适应社会的双语美文（双语阅读世道变了）

适应社会的双语美文（双语阅读世道变了）Those on the political left tend to focus on economics. Shrinking job opportunities for men they say are entrenching poverty and destroying families. In America pay for men with only a high-school certificate fell by 21% in real terms between 1979 and 2013; for women with similar qualifications it rose by 3%. Around a fifth of working-age American men with only a high-school diploma have no job.

AT FIRST glance the patriarchy appears to be thriving. More than 90% of presidents and prime ministers are male as are nearly all big corporate bosses. Men dominate finance technology films sports music and even stand-up comedy. In much of the world they still enjoy social and legal privileges simply because they have a Y chromosome. So it might seem odd to worry about the plight of men.

乍一看，男权制似乎正如日中天。几乎所有大公司的老板都是男性，90％以上的总统和总理也是男性。男性主宰了金融、技术、影视、体育、音乐，甚至单人脱口秀等领域。仅仅因为体内的那一条Y染色体，他们在大多数地方仍享有社会和法律特权。因此，担心男性身处困境可能有点杞人忧天。

Yet there is plenty of cause for concern. Men cluster at the bottom as well as the top. They are far more likely than women to be jailed estranged from their children or to kill themselves. They earn fewer university degrees than women. Boys in the developed world are 50% more likely to flunk basic maths reading and science entirely.

然而，这种担心是有充足理由的。男性在社会顶层聚集，同时也在底层扎堆。他们被关进监狱，被自己的孩子疏远，或自杀的可能性都比女性更大。他们获得大学学位的比例也低于女性。在发达国家，男孩在基础数学、阅读以及科学这三门基础学科上都不及格的可能性比女生高出50%。

One group in particular is suffering. Poorly educated men in rich countries have had difficulty coping with the enormous changes in the labour market and the home over the past half-century. As technology and trade have devalued brawn less-educated men have struggled to find a role in the workplace. Women on the other hand are surging into expanding sectors such as health care and education helped by their superior skills. As education has become more important boys have also fallen behind girls in school (except at the very top). Men who lose jobs in manufacturing often never work again. And men without work find it hard to attract a permanent mate. The result for low-skilled men is a poisonous combination of no job no family and no prospects.

其中一类男性的日子尤其不好过。在过去的五十年中，发达国家中受教育程度不高的男性在应对劳动力市场和家庭巨变方面始终存在困难。因为技术和贸易降低了靠力气谋生之人的价值，没受过多少教育的男性很难在工作场所中给自己找到一个定位。相反，得益于高级技能的女性开始蜂拥进入保健看护和教育等正在发展扩大的领域。随着教育变得越来越重要，少数男生成绩依旧名列前茅，然而绝大部分男生在学校的表现不如女生。在制造行业工作的男性一旦下岗，经常是再也找不到工作，而没有工作的男性发现自己很难找到一个终生伴侣。最终，那些没有一技之长的男性，通常是既没工作、又没家庭、也没前途。

From nuclear families to fissile ones

核心家庭的分裂

Those on the political left tend to focus on economics. Shrinking job opportunities for men they say are entrenching poverty and destroying families. In America pay for men with only a high-school certificate fell by 21% in real terms between 1979 and 2013; for women with similar qualifications it rose by 3%. Around a fifth of working-age American men with only a high-school diploma have no job.

左倾派倾向于把焦点放在经济方面。他们认为，男性日渐减少的工作机会正加剧贫困，摧毁家庭。美国1979年至2013年期间，只有高中学历男性的实际工资下降了21％，而同等学历女性的实际工资则上涨了3％。大约有五分之一的只有高中学历且正值工作年龄的美国男性没有工作。

Those on the right worry about the collapse of the family. The vast majority of women would prefer to have a partner who does his bit both financially and domestically. But they would rather do without one than team up with a layabout which may be all that is on offer: American men without jobs spend only half as much time on housework and caring for others as do women in the same situation and much more time watching television.

右倾派则在为家庭的破裂而担忧。绝大多数女性更愿意有一位能够共同承担财务和家务的伴侣。但是，如果没有这样的男性，她们宁愿一个人过，也不愿同一位懒汉结成伴侣，而懒汉可能正是社会上最常见的。在同样的条件下，没有工作的美国男性花在家务事和照顾他人方面花费的时间只有女性的一半，而且他们看电视的时间也要比女性多很多。

Hence the unravelling of working-class families. The two-parent family still the norm among the elite is vanishing among the poor. In rich countries the proportion of births outside marriage has trebled since 1980 to 33%. In some areas where traditional manufacturing has collapsed it has reached 70% or more. Children raised in broken homes learn less at school are more likely to drop out and earn less later on than children from intact ones. They are also not very good at forming stable families of their own.

这就造成了工薪阶层家庭的解体。1980年以来，发达国家中婚外生育率高达33％，上升了三倍。在那些传统制造业萧条的地区，婚外生育率已升至70％，甚至更高。在破碎家庭长大的孩子在学校中比较不爱学习。相比来自完整家庭的孩子，他们更有可能辍学，以后挣的钱可能也更少。他们自己在组建稳定家庭方面也表现得不尽人意。

These two sides often talk past each other. But their explanations are not contradictory: both economics and social change are to blame and the two causes reinforce each other. Moreover these problems are likely to get worse. Technology will disrupt more industries creating benefits for society but rendering workers who fail to update their skills redundant. The OECD a think-tank predicts that the absolute number of single-parent households will continue to rise in nearly all rich countries. Boys who grow up without fathers are more likely to have trouble forming lasting relationships creating a cycle of male dysfunction.

