經濟學人《代際增益》

狗糧食用指南：

• 本篇文章來自The Economist 《經濟學人》，2017年11月刊，譯文為官方譯文。

• 紅色為重點辭彙紫色為重點短語

  藍色為重點句子綠色為翻譯（絮叨）

• 請眾狗崽們先瀏覽下全文，再看解析。筆者給出解析的重點需要完全掌握（解析中辭彙和短語基本為文章中的釋義），然後融入自己的素材庫。日積月累下來，無論是寫作還是翻譯，辭彙句型都能信手拈來！與君共勉！

NO°／6

Tuesday，January 16，2018

致 我們千禧一代

原文純享版，共8段

Age and inequality

The generation gain

Millennials are doing better than the baby-boomers did at their age. But the gap is closing

1.ALL men are created equal, but they do not stay that way for long. That is one message of a report in October by the OECD, a club of 35 mostly rich democracies. Many studies show how income gaps have evolved over time or between countries. The OECD』s report looks instead at how inequality evolves with age.

2.As people build their careers, or don』t, their incomes tend to diverge. This inequality peaks when a generation reaches its late 50s. But it tends to fall thereafter, as people draw redistributive public pensions and quit the rat race, a contest that tends to give more unto every one that hath. Old age, the OECD notes, is a 「leveller」.

3.Will it remain so? Retirement, after all, flattens incomes not by redistributing from rich seniors to poor, but by transferring money to old people from younger, working taxpayers. There will be fewer of them around in the future for every retired person, reducing the role of redistributive public pensions.

4.One logical response to the diminishing number of workers per pensioner is to raise the retirement age. But that will exacerbate old-age inequality, if mildly. Longer careers will give richer workers more time to compound their advantages. And when retirement eventually arrives, the poor, who die earlier, will have less time to enjoy their pensions.

5.Today』s youngsters may resent having to provide for more pensioners, not least because they feel that older generations have it easier than them. The OECD provides qualified support for this complaint. Baby-boomers (mostly born in the 1950s) have accumulated far more wealth (property, shares and other savings) than Generation X (mostly in the 1970s) and millennials (the 1980s and after).

6.But that is partly because they have had more time to do so. Comparing generations at a similar stage of life paints a different picture. Today』s young adults have a significantly higher disposable income than previous generations had at the same age. OECD citizens now in their early 30s have 7% more than members of Generation X had at that age and over 40% more than boomers enjoyed when they were similarly short in the tooth (see chart). Youngsters may sigh with impatience when an old codger tells them how life was tougher 「when I was your age」. But it was.

7.This millennial privilege is, however, smaller in America, which tends to set the tone for the generation wars. (Indeed Americans in their early 30s are slightly worse off than the preceding generation was at a similar age.) The gap also appears to close as the later generations get older. Gen-Xers were far more comfortable in their 30s than the people born a decade or two before them. But now they are in their 40s, their incomes have stopped rising, whereas their seniors enjoyed strong gains at the same age.

8.This may reflect the lingering influence of the global financial crisis. But if this trajectory persists, a time may soon come when old folk sigh with impatience as youngsters tell them how much easier life was 「when you were my age」.

解析版：

1.ALL men are created equal, but they do not stay that way for long. That is one message of a report in October by theOECD, a club of 35 mostly richdemocracies. Many studies show howincome gapshaveevolved over timeor between countries. The OECD』s reportlooksinsteadathow inequalityevolves with age.

人人生而平等，但這種狀態並不長久。這是經合組織（有35個成員國，主要是富裕民主國家）10月發布的一份報告所傳遞的信息。許多研究都表明收入差距隨時間或在不同國家之間變化，而經合組織的報告卻著眼於不平等隨年齡的演變。

Vocabulary

OECD abbr.經濟合作與發展組織（Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development）

democracy n.民主國家

Phrases

income gaps：收入差距

類似表達

income inequality/disparity

【拓展】

代溝：generation gap

城鄉收入差距：urban-rural income gap

sth evolve over time：某物隨著時間演化

e.g.Languages evolve over time,as new features get added to address some new technology or paradigm（n. 範例）.

隨著為了處理一些新的技術或范型而向語言中添加新的特性，語言也隨著時間不斷的演進。

evolves with age：隨著年齡變化

注意：evolve搭配不同得賓語用不同的介詞

look at：考慮；著眼於，類似於think about

片語簡單，但非常好用。

2. As people build their careers, or don』t, their incomes tend todiverge. This inequalitypeakswhen a generation reaches its late 50s.Butittends to fallthereafter, as people drawredistributivepublic pensions and quitthe rat race, a contest that tends to give moreuntoevery one thathath. Old age, the OECD notes, is a 「leveller」.

