时代周刊:美国如何落到今天这步田地?(2)

For too many, the present is hard enough.

对很多人来说，当下都已经够艰难了。

Income inequality has soared:

收入不平等已经加剧：

inflation-adjusted middle-class wages have been nearly frozen for the last four decades, while earnings¹ of the top 1% have nearly tripled.

通胀调整后的中产阶级工资冻结了将近40年，收入最高的那1%的人群的收入却增长了近两倍之多。

The recovery from the crash of 2008— which saw banks and bankers bailed² out while millions lost their homes, savings³ and jobs—

2008年金融危机后——在那场危机中，银行和银行家得到了纾困，却有数百万人失去他们的住房、存款和工作——

was reserved almost exclusively for the wealthiest.

复苏几乎成了最富有的那群人才有的机会。

Their incomes in the three years following the crash went up by nearly a third, while the bottom 99% saw an uptick of less than half of 1%.

金融危机后的前三年，他们的收入就增长了近1/3，而底层99%的人的收入都只增长了不到0.5%。

Only a democracy and an economy that has discarded its basic mission of holding the community together, or failed at it, would produce those results.

只有放弃了将各个阶层团结在一起这一基本使命，或没能完成这一使命的民主体制和经济体才会出现这样的结果。

Meanwhile, the celebrated⁴ American economic-mobility engine is sputtering⁵.

与此同时，美国著名的经济流动引擎正在熄火。

For adults in their 30s, the chance of earning more than their parents dropped to 50% from 90% just two generations earlier.

对于30多岁的成年人来说，收入超过父母的几率从两代人之前的90%下降到了50%。

The American middle class, once an aspirational⁶ model for the world, is no longer the world's richest.

曾引领了全世界的梦想的美国中产阶级如今已不再是世界上最富有的阶层。

Most Americans with average incomes have been left to fend⁷ for themselves,

大多数收入在平均水平线的美国人都不得不自谋生路，

often at jobs where automation, outsourcing, the decline of union protection

而他们从事的往往又是被自动化、外包、工会保护的减少

and the boss's obsession⁸ with squeezing out every penny of short-term profit have eroded⁹ any sense of security.

以及老板对榨取每一分钱短期利润的痴迷榨干了他们的安全感的工作。

In 2017, household debt had grown higher than the peak reached in 2008 before the crash,

随着学生贷款和汽车贷款对家庭收入的要求越来越高，

with student and automobile¹⁰ loans staking growing claims on family paychecks.

2017年，家庭债务的水平就已经超过了2008年危机前的峰值。

Although the U.S. remains¹¹ the world's richest country,

尽管美国当前依旧是世界上最富有的国家，

it has the third-highest poverty rate among the 35 nations in the Organisation¹² for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), behind only Turkey and Israel.

但美国的贫困率也高居经济合作与发展组织的35个成员国中的前三，仅次于土耳其和以色列。

Nearly 1 in 5 American children lives in a household that the government classifies as "food insecure,"

近五分之一的美国儿童都生活在政府划定的“三餐不继”的家庭中，

meaning they are without "access to enough food for active, healthy living."

意思就是他们连“过上积极健康的生活所需的食物”都不够。

Beyond that, too few basic services seem to work as they should.

除此之外，国家的基础服务也极少能正常运行。

America's airports are an embarrassment¹³, and a modern air-traffic control system is more than 25 years behind its original schedule.

美国的机场建设简直令人尴尬，现代空中交通管制系统也比原计划落后了25年。

The power grid¹⁴, roads and rails are crumbling¹⁵, pushing the U.S. far down international rankings for infrastructure¹⁶ quality.

美国的电网、公路和铁路正在崩溃，以致美国在基础设施质量方面的国际排名大幅下滑。

Despite spending more on health care and K-12 education per capita than most other developed countries,

此外，尽管美国在医疗保健和K-12阶段的教育方面的人均投入比大多数发达国家都多，

health care outcomes and student achievement also rank in the middle or worse globally.

但医疗保健方面的成果和学生的成绩在全球也还是处于中等甚至更差的水平。

Among the 35 OECD countries, American children rank 30th in math proficiency¹⁷ and 19th in science.

在35个经合组织国家中，美国儿童的数学水平排到了第30名，科学水平也排到了第19名。

American politicians talk about "American exceptionalism" so habitually¹⁸ that it should have its own key on their speechwriters' laptops.

美国政客们总是习惯性地谈论“美国例外论”，已经到了应该给他们的演讲稿撰写人的笔记本电脑专门配个“美国例外论”键的地步。

Is this the exceptionalism they have in mind?

