双语:Many College-Educated Americans Feel Disconnected from US Middle Class
发布时间:2019年06月11日
发布人:nanyuzi  

Many College-Educated Americans Feel Disconnected from US Middle Class

美国大学毕业生深感与中产阶级脱节

 

In the United States, a college education has long been one of the best ways to become a member of the middle class.

 

在美国,长期以来,接受大学教育都是进阶中产阶级的最佳方式之一。

 

A college degree usually leads to higher pay, stronger job security, a greater chance of home ownership and comparatively secure family life. These qualities have long been seen as worth the sacrifices often required. Those sacrifices can include the money spent paying off student loans and the years waiting for a return on one’s investment in higher education.

 

有了大学文凭,通常就能有更高的收入、更强的就业保障、更大的可能性有自己的小窝,家庭生活也会相对更有保障。长期以来,人们都认为,如果能获得上述特质,那么一切付出都是值得的。这种付出包括但不限于为还清助学贷款但交的钱,以及投资高等教育多年才等到的回报。

 

Yet U.S. college graduates are not as likely as they once were to feel they belong to the middle class. That is a finding of the 2018 General Social Survey, or GSS.

 

不过,很多美国大学毕业生越来越觉得自己不属于中产阶级了。这是2018年综合社会调查(GSS)的发现。

 

The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and GSS researchers jointly examined the study. They found that 35 percent of college graduates described themselves as working or lower class. That’s an increase from 1983 when only 20 percent felt that way.

 

美联社全国民意调查中心公共事务研究中心以及GSS的研究人员共同审视了这项研究。他们发现,35%的大学生认为自己是工薪阶级甚至更低的阶级。相比1983年,这一数据值有所上升,因为那时候只有20%的大学生会这样认为。

 

Not surprisingly, Americans without a college degree have long felt even less connected to the middle class. Last year, six in 10 of them described themselves as working or lower class, about the same as the percentage who said so in 1983. The study did not define middle class. Those questioned gave answers based on their own opinions.

 

但这个结果是意料之中的,因为很多美国大学身长期以来一直感到与中产阶级脱节。去年,60%的大学生认为自己属于工薪阶级或者更低的阶级,这一数值与1983年的数值接近。这项研究并未界定何为中产阶级,所有参与该研究的大学生都是根据自己的理解来给出回答的。

 

The U.S. economy has been expanding for nearly 10 years. And the nation’s unemployment rate is at 3.8 percent. Yet the financial concerns that affect many college graduates point to the widening divide between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else.

 

美国经济已经扩张了近10年。美国当前的失业率是3.8%。但财务方面的忧虑影响着许多大学生,这表明美国贫富差距在逐渐扩大。

 

Economists have noted that rising college debt has, in a way, become the cost of entrance into the job market. Nearly 80 percent of the 2 million overall job gains last year went to college graduates; just a third of U.S. adults hold a degree.

 

许多经济学家表示,学生贷款数额越来越高,这在某种程度上已经成为学生进入就业市场的一部分成本。去年有200万个新就业岗位,其中近八成是大学毕业生,而美国成年人中只有1/3的人有大学文凭。

 

Soncia Coleman is a senior director at Young Invincibles. Her group works in support of the current generation of college-aged young people, often called millennials. Coleman said that millennials are facing difficulties like no generation before them. These difficulties are preventing them from reaching what we all consider to be the American Dream, she added.

 

科尔曼是“青年无敌”的高级主管。她所在的这家组织旨在支持当代处于上大学年纪的年轻人,即千禧一代。科尔曼表示,千禧一代面临着许多困难,这些困难是任何父辈都未曾遇到的。这样的困难阻碍着他们,让他们无法达到我们口中所想的美国梦,她补充说到。

 

They need the education, but the cost to get it is astronomical, said Coleman.

 

科尔曼表示,他们需要接受教育,但接受教育的成本太过高昂了。


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