-
,.
Unit Seven
ON HUMAN NATURE Frank and Lydia Hammer
我对人类的了解越多，
对他们的期望就越低。
和以前相比，
我现在常常以
较宽松的标准
把一个人叫做好人。
——塞缪尔·约翰逊博士
论人性
弗兰克，莉迪亚·汉默尔
1
Human nature is the basis of character, the
temperament and disposition; it is that
indestructible matrix upon which the
character is built, and whose shape it must
take and keep throughout life. This we
call a person's nature.
1
人性是
性格、气质和性情的基础，性格正是基于这种牢不可破的基质之上的，它必须以这
种基质
的形式存在，并将它保留终生，这种基质，我们称之为一个人的本性。
2
The
basic
nature
of
human
beings
does
not
and
cannot
change.
It
is
only
the
surface
that is capable of alteration, improvement and
refinement; we can alter only
people's
customs,
manners,
dress
and
habits.
A
study
of
history
reveals
that
the
people
who walked this
earth in
antiquity were moved by the same fundamental
forces, were swayed by the
same
passions, and had the same aspirations as the men
and women of today. The
pursuit of
happiness still engrosses mankind the world over.
2
人类的本性不会也不能改变，只有一些表面特征才会变化、改
善和进一步提升；我们可以
改变人们的风格、举止、
衣着和习惯
。一项历史研究表明，曾经行走在地球上的古人们和今
天的男男女女们受着同样的基本力
量驱使，
被同样的激情左右并有着同样的抱负，
时至今日，
对幸福的追求仍然是全世界人类全身心投入的事业。
3
Moreover
no
one
wishes
his
nature
to
change.
One
may covet
the
position of
,.
President
or
King,
but
would
not
change
places
with
them
unless,
it
meant
the
continuance of his own identify. Each
man sees himself as unique, and so far as he is
concerned the hub of the universe,
different from any other individual. Apologies
are in order when Mr. Smith is mistaken
for Mr. Jones.
3
此外，没有人希望改变自己
的本性，有人可能会觊觎总统或国王的职位，但不会和他们交
换位置，除非那意味着他自
己身份的继续。每个人都把自己看成是独特个体，而且，就他而
言，他就是宇宙的中心，
有别于其他任何人。
如果有人把史密斯先生误认作琼斯先生，<
/p>
这人
就该道歉。
4 Every man unfolds a distinct
character over which circumstances and education
have
only
the
most
limited
control.
No
two
people
will
ever
draw
the
same
conclusions
from
the
same
experiences,
but
each
must
interpret
events
and
fit
them into
the mosaic of his own life's pattern. Human nature
is ever true itself, not
to systems of
faith or education. Each holds to the structure of
the mold into which
the
soul
was
cast
at
the
time
of
its
individualization.
The
qualities
born
in
one
remain as potentials whether they have
a chance to develop or not. Under pressure,
or
change
of
interest,
they
can
partially
or
wholly
disappear
from
view,
tor
considerable periods of time; but
nothing can permanently modify them, nothing
can obliterate them.
4
每个人都表现出一种与众不同的性格，
而环境和教育对性格的影响都极其有限
。
两个人从
相同的经历中也不会得出相同的结论，
但是两个人会各自分析这些事件并将它们融合到自己
丰富的生活模式中去。<
/p>
人性总是忠于它本身，
而不受信仰或教育体制左右。
一个人的个性和
他独特的天性在出生时就已经形成了，
而且不会改变。
一个人与生俱来的品质，
无论是否有
,.
机会发展，
都保
持为潜力。
在遭受压力或兴趣变化的情况下，
他们会部分或全部
地消失相当
一段时间，但是没有什么能永久地改变他们，也没有什么能把他们抹去。
5 The constancy of human
nature is proverbial, as no one believes that a
man can
fundamentally
change
his
nature.
This
is
why
it
is
so
difficult
for
one
who
has
acquired
an
unsavory reputation to re-establish himself in
public confidence. People know
from
experience
that
an
individual
who
in
one
year
displays
knavish
characteristics-
seldom
in
the
next
becomes
any
different.
Nor
does
a
thief
become
a
trustworthy
employee, or a
miser a philanthropist. Nor does a man change and
become a liar,
coward or traitor at
fifty or sixty; if he is one then, he has been one
ever since his
character was formed.
Big criminals are first little criminals, just as
giant oaks are
first little acorns.
