与率会由于现在读大学生毕业而再度上升。克鲁格先生还指出当这些大学生毕业后会拥有更高的人力资本，如果一切顺利的话，他们将因此获得更高的薪资，并促进经济总体潜力的增长。这样总得来说还是好的，因为他们须偿还巨额贷款。

1 snob   

n.势利小人，自以为高雅、有学问的人

参考例句：

• Going to a private school had made her a snob.上私立学校后，她变得很势利。
• If you think that way, you are a snob already.如果你那样想的话，你已经是势利小人了。

2 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

3 snobs   

（谄上傲下的）势利小人( snob的名词复数 )； 自高自大者，自命不凡者

参考例句：

• She dislikes snobs intensely. 她极其厌恶势利小人。
• Most of the people who worshipped her, who read every tidbit about her in the gossip press and hung up pictures of her in their rooms, were not social snobs. 崇敬她大多数的人不会放过每一篇报导她的八卦新闻，甚至在他们的房间中悬挂黛妃的画像，这些人并非都是傲慢成性。

4 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

5 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

7 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

8 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

9 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

10 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

11 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 drearier   

使人闷闷不乐或沮丧的( dreary的比较级 )； 阴沉的； 令人厌烦的； 单调的

参考例句：

13 rebound   

v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回

参考例句：

• The vibrations accompanying the rebound are the earth quake.伴随这种回弹的振动就是地震。
• Our evil example will rebound upon ourselves.我们的坏榜样会回到我们自己头上的。

14 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。