有人事業成功，有人成就寥寥，人們的收入因而出現差異。當一代人快到60歲時，這種不平等達到頂峰。但那之後，不平等水平往往會回落，因為人們將領取再分配的公共養老金，退出那種往往讓富者更富的激烈競爭。經合組織指出，老年期令人們趨向平等。

Vocabulary

diverge v.if similar things diverge, they develop in different ways and so are no longer similar.朝不同方向演變；分化

（一看到這個詞筆者不禁想到 Robert Frost

的The Road Not Taken 。這首詩第一句就是「Two roads diverged in a yellow wood」

大家有興趣可以去搜一下，這是很有名的一首詩）

peak v.to reach the highest point or level

達到頂峰，達到最高水平

該詞有三種詞性，常用詞性為名詞

e.g.at sth』s peak

The British Empire was at its peak in the mid 19th century. 英帝國在19世紀中葉處於全盛時期。

reach sth"s peak達到頂峰

Sales this month havereached a new peak. 本月的銷售額創了新高。

（以後在寫作中可以替換掉top啦）

redistributive adj.再分配的

redistribute的變形

以re-為前綴的詞一般有「再……」的意思

如 remake 再制；reproduce 使再現

unto prep.to 的舊時用法

hath vt.有（have的第三人稱單數現在式）= has

這兩個詞其實都來源於古英語。比如在莎士比亞的作品中，我們經常看到與modern English不一樣的表達。（但莎士比亞時期已經不屬於古英語時期啦！但還保留一些古英語流傳下的表達）

you-thou/thee（thou的賓格）

your-thy

your"s -thine

莎翁十四行詩中最有名的也是我最喜歡的一首便是

「Shall I Compare Thee To A Summer"s Day」

leveller n.something, especially death or illness, that makes people of all classes and ranks seem equal

使人人平等的事物〔尤指死亡或疾病〕

Translation

第句：

1.thereafter副詞拿出來先譯，漢語習慣先說與時間有關的副詞。it指代「不平等水平」，代詞指明要點，千萬不要譯成「它」。

2.the rat race：激烈競爭。後面a contest that… 用來解釋這種競爭(其實這句單獨看不太好理解，需要結合上文提到「收入差距擴大」理解)。譯者選擇前置譯法，提取解釋的大意，放到「激烈競爭」前做定語，使語句更精鍊易懂。所以大家在直譯不通順時一定要改變翻譯策略，多變通。

3. Will it remain so?Retirement, after all,flattensincomesnot byredistributing from rich seniors to poor,but bytransferring money to old people from younger, working taxpayers. There will be fewer of them around in the future for every retired person, reducingthe role ofredistributive public pensions.

這種情況會持續嗎？畢竟，退休使收入趨於平等，靠的不是把富裕老人的財富重新分配給貧困的老人，而是將還在工作的年輕納稅人的錢轉移給老人。未來，供養每一位退休人員的年輕納稅人數量會減少，這將削弱公共養老金的再分配作用。

Vocabulary

latten v.to make something flat or flatter, or to become flat or flatter （使）變平

e.g.The land flattened out as we neared the coast. 我們接近海岸時，地勢變平坦了。（文章中flatten income這個用法我沒在字典中找到，但既然作者用了，我們知道就行，自己用的話可能有點冒險。）

Phrases

the role of：……的作用

e.g.The role of friendship in their health and well-being is evident in almost every chapter.

幾乎在每一章中友誼在她們健康和精神狀態中的作用是很明顯的。

Composition

第句：主句+not by doing sth，but by doing sth，做某事，不是靠……而是靠……

寫作中這個句型可以很好的充實內容，輕鬆寫個長句而且不會錯（好湊字數hiahia）

4.One logical response to thediminishingnumber of workers per pensioner / is to raise the retirement age. But that willexacerbateold-age inequality,if mildly.Longer careers will give richer workers more time tocompoundtheir advantages. And when retirement eventually arrives, the poor, who die earlier, will have less time to enjoy their pensions.

4. 供養每一位退休老人對應的勞動者人數在減少，對此一個合乎邏輯的應對方式就是提高退休年齡。但這會加劇老人的不平等狀況，即使程度很輕微。更長的職業生涯將給予富有的勞動者更多時間來擴大自身優勢。而當最終退休時，壽命通常較短的窮人享用自己退休金的時間也會更短。

Vocabulary

diminish v.When something diminishes, or when something diminishes it, it becomes reduced in size, importance, or intensity. 使減少; 變少

[syn]reduce/decrease/lessen

同義詞不是在任何時候都能互相替換的哦

exacerbate vt.If something exacerbates a problem or bad situation, it makes it worse. 使…惡化

[syn]worsen / deteriorate

compoundv.To compound a problem, difficulty, or mistake means to make it worse by adding to it. 加劇

e.g. Additional loss of life will only compound the tragedy.

生命力的進一步喪失只會加重這一悲劇。

Translation

第句：主語過長，單獨成句。

...the diminishing number of workers per pensioner...：把這一名詞性短語重新排序，確定主謂，然後對於workers per pensioner增譯，屬於解釋性增詞。當我們將句中某個成分單獨成句時，往往需要按漢語方式重新排序，並改變詞性。漢語多使用動詞。

第句 if mildly：狀語從句的省略，翻譯時需要補齊主謂。

拓展閱讀

Baby boomers 嬰兒潮

Baby boomers are thedemographic cohort（人口群體）following the Silent Generation（沉默的一代）. There are no precise dates for when this cohort starts or ends; demographers and researchers typically use starting birth years ranging from the early-to-mid 1940s and ending birth years ranging from 1960 to 1964.

GenerationX

Generation X, or Gen X, is the demographic cohort following the baby boomers and preceding theMillennials（千禧一代）. There are no precise dates for when Generation X starts or ends. Demographers and researchers typically use birth years ranging from the early-to-mid 1960s to the early 1980s.

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