5
人性的恒定性是众所周知的，
因为没有人相
信一个人能够从根本上改变他的本性。
这就是
为什么一个恶名远
扬的人很难重建公众对他的信心。
人们凭经验知道某一年中表现出无赖性
格的人不太可能在第二年有任何改观。
小偷也不会变成值得信赖的员工。
吝啬鬼也不可能变
成慈善家。
而且，
一个人不会在五六十岁的时候变成谎话精、
懦夫或叛徒，
如果那时候他是，
那么早在他性格形成的时候他就已经是了。
< br>大罪犯最初都是小罪犯，
正如大橡树最初都是小
橡果。<
/p>
6 Although man is
potentially perfect he is far from being actually
so. If he were
actually perfect there
would be nothing for preachers and humanitarians
to do; no
,.
use
for
churches, schools,
courts and
prisons.
Therefore
while
it
is
impossible
to
change human nature, it
can be studied, controlled and directed, and this
should be
the supreme function of our
religious, educational and social institutions.
6
尽管人类有完美的潜质，但事实上他远远没有达到完美。如果事实
上他已经是完美的，那
么那些神父、
教师和人道主义者便会无事
可做；
那些教堂、
学校、
法庭和监狱便
会无所用处。
因此虽然人性是不可能改变的，
但是人们可以研究
它、
控制它和引导它。
而且这应该是我们
的宗教机构、教育机构和社会机构的最高职能。
7 Man
is perfect as a seed is perfect, germinally. The
spirit is perfect, but when it
inhabits
human
structures,
it
participates
in
the
imperfections
of
the
later;
and
during
its
association
with
matter
takes
on
the
mortal
weakness,
desires
and
limitations. But the
spirit, the inner man, remains untouched and
undefiled by evil.
Only
the
outer
man- the
personality
and
the physical
body-
becomes imperfect,
due to
ignorance, wrong thinking and violation of the law
of being. The outer man,
too, was
originally perfect, but man has so desecrated and
abused it that today it is
a far cry
from the original model.
7
人类
在胚胎期是完美的，就好比一粒种子，在幼芽期是完美的一样。精神是完美的，但它
栖居
到人类肉体结构中后，
便参与其中，
表现出后者的不完美。
在它与物质的联系过程中呈
现出凡人的弱点、
欲望和局限。
但是精神，
也就是人的内在，
< br>却仍能免遭邪恶的染指和玷污。
只有外在的人——个性和躯体，由于无知、思想错
误和违反自然规律而变得不完美。外在
的人，原本也是完美的，但是由于人类如此的亵渎
和滥用，今天，它已经与原型相去甚远。
8
Man's
majesty
and
nobility
are
taken
for
granted,
although
his
faults
and
weaknesses are constantly paraded
before our eyes. Only when behavior deviates
,.
from
the
normal
does
it
attract
attention.
The
good
neighbor,
the
conscientious
citizen,
the
kind
father
and
faithful
husband
pass
unnoticed.
But
the
murderer,
robber or wife beater is singled out
for ublicity, because such conduct is unusual.
8
人们想当然地认为人类是伟大和高尚的，
尽
管他的过错和弱点不断地暴露在我们面前。
只
有当人类行为偏离
常规时才会引起人们的注意。
人们对好邻居、
良民、
慈父和贞夫视而不见，
但杀人犯、抢劫犯或殴打妻子的人却成为公众瞩目的
焦点。因为这些行为非同寻常。
9 Man's
inherent goodness, moreover, is revealed by his
countless acts of heroism,
unselfishness and sacrifice. Daily one
reads of men saving others at the peril of their
own
lives.
One
plunges
into
the
surf
and
rescues
a
swimmer
from
drowning;
another
dashes into a burning house and carries
a stranger to safety; others snatch a child
from
the
wheels
of
death;
many
give
their
blood
so
that
others
may
live.
Countless
unnamed and
unrecorded men have given their lives for their
fellowmen, not only
on the battlefront
but on the home- front as well.
9
人类固有的优点还体现在不计其数的英雄主义行为、
充满无私和牺牲精神的举
动上，
每天
我们都会读到人们冒着生命危险挽救他人生命的事迹
：
有人跃入水中拯救溺水的泳者；
有人
冲进火场将陌生人带出险境；
有人从死亡的车轮下救出孩子；
许
多人献出鲜血使他人生命得
以延续。数不胜数的不知姓名、不被记载的人们，不仅在战场
上，而且还在战争的大后方，
为了他们的同胞献出了生命。
10Human nature does not and cannot
change but unfolds its inherent pattern. Man
has a nature and its laws can be known.
