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第八篇 The Changing Middle Class

　　The United States perceives itself to be a middle-class nation. However, middle class is not a real designation, nor does it carry privileges. 1 It is more of a perception, which probably was as true as it ever could be right after World War II. The economy was growing, more and more people owned their own homes, workers had solid contracts with the companies that employed them, and nearly everyone who wanted a higher education could have one. Successful people enjoyed upward social mobility. They may have started out poor, but they could become rich. Successful people also found that they had greater geographic mobility. In other words, they found themselves moving to and living in a variety of places.

　　The middle class collectively holds several values and principles. One strong value is the need to earn enough money to feel that one can determine one's own economic fate. In addition, middle-class morality embraces principles of individual responsibility, importance of family, obligations to others, and believing in something outside oneself. 2

　　But in the 1990s those in the middle class found that there was a price for success. A U. S.News World Report survey in 1994 indicated that 75 percent of Americans believed that middle-class families could no longer make ends meet 3. Both spouses now worked, as did some of the children; long commutes became routine; the need for child care put strains on4 the family; and public schools were not as good as they once were. Members of the middle class were no longer financing their lifestyles through earnings but were using credit to stay afloat. The understanding of just what middle class meant was changing.

　　練習(xí)：

　　1. The information in this passage deals with________.

　　A) an individual

　　B) a social and economic group

　　C) a political organization

　　D) government

　　2. A common middle class value is that________.

　　A) people should always have fun

　　B) children should be seen and not heard

　　C) debt is nothing to worry about

　　D) the family is very important

　　3. In the years after World War II, the middle class could be defined as________.

　　A) overburdened and in debt

　　B) hard working and suspicious

　　C) prosperous and optimistic

　　D) young and foolish

　　4. The phrase “In other words” in the first paragraph means that the following statement

　　is________.

　　A) an exception to the previous idea

　　B) a denial of the previous idea

　　C) a restatement of the previous idea

　　D) a contrasting idea

　　5. The word collectively means________.

　　A) as a group

　　B) hesitatingly

　　C) unknowingly

　　D) weakly

　　【答案】

　　1. B 2. D 3. C 4. C 5. A

　　【譯文】

　　第八篇 變化中的中產(chǎn)階級(jí)

　　美國把自己看成是一個(gè)中產(chǎn)階級(jí)的國家。然而，中產(chǎn)階級(jí)既不是一個(gè)真實(shí)的稱號(hào)，也不會(huì)帶來特別待遇。它更是一個(gè)觀念，一個(gè)也許在第二次世界大戰(zhàn)之后會(huì)變得更加正確的觀念。那時(shí)，美國經(jīng)濟(jì)不斷增長，越來越多的人擁有了自己的家庭，工人們和雇傭自己的公司簽訂了可靠的合同，并且?guī)缀跛�有想受到高等教育的人能夠接受教育。成功的人士享受這種上升的社會(huì)流動(dòng)性。他們也許之前很窮，但是他們能夠變得富有。成功人士同樣發(fā)現(xiàn)他們有更好的地理流動(dòng)性。換句話說，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)自己正移居并生活在各種各樣的地方。

　　這些中產(chǎn)階級(jí)都持有幾種相同的價(jià)值觀和原則。認(rèn)為賺取足夠金錢就可以決定自己經(jīng)濟(jì)命運(yùn)的想法，是其中一種比較強(qiáng)烈的價(jià)值觀。另外，中產(chǎn)階級(jí)的道德觀包括個(gè)人的責(zé)任感、家庭的重要性、對(duì)他人的使命感以及相信自我以外的事物。

　　但是在20 世紀(jì)90 年代，這些中產(chǎn)階級(jí)的人們發(fā)現(xiàn)了成功的代價(jià)。1994 年，《美國新聞與世界報(bào)道》的一篇調(diào)查稱，75％的美國人認(rèn)為中產(chǎn)階級(jí)家庭無法收支相抵�，F(xiàn)在夫妻雙方以及他們的一些孩子都在工作；遙遠(yuǎn)的上下班路程變成了常態(tài)，兒童看護(hù)給家庭帶來了很大壓力，并且公立學(xué)校已經(jīng)不如以前那樣好了。中產(chǎn)階級(jí)的成員不再通過薪水來支付他們的生活所需，而是通過使用信用卡來維持生活。對(duì)于中產(chǎn)階級(jí)的理解正在發(fā)生變化。

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