2013年考研英语二阅读 Text 1 原文翻译及答案解析

In an essay entitled "Making It in America," the author Adam Davidson relates a joke from cotton country about just how much a modern textile mill has been automated: The average mill has only two employees today, "a man and a dog. The man is there to feed the dog, and the dog is there to keep the man away from the machines."

在一篇题为《在美国成功》的文章中，作者亚当·戴维森讲述了棉花产区的一个笑话，描述现代纺织厂自动化程度之高：如今一家普通工厂只有两名员工，“一个人和一条狗。人的职责是喂狗，狗的职责是让人远离机器。”

Davidson's article is one of a number of pieces that have recently appeared making the point that the reason we have such stubbornly high unemployment and declining middle-class incomes today is largely because of the big drop in demand because of the Great Recession, but it is also because of the advances in both globalization and the information technology revolution, which are more rapidly than ever replacing labor with machines or foreign workers.

戴维森的文章是近期出现的一系列文章之一，这些文章指出，我们之所以面临顽固的高失业率和中产阶级收入下降，主要是因为大衰退导致的需求大幅下降，但也因为全球化和信息技术革命的进步，这些进步正以前所未有的速度用机器或外国工人取代劳动力。

In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just won't earn you what it used to. It can't when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra — their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment.

过去，拥有平均技能、从事普通工作的工人，可以获得平均的生活水平。但如今，平庸正式终结了。平庸再也无法为你带来过去那样的回报。当如此多的雇主能够更轻松地获得大量高于平均水平的廉价外国劳动力、廉价机器人、廉价软件、廉价自动化和廉价天才时，这是不可能的。因此，每个人都需要找到自己的额外价值——即他们独特的价值贡献，使他们在任何就业领域中脱颖而出。

Yes, new technology has been eating jobs forever, and always will. But there's been an acceleration. As Davidson notes, "In the 10 years ending in 2009, [U.S.] factories shed workers so fast that they erased almost all the gains of the previous 70 years; roughly one out of every three manufacturing jobs about 6 million in

是的，新技术一直在吞噬工作岗位，并将永远如此。但速度已经加快了。正如戴维森指出的，“在截至2009年的十年里，美国工厂裁员速度如此之快，以至于几乎抹去了前70年的所有增长；大约每三个制造业工作岗位中就有一个，约600万个——”

—

——

total — disappeared."

——消失了。

There will always be change — new jobs, new products, new services. But the one thing we know for sure is that with each advance in globalization and the I. T. revolution, the best jobs will require workers to have more and better education to make themselves above average.

变化总是会有的——新工作、新产品、新服务。但我们确信的一点是，随着全球化和信息技术革命的每一次进步，最好的工作将要求工人拥有更多、更好的教育，以使自己高于平均水平。

In a world where average is officially over, there are many things we need to do to support employment, but nothing would be more important than passing some kind of G. I. Bill for the 2 l 8t century that ensures that every American has access to post high school education.

在一个平庸正式终结的世界里，我们需要做很多事情来支持就业，但没有什么比为21世纪通过某种《退伍军人权利法案》更重要的了，该法案确保每个美国人都有机会接受高中后教育。

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