无论你是还躲在象牙塔里的学生,还是准备小试身手的职场新人,可能都对自己光辉灿烂的未来充满憧憬。不过,不断从各方面传来的关于就业和生活压力的坏消息或许会让大家好不心酸。“月光”、“穷忙”,都不是新鲜字眼,眼下英美国家很多学生没毕业就成了“负翁”,欠下一屁股的债……以人为鉴,刻不容缓啊。
美式发音 适合泛听
Interviewer: If you're in your 20s or 30s and are full of optimism about your future, you may want to sit down. Today's 20- and 30-somethings are more likely to be farther in debt, thanks to student loans, credit cards and 1)obligations, than any other generation before. In fact, many are stuck on a financial 2)treadmill that isn't getting them anywhere. Is there anything they can do about it? Tamara joins us with more on that and perhaps some good news.
记者:要是你现在是二十多岁、三十多岁的人,并且对自己的未来非常乐观,你或者愿意坐下来听听。因为学生贷款、信用卡和债务的缘故,如今的二十、三十多岁的人比以往任何一代的人都更可能债台高筑。事实上,很多人已经陷于繁重的财务负担当中而无法自拔。他们可以做点什么吗?塔玛拉与我们一起更深入地探讨这个问题,或者她还有一些好消息。
First of all, you're no stranger to financial problems. You and your husband were flat broke at the age of 30. What happened?
首先,经济问题对你来说并不陌生。你和丈夫年届三十的时候曾身无分文。怎么回事?
Tamara Draut (Director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos): Well, we found ourselves a couple of days away from payday and very short on cash, so we basically decided to sell some CDs to get us through to the next payday, so we could get something to eat. And, you know, we didn't know whether to laugh or cry because, here we are, 30 years old, I have a master's degree at this point, he has a college degree, you know, we should be getting ahead at this point; we're 30 years old. So we took a long pause and said, “Well, if we're having such a hard time making ends meet, what's happening to those people out there who aren't as fortunate, who don't have college degrees?”
塔玛拉·德沃特(国家政策智囊机构德莫斯的经济机会项目总监):嗯,离发工资还有几天,我们发现手头极紧,基本上要卖掉一些CD来撑到下个发工资日,这样我们才有钱买吃的。而且,你知道吗,我们真不知该哭还是笑,因为当时我们30岁,我拥有硕士学位,他有本科学位,你知道,那个时候我们应该小有成就才对;我们都30岁了。所以我们沉思了好一会,说道:“嗯,连我们都要这么艰难地维持生计,那些没我们幸运的人,那些没有大学学位的人会怎么样啊?”
Interviewer: Well, I think your story 3)resonates with a lot of people out there. Why are so many 20- and 30-somethings that have college degrees…why are they so financially strapped?
记者:嗯,我想你的故事一定让社会上很多人产生共鸣。为什么那么多二十多岁、三十多岁有大学学位的人……为什么他们经济那么紧张啊?
Tamara: Well, you know there's a whole 4)combination of things happening. One is they're now entering the real world with lots of student loan debt. You know about 2 out of 3 college graduates have student loans and they're carrying about $19,000 on average. The cost of housing. To be a college grad today means most likely you're gonna need to move to a high cost area because, unfortunately, that's where all the jobs are.
塔玛拉:嗯,你知道啦,那是很多不同的因素作用起来的结果。其中一个原因是他们现在进入现实社会前就背着一身的学生贷款债务。你知道,平均每三个大学毕业生中就有两个身负学生贷款,平均每人背负一万九千美元的债务。还有住房成本。如今毕业的大学生需要搬到生活费用高的地区,因为很不幸的是,这些地区是所有职业的集中地。
Interviewer: Right. Well, you said the economic situation is 5)bleak but it's not hopeless. So what can they do? What can you do to turn it around, start turning it around?
记者:对。嗯,你说过如今的经济状况很黯淡,但也不是毫无希望的。那么他们可以怎么做呢?他们要怎么做来扭转局面……开始扭转局面?
Tamara: One of the things is get your own financial house in order as much as you can. If you're a recent college grad—and nobody likes this advice, but everybody's actually taking it—move back in with your parents. If you're lucky enough to live near a place where you can get a great job and live rent-free for a year, do yourself a favor, pay down those student loans, pay off any credit card debt you have and really give yourself some financial footing.
塔玛拉:其中一件可以做的事是尽可能地将自己的财政状况整理得井井有条。如果你是个新近毕业的大学生,搬回家跟父母一起住吧——没人会喜欢这个提议,但实际上每个人都这么做。如果你够幸运,能找到一份离住所不远的好工作,并且免租一年,对自己行行好,还掉学生贷款,付清所有信用卡债务,为自己打下一定的经济基础。
Interviewer: Well, part of this whole financial treadmill is that you describe a college degree as the new high school 6)diploma, so a lot of people feel the need to go off and get a masters or they might want to go to law school. Can they get around that?
记者:嗯,整个财务负担有一部分是源于你所说的情况——大学文凭如今只相当于新的高中文凭,因此很多人觉得有需要继续深造,拿一个硕士学位,或者他们会希望上法学院。他们可以摆脱困境吗?
Tamara: It depends on what career they're in. Social workers, librarians, teachers—these are all professions now that require master's degrees.
塔玛拉:那得看他们从事的是哪个行业。社会工作者、图书管理员、老师——这些现在都是需要硕士学位的行业。
Interviewer: Will it pay off if they go and get higher education?
记者:要是获得了更高的学历,他们的投入会有回报吗?
Tamara: Sometimes it will, but not always, because what that means is taking on a lot more debt in the order of $46,000 for your traditional master's degree, hundred-some thousand for going to law school.
塔玛拉:有时会,但不是一定的,因为获得一般的硕士学位需要四万六千美元,而上法学院需要十多万。那就意味着要背负更加多的债务。
Interviewer: And you said starting salaries are going down?
记者:你说过起点薪酬却在下降?
Tamara: They are. If you look at what's happened over the last three decades, let's take college graduates: your typical earnings for somebody who's in their 20s and early 30s have declined in three decades after you adjust for inflation. And for people without bachelor's degrees, their earnings have declined by about 30%, so it's gotten much, much harder to earn a decent living if you don't have that college degree.
塔玛拉:正是如此。要是你回顾过去三十年的情况,以大学毕业生为例:在调整了通胀水平后,那些二十多岁或者三十出头的人的典型收入在三十年里已经下降了。对于没有本科学位的人,他们的收入已经下降了大约30%,因此如果你没有大学学位,要过上体面的生活是越来越难了。
