除了钱,富人还有什么穷人没有的?

教育   2024-10-22 12:16   中国  

在探讨贫富差距的过程中,我们常常思考穷人为何难以跨越阶层。是时间的限制、人脉的缺失、认知思维的局限,还是社会环境的不公平呢?快来参与投票,分享你的看法,一起探讨这个深刻的社会问题,也许我们能从中找到改变的方向。

富人拥有穷人所没有的东西,最明显的是时间,富人能够随心所欲地支配自己的时间。此外,富人拥有而穷人没有的下一个最有价值的东西是人脉关系。作者从贫困边缘成长到较为富裕的中年状态,亲身体会到这一点。富人的孩子能通过人脉轻松找到好工作,比如作者的一个邻居大学毕业后就凭借父母的关系获得了高薪工作。而作者自己毕业后在低薪工作中挣扎多年。富人和穷人的孩子往往在各自的社会经济阶层内交往,并最终与同阶层的人结婚,这使得社会经济阶层等级得以延续。很少有贫困出身的人靠自己的努力提升社会经济地位,很多人是通过与更高阶层的人结婚实现的。进入中上层或更高阶层的最好方式是出生在其中或通过婚姻进入。如果穷人不认识能帮助他们摆脱贫困的富人,那么他们摆脱贫困的机会就很渺茫。

Besides money, what do rich people have that poor people don't?
除了钱,富人拥有什么是穷人没有的呢?

Time is the most obvious answer. Time is the most valuable thing on Earth, and rich people have the ability to spend their time as they wish.
时间是最明显的答案。时间是地球上最宝贵的东西,富人有能力随心所欲地支配自己的时间。
Besides that, the next most valuable thing rich people have that poor people don’t is connections. I’ve seen this firsthand over the last 25 years, as I’ve gone from a young adult who was raised near poverty to a much more affluent middle-aged adult. My social circles include a lot of people who were raised in affluence, and many of them have similar stories of graduating college and easily finding good careers with stable companies thanks to the people they or their parents knew.
除此之外,富人拥有而穷人没有的下一个最有价值的东西是人脉关系。在过去的 25 年里,我亲眼目睹了这一点,因为我从一个在贫困边缘长大的年轻人变成了一个更加富裕的中年人。我的社交圈子里有很多在富裕环境中长大的人,他们中的许多人都有类似的故事,即由于他们自己或他们父母认识的人,大学毕业后很容易在稳定的公司找到好工作。
Just yesterday, I learned that a neighbor of mine, whom I taught when they were in middle school, just graduated college last Friday, and began their new, $85k annual salary entry-level job with a local company on Monday. How did they get that job? The owner of the company lives in our neighborhood and is friends with that kid’s parents. Their children went to school together and played together growing up.
就在昨天,我得知我的一个邻居,我在她上中学时教过她,上周五刚大学毕业,周一就在一家当地公司开始了她年薪 8.5 万美元的初级工作。她是怎么得到这份工作的呢?这家公司的老板住在我们小区,和那个孩子的父母是朋友。他们的孩子一起上学,一起长大。
Meanwhile, when I graduated college, I floundered for years making $35–40k in low-level jobs that didn’t even require a college degree. I didn’t know anyone who could help me get any kind of job where I’d actually use my degree. I had the credentials, but I didn’t have the connections. I had to go back for a graduate degree before finding a job I enjoyed (teaching), but still didn’t pay very well.
与此同时,当我大学毕业时,我在不需要大学学历的低层次工作中挣扎了多年,收入只有 3.5 万到 4 万美元。我不知道有谁能帮我找到一份真正能用到我学位的工作。我有学历,但我没有人脉关系。我不得不回去读研究生,然后才找到一份我喜欢的工作(教学),但收入仍然不高。
If my new-college-graduate neighbor/former student is good at her new job and sticks with it, she is likely to be making somewhere in the $150k annual range by the time she is in her 30s. If she’s anything like all of the other young women in my social circles, she will likely end up marrying a man who is also the child of affluent parents, and their combined incomes will put them even farther to the right side of the socioeconomic bell curve.
如果我的这位刚大学毕业的邻居 / 以前的学生擅长她的新工作并坚持下去,到她 30 多岁的时候,她很可能会赚到 15 万美元左右的年薪。如果她和我社交圈子里的其他年轻女性一样,她很可能最终会嫁给一个同样是富裕家庭孩子的男人,他们的综合收入会让他们在社会经济钟形曲线的右侧走得更远。
This is not a rare story around here. Back when I was in graduate school, we read articles that discussed the issue of class stratification being exacerbated by physical and social isolation amongst socioeconomic circles. The gist of the articles were all the same: rich and poor kids tend to only interact with children in their socioeconomic level throughout childhood and end up marrying someone from their same socioeconomic level, which perpetuates the socioeconomic class hierarchy.
在这里,这不是一个罕见的故事。当我读研究生的时候,我们读过一些文章,讨论了社会经济圈子之间的物理和社会隔离加剧了阶级分层的问题。这些文章的要点都是一样的:富人和穷人的孩子在整个童年时期往往只与他们社会经济水平相同的孩子交往,最终会与来自同一社会经济水平的人结婚,这使得社会经济阶层等级得以延续。
From what I can tell by what they post on Facebook, very few of my childhood friends who were raised in or near poverty, like me, made it up the socioeconomic ladder via college, hard work, dedication, etc… Most who managed to actually move up the ladder did so via marrying someone who was already several rungs up the ladder, and they essentially pulled them up. They didn’t climb up on their own.
从他们在脸书上发布的内容来看,像我一样在贫困或接近贫困环境中长大的童年朋友中,很少有人通过大学、努力工作、奉献等方式爬上社会经济阶梯…… 大多数真正爬上阶梯的人是通过嫁给一个已经在阶梯上高几个层次的人,基本上是被他们拉上去的。他们不是靠自己爬上去的。
From what I’ve seen in my life, the best way to get in the upper-middle class or higher nowadays is to be born in it, or to marry into it. Sure, some people can work their way into, but that’s the more difficult path.
在我的生活中,如今进入中上层或更高阶层的最好方式是出生在其中,或者通过婚姻进入。当然,有些人可以通过自己的努力进入,但那是更困难的途径。
If you’re poor and don’t know a single richer person who can help you get out of poverty, your chances of getting out of poverty are pretty slim. You don’t have one of the key things rich people have: connections that can help you climb up the socioeconomic ladder.
如果你很穷,并且不认识一个能帮助你摆脱贫困的富人,那么你摆脱贫困的机会就非常渺茫。你没有富人拥有的关键东西之一:能帮助你爬上社会经济阶梯的人脉关系。
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