2013-1
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.”
在一篇名为(entitled)《成功（make it）在美国》的文章中，作者亚当·戴维森讲述(relate)了这样一个源自棉花出产国的笑话，笑话是关于现代纺织(textile)作坊(mill)已高度自动化(automate)：现如今，一家普通作坊里只有两名员工，“一个人和一条狗，人在作坊里是为了喂狗，狗在作坊里是为了使人远离(away from)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 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.
最近出现了很多(a number of)类似戴维森所写的文章，它们都表明了这样一种看法(make a point)：之所以失业人数(unemployment)居高难下(stubbornly high)和中产阶级(middle-class)收入(income)持续下降，原因是全球化与信息技术革命已经取得了诸多进步，它们使得机器和国外员工在取代(replace .. with)本国劳动力(labor)方面比以往任何时候都要迅速。
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.
以往，具有一般技术、从事一般工作的员工可以赚得(earn)普通的生活。但现如今，普通人才正式地过时了(officially)。继续普通无法再让你过上以前的生活，其原因是当下更多的雇主可以用(have access to)比普通还要低廉的价格，来雇佣国外员工，购买机器人(robotics)和软件(software)，实现自动化(automation)，获得天才(genus)。因此，每个人都需要挖掘身
faster怎么读?上额外的东西­来让他们做出独特的、有价值的贡献，这种贡献会让他们脱颖而出(stand out), 不管他们身处什么工作领域(field of employment)。
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 total — disappeared.”
确实，新科技在过去、现在和将来都在“吞噬”工作岗位，但这种“吞噬”速度已经提高了。正如戴维森所指出(note)：“（美国）工厂裁员(shed workers)速度是如此之快，以至于从1999到2009十年间裁员人数超过了之前70年新增员工人数的总和；大约有1/3的制造业工作岗位 —— 总约600万 —— 消失了。
There will always be changed — 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.
未来，改变会一直存在 —— 新工作、新产品和新服务。但我们肯定(know for sure)的一件事情是：随着全球化和信息技术革命所取得的每一个进步，那些最好的工作都将需要劳动者们接受更多、更好的教育，以使他们优于普通员工。
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 21st century that ensures that every American has access to post-high school education.
生活在普通人才已正式过时的世界中，我们有很多的事情需要做来扶持就业(employment)，但其中最重要的是为21世纪通过某种“士兵教育促就业法案（于1944年通过）”，以确保每个美国人都有机会（have access to）接受“后高中”教育。
2013-2
A century ago, the immigrants from across the Atlantic include settlers and sojourners. Alon
g with the many folks looking to make a permanent home in the United States came those who had no intention to stay. Between 1908 and 1915, and 7 million people arrived while about 2 million departed. About a quarter of all Italian immigrants, for example, eventually returned to Italy for good. They even had an affectionate nickname, “uccelli di passaggio”, birds of passage.
一个世纪以前，横渡大西洋的移民(immigrant)既包括定居者(settler)，也包括旅居者(sojourner)。在这些一道(along with)而来的同乡们(folks)当中，有很多人指望(look to)在美国永久安家，但也有那些人无意(have no intention to)在美国定居。在1908到1915年间，共有七百万人来到美国，但其中有两百万人没有留下来。举个例子，当时大约1/4的意大利移民最终(eventually)永久性地 (for good)返回到了意大利。人们给他们起了一个亲密的(affectionate)绰号，“uccelli di passaggio”，意为“候鸟”。
Today, we are much more rigid about immigrants. We divide newcomers into two categories: legal or illegal, good or bad. We hail them as Americans in the making, or brand them as aliens fit for deportation. That framework has contributed mightily our broken immi
gration system and the long political paralysis over how to fix it. We don’t need more categories, but we need to change the way we think about categories. We need to look beyond strict definitions of legal and illegal. To start, we can recognize the new birds of passage, those living and thriving in the gray areas. We might then begin to solve our immigration challenges.