这就是他们心目中的例外主义吗？

Perhaps they should look at their own performance, which is best described as pathetic.

也许那些政客们应该看看他们自己的表现，用“可悲”来形容最恰当不过了。

Congress has not passed a comprehensive budget on time without omnibus bills since 1994.

自1994年以来，国会没有哪次是在不借助综合条例草案的情况下及时通过了全面预算的。

There are more than 20 registered lobbyists for every member of Congress.

每名国会议员都有20多名注册说客。

Most are deployed¹⁹ to block anything that would tax, regulate or otherwise threaten a deep-pocketed client.

其中大多数说客的工作都是阻止任何可能对财力雄厚的客户进行征税、监管或对他们构成威胁的行为。

Indeed, money has come to dominate everything so completely

的确，金钱已经完全主宰了世间万物，

that the people we send to D.C. to represent us have been reduced to begging on the phone for campaign cash up to five hours a day

以致于我们派到华盛顿特区去代表我们的人，都已经沦落到每天花长达五个小时的时间打电话向我们讨竞选资金，

and spending their evenings taking checks at fundraisers organized by those swarming²⁰ lobbyists.

晚上到那些成群结队的游说者组织的筹款活动上收支票的地步。

A gerrymandering process has rigged easy wins for most of them, as long as they fend off primary challengers—

选区划分过程的不公操纵了他们中的大多数人轻松获胜的过程，只要他们能抵挡住主要的挑战者——

which ensures that they will gravitate toward the special-interest positions of their donors²¹ and their party's base,

这就确保了他们会被捐赠人和党内基层的特殊利益所吸引，逐渐向他们靠拢，

while racking up mounting deficits²² to pay for goods and services that cost more than budgeted,

尽管他们用于支付超出预算的商品和服务带来的赤字不断攀升，

rarely work as promised and are seldom delivered on time.

又很少像他们承诺的那样努力工作，也很少按时交出工作成绩。

1 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

2 bailed   

保释，帮助脱离困境( bail的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Fortunately the pilot bailed out before the plane crashed. 飞机坠毁之前，驾驶员幸运地跳伞了。
• Some water had been shipped and the cook bailed it out. 船里进了些水，厨师把水舀了出去。

3 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

4 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

5 sputtering   

n.反应溅射法；飞溅；阴极真空喷镀；喷射v.唾沫飞溅( sputter的现在分词 )；发劈啪声；喷出；飞溅出

参考例句：

• A wick was sputtering feebly in a dish of oil. 瓦油灯上结了一个大灯花，使微弱的灯光变得更加阴暗。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）
• Jack ran up to the referee, sputtering protest. 贾克跑到裁判跟前，唾沫飞溅地提出抗议。 来自辞典例句

6 aspirational   

志同的，有抱负的

参考例句：

• Most of the images that bombard us all are aspirational. 轰击的图像，我们都期望最大。
• Analysts said self-help and aspirational reading could explain India's high figures. 分析师们指出，自助读书、热爱读书是印度人均读书时间超过别的国家的主要原因。

7 fend   

v.照料（自己），（自己）谋生，挡开，避开

参考例句：

• I've had to fend for myself since I was 14.我从十四岁时起就不得不照料自己。
• He raised his arm up to fend branches from his eyes.他举手将树枝从他眼前挡开。

8 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

9 eroded   

adj. 被侵蚀的，有蚀痕的 动词erode的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The cliff face has been steadily eroded by the sea. 峭壁表面逐渐被海水侵蚀。
• The stream eroded a channel in the solid rock. 小溪在硬石中侵蚀成一条水道。

10 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

13 embarrassment   

n.尴尬；使人为难的人(事物)；障碍；窘迫

参考例句：

• She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
• Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。

14 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

15 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

16 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

17 proficiency   

n.精通，熟练，精练

参考例句：

• He plied his trade and gained proficiency in it.他勤习手艺，技术渐渐达到了十分娴熟的地步。
• How do you think of your proficiency in written and spoken English?你认为你的书面英语和口语熟练程度如何？

18 habitually   

ad.习惯地，通常地

参考例句：

• The pain of the disease caused him habitually to furrow his brow. 病痛使他习惯性地紧皱眉头。
• Habitually obedient to John, I came up to his chair. 我已经习惯于服从约翰，我来到他的椅子跟前。

19 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

20 swarming   

密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。
• The beach is swarming with bathers. 海滩满是海水浴的人。

21 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

22 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句