左右派双方经常各持己见。但是，他们的解释并不矛盾：经济变化和社会变化都有影响，而且这两个因素相互作用，呈正相关。更为重要的是，这些问题可能会进一步恶化。技术将摧毁更多的行业，在为社会创造福利的同时，还让那些没能更新自己技能的工人成为多余之人。智库集团经济合作与发展组织（OECD）预测，几乎所有的发达国家单亲家庭的绝对数将继续上升。没有父亲陪伴下长大的男孩更有可能在形成持久关系方面存在困难，进而造成男性功能缺失的循环。

Tinker tailor soldier hairdresser

锅匠、裁缝、士兵、美发师

What can be done? Part of the solution lies in a change in cultural attitudes. Over the past generation middle-class men have learned that they need to help with child care and have changed their behaviour. Working-class men need to catch up. Women have learned that they can be surgeons and physicists without losing their femininity. Men need to understand that traditional manual jobs are not coming back and that they can be nurses or hairdressers without losing their masculinity.

这种问题如何解决？部分答案在于文化态度的转变。在上一代中，中产阶层的男性已经意识到，他们需要在照顾孩子方面出一份力，而且，他们的行为已有所转变。工薪阶层的男性需要赶上来。女性已经懂得，她们在保持自己女性特点的同时，依旧可以成为外科医生和物理学家。男性要意识到靠力气吃饭的传统工作优势正一去不复返，还要明白，他们也可以在保持自己男性气概的同时，成为护士或者美发师。

Policymakers also need to lend a hand because foolish laws are making the problem worse. America reduces the supply of marriageable men by locking up millions of young males for non-violent offences and then making it hard for them to find work when they get out (in Georgia for example felons are barred from feeding pigs fighting fires or working in funeral homes). A number of rich countries discourage poor people from marrying or cohabiting by cutting their benefits if they do.

政策制定者也需要伸出援手，因为不合理的法律正在让问题恶化。美国适婚男性数量减少，原因在于数百万仅犯有非暴力罪行的年轻男性被关进监狱，出狱之后又难以找到工作（例如，在佐治亚州，禁止重罪犯从事生猪饲养、消防灭火或在殡仪馆服务等工作）。许多富裕国家都在利用结婚或同居就减少福利的方式，打消穷人结婚或者同居的念头。

Even more important than scrapping foolish policies is retooling the educational system which was designed in an age when most men worked with their muscles. Politicians need to recognise that boys underachievement is a serious problem and set about fixing it. Some sensible policies that are good for everybody are particularly good for boys. Early-childhood education provides boys with more structure and a better chance of developing verbal and social skills. Countries with successful vocational systems such as Germany have done a better job than Anglo-Saxon countries of motivating non-academic boys and guiding them into jobs but policymakers need to reinvent vocational education for an age when trainees are more likely to get jobs in hospitals than factories.

比取消不合理的政策更为重要的是，重塑在多数人还在靠力气吃饭的时代设计的教育体系。政客们需要认识到，男孩表现差这个问题很严重，亟需解决。一些能让所有人获益的合理政策要对男孩更有利。早期幼儿教育要经过更加周密的安排，从而给男孩提供更好的开发语言和社交技能的机会。在激励不走学术道路的男孩和指导其就业方面，德国等拥有成功职业教育体系的国家要比英语国家做得更好。不过，政策制定者需要重塑当前的职业教育体系，因为相较于在工厂工作，他们以后在医院工作的可能性更高。

More generally schools need to become more boy-friendly. They should recognise that boys like to rush around more than girls do: it's better to give them lots of organised sports and energy-eating games than to dose them with Ritalin or tell them off for fidgeting. They need to provide more male role models: employing more male teachers in primary schools will both supply boys with a male to whom they can relate and demonstrate that men can be teachers as well as firefighters.

一般来说，学校需要对男孩更友好一些。学校应当认识到，男孩比女孩更喜欢四处乱跑：要给他们提供大量有组织的体育活动和能消耗他们体力的游戏，而不是训斥他们烦躁多动或者直接给他们开利他林这种帮助多动儿童安静下来并集中注意力的药物。学校需要更多男性榜样：在小学中雇用更多的男性教师，这样不仅能让男孩与其相处，还能够表明男性除了当消防队员，也可以成为老师。

The growing equality of the sexes is one of the biggest achievements of the post-war era: people have greater opportunities than ever before to achieve their ambitions regardless of their gender. But some men have failed to cope with this new world. It is time to give them a hand.

两性的日渐平等是战后时代最伟大的成就之一，人们拥有比以前任何时候都要多的机会去实现自己的抱负，同时还不用担心自己的性别问题。但是，有些男性没能适应这个新的世界。是时候帮他们一把了。

编译：陈思

审校：刘婷

编辑：刘秀红

英文来源：经济学人

阅读·经济学人

翻吧·与你一起学翻译

translationtips

长按识别二维码关注翻吧