美国国家公共电台 NPR South Korean Youth Struggle To Find Jobs After Years Of Studying For Tests

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

And now to some economic news. South Korea's economy has been thought of as an Asian tiger with high growth and productivity. But momentum¹ there has slowed, and these days, unemployment is at its highest level in 17 years. And that appears to have hurt young people the most. A new liberal president won office with huge support from those young voters. From Seoul, NPR's Lauren Frayer reports those supporters are now looking to him for help.

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE²: Lim Hyuk-ju whispers as she shows me into her tiny apartment.

LIM HYUK-JU: (Whispering in Korean).

FRAYER: The walls are thin. The apartment is just 30 square feet - basically a walk-in closet with a toilet, shower and shared kitchen.

LIM: It's uncomfortable because when I lay down...

FRAYER: Her legs hit the back wall. Lim is 25. She graduated at the top of her high school class. She wants to be an accountant. So for now, her parents support her on a path that's typical for young South Koreans - study 15 hours a day for months or years to pass exams for jobs in government or in big family-run conglomerates⁴ like Samsung, LG and Hyundai.

LIM: (Through interpreter) All these tests and memorizing the right answers, I sometimes wonder if this is really the only way to succeed.

COMPUTER-GENERATED VOICE: This stop is Samsung, World Trade Center, Seoul. The doors are on your left.

FRAYER: So just in case you think these big conglomerates are all about making cellphones or cars, I'm in the Samsung subway station. From here, I can hop⁵ a train to the Samsung art gallery or a Hyundai hospital. In South Korea, you can buy life insurance from Samsung. You can buy face cream, cosmetics⁶ from LG.

GEOFFREY CAIN: They are just giant conglomerates that control so much of the economy on a scale just not seen in a lot of the world.

FRAYER: Geoffrey Cain trained as an anthropologist⁷ and is writing a book about Samsung. He says these big companies are so pervasive⁸ they squeeze out smaller businesses.

CAIN: They can basically tell a small business to supply them a part and just pay them whatever they want and then pay them whenever they want and give them a terrible contract.

FRAYER: Which means they struggle to grow.

CAIN: So that's what creates so few job opportunities.

FRAYER: More than 11 percent of Koreans aged⁹ 15 to 29 are out of work. For many of them, it's the dream of a job for life with a big conglomerate³ or nothing at all. As the economy slows, there aren't enough jobs for all the college graduates here. The new South Korean president promises to add public sector¹⁰ jobs. But economist¹¹ Kim Gwang-suk says that's only a short-term fix.

KIM GWANG-SUK: Job creation would be business, not the government. I mean, in the long-term, all the government should do is to make an environment which companies can invest more.

FRAYER: He says the new president should help small businesses, boost entrepreneurship and reform the conglomerates. On the campaign trail, President Moon Jae-in promised to do just that. But the conglomerates remain the backbone¹² of the Korean economy, and it's unclear whether he has the will or ability to change them. That's exactly what Baek Eui-hyun is wondering. He's 28, unemployed¹³ and browsing¹⁴ the test prep section at a bookstore in Seoul. He says young Koreans are frustrated¹⁵.

BAEK EUI-HYUN: Of course, they don't want to, like, spend their time being stuck in a tiny room studying books for exams, but there aren't any alternatives.

FRAYER: President Moon's success may be measured not only in how he deals with North Korea but in the alternatives he offers some of his youngest voters. Lauren Frayer, NPR News, Seoul.

1 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 conglomerate   

n.综合商社，多元化集团公司

参考例句：

• The firm has been taken over by an American conglomerate.该公司已被美国一企业集团接管。
• An American conglomerate holds a major share in the company.一家美国的大联合企业持有该公司的大部分股份。

4 conglomerates   

n.（多种经营的）联合大企业( conglomerate的名词复数 )；砾岩；合成物；组合物

参考例句：

• At the surface, radioactivity of the conglomerates is locally as high as 30 X background. 在地表，砾岩的局部地段的放射性高达30倍本底值。 来自辞典例句
• The conglomerates failed to understand that books could not be sold like soap. 这些联合大企业不懂卖书不象卖肥皂那样。 来自辞典例句

5 hop   

n.单脚跳，跳跃；vi.单脚跳，跳跃；着手做某事；vt.跳跃，跃过

参考例句：

• The children had a competition to see who could hop the fastest.孩子们举行比赛，看谁单足跳跃最快。
• How long can you hop on your right foot?你用右脚能跳多远？

6 cosmetics   

n.化妆品

参考例句：

• We sell a wide range of cosmetics at a very reasonable price. 我们以公道的价格出售各种化妆品。
• Cosmetics do not always cover up the deficiencies of nature. 化妆品未能掩饰天生的缺陷。

7 anthropologist   

n.人类学家，人类学者

参考例句：

• The lecturer is an anthropologist.这位讲师是人类学家。
• The anthropologist unearthed the skull of an ancient human at the site.人类学家在这个遗址挖掘出那块古人类的颅骨。

8 pervasive   

adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的

参考例句：

• It is the most pervasive compound on earth.它是地球上最普遍的化合物。
• The adverse health effects of car exhaust are pervasive and difficult to measure.汽车尾气对人类健康所构成的有害影响是普遍的，并且难以估算。

9 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。

10 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

11 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

12 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

13 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。

14 browsing   

v.吃草( browse的现在分词 )；随意翻阅；（在商店里）随便看看；（在计算机上）浏览信息

参考例句：

• He sits browsing over[through] a book. 他坐着翻阅书籍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Cattle is browsing in the field. 牛正在田里吃草。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》