双语：淹没在断层社会中的＂美国梦＂

2012-07-18 00:00:00来源：新东方

　　An ordinary Joe
　　美国梦

　　The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers our Future. By Joseph Stiglitz.
　　不平等的代价：如今社会断层是如何危及我们的未来的

　　THE American dream is that any child can make it from the bottom to the top. That may still be true in politics; the son of a Kenyan immigrant, raised partly by his grandparents, is now president of the United States. But it is much less true, in economic terms, than most Americans think. Social mobility is less easy in America than in other countries. For example, three-quarters of Danes born in the lowest-earning 20% of the population escape their plight in adulthood. Seven out of ten poor children in supposedly class-ridden Britain achieve the same feat. But fewer than six in ten Americans do so.
　　美国梦是指任何一个孩子都可以出人头地。这如今也许在政治领域还是可行的。一个肯尼亚移民的后代，被他的祖父母养大，他现在是美国的总统。（如今的美国总统是一个肯尼亚移民的后代，他的祖父母抚养他长大）但是在经济范畴，并不像美国人想象的那样现实。美国的社会阶层的流动性与其他国家相比并不容易。举例来说，出生在占总人口20%的最贫困人群中的丹麦人有75%在长大以后脱离了困境。在被认为是社会阶层稳固的英国有70%的贫困儿童在长大之后可以脱贫。但是在美国这种比率低于60%。

　　Similarly, with rags-to-riches stories. It is far less common for Americans from the bottom 20% in childhood to move into the top 20% in adulthood than it is in Denmark or in Britain. On the whole, America’s wealthy prosper while the average citizen struggles; the richest 1% of Americans gained 93% of the additional income created in 2010. The pay workers get has failed to move in line with productivity in the past 30 years. But Americans have yet to realise the extent of this tectonic shift. In a survey conducted in 2011 the average respondent thought that the richest fifth of the population had 60% of the wealth, not 85% as is the case. The respondents’ ideal income distribution would be for the top quintile to have just 30% of the wealth.
　　同样的，白手起家的故事，对于美国人来说并不常见。在美国从20%的社会底层奋斗到社会的顶层的可能性要低于丹麦人和英国人。总的来说，在美国的财富暴增同时美国普通阶层却在挣扎。1%的最富的人掌握着2010年美国总收入的93%。在过去的30年间，工人拿到的工资不能赶上生产力水平。但是美国人并未发觉这种结构性改变的程度。从2011年的数据来看，平均访问者认为，最富的15%的人占有60%的财富，而不是像上文提到的85%。被采访者的理想收入分布应该是最富有的20%的人拥有30%财富的。

　　Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel prize-winner in economics and a regular critic of liberal capitalism, addresses this issue in his new book, which he wrote in response to the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Indeed, he argues that their slogan, “We are the 99%”, echoes an article entitled, “Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%”, that he wrote in Vanity Fair in May 2011.
　　Joseph Stiglitz是诺贝尔经济学奖获得者，一位坚定的自由主义者，在他的新书中提到了这个问题，他写这本书来声援“占领华尔街”的支持者。的确，他支持他们的口号，“我们是99%”被冠以这样的名称，“这1%中的一员，通过这1%，为了这1%”这些都是他2011年5月在Vanity Fair写的。

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