We can only endeavor to understand man
,.
as he is.
10
人性不会也不能改变，
它只展现它固有的模
式。
它有天性而且这种天性的规律是可知的。
我们只能尽力去了
解人类的真实面貌。
Unit
Eight
It's
almost
a
common
sense
that
wearing
a
seat
belt
can
keep
passengers
from
being injured or being
killed in a car accident. But recent research done
by John
Adams shows more complicated
statistics. More car accidents are caused by the
reckless drivers who wear seat belts.
THE HIDDEN DANGER OF SEAT
BELTS
David Bjerklie
安全带可以避免乘客在车祸中受伤或死亡，这几乎是常识。但是，
约翰．
亚当斯最近所
做的研究得出了更加复杂的统计数据。<
/p>
当司机系着安全带时，
他们开车无所顾忌，
更多车祸
因此而发生。
座椅安全带的隐患
大卫·布杰克里
1 Seat
belts still decrease our risk of dying in an
accident, but the statistics are not
all
black
and
white.
In
fact,
according
to
one
researcher,
seat
belts
may
actually
cause people to
drive more recklessly.
1
座椅安全
带固然能降低我们在车祸中死亡的危险，
但从统计数据看，
情况
并不是那么绝对。
事实上，据一位研究者说，安全带可能会使人们在驾车时更加肆无忌惮
。
2 If there's one thing we
know about our risky world, it's that seat belts
save lives.
And they do, of course. But
reality, as usual, is messier and more complicated
than
,.
that.
John Adams, risk expert and emeritus
professor of
geography at
University
College
London,
was
an
early
skeptic
of
the
seat
belt
safety
mantra. Adams
first
began to look at the numbers more than
25 years ago. What he found was that
contrary to conventional wisdom,
mandating the use of seat belts in 18 countries
resulted in either no change or
actually a net increase in road accident deaths. <
/p>
2
对于这个有危险的世界，
如果有一件事
我们还算了解，
那就是座椅安全带可以救命。
当然，
它确实可以救命。但实际情况通常要更混乱、
更复杂。伦敦大学学院的风险
专家、
地理学荣
誉教授约翰·亚当斯早就质疑安全带能保证驾车
安全的信条。亚当斯最早开始查看统计数字
是早在
25
年前的事了。他的发现与人们的普遍看法恰恰相反——在
18
个强制使用安全带
的国家，要么交通事故死亡率根本没有变化，要么实际上
反而导致了死亡率的净增长。
3 How can that
be? Adams' interpretation of the data rests on the
notion of risk
compensation, the idea
that individuals tend to adjust their behavior in
response to
what they perceive; as
changes in the level of risk. Imagine, explains
Adams, a driver
negotiating a curve in
the road. Let's make him a young male. He is going
to be
influenced by his perceptions of
both the risks and rewards of driving a car. The
considerations could include getting to
work or meeting a mend for dinner on time,
impressing a companion with his driving
skills, bolstering his image of himself as an
accomplished
driver.
They
could
also
include
his
concern
for
his
own
safety
and
desire to live to a ripe old age, his
feelings of responsibility for a toddler with him
in
a car seat, the cost of banging up
his shiny new car or losing his license.
3
怎么会这样
?
亚当斯用风险补偿的概念来解释这些数据资料，这个概念就是：人们往往会
根据他们意识到的风险程度的改变来相应地调整自己的行为。
亚当斯解释
说，
假设一位司机
,.
驾车途中要过一个窄弯道，
这名司机是个男青年，
那
么他会受到自己对以下两方面认知的影
响：
驾车的风险和驾车的
回报。
他所考虑的东西可能包括：
能够准时上班或准时赶赴朋友
的
饭局、
让同伴对他的驾车技术留下深刻印象、
使自己作为熟练驾车手的形象更加巩固。
他还
可能考虑
到自身的安全问题、
长命百岁的愿望、
对车上年幼乘客的责任感
、
撞毁自己的漂亮
新车或驾驶证被没收的代价。
Nor will these possible concerns
exist in a vacuum. He will be taking into account
the weather and the condition of the
road, the amount of traffic and the capabilities
of the car he is driving. But
crucially, says Adams, this driver will also be
adjusting
his behavior in response to
what he perceives are changes in risks. If he is
wearing a
seat belt and his car has
front and side air bags and anti-skid brakes to
boot, he
may in turn drive a bit more
daringly.
这些可能的担心也不是孤立存在的。
他还
要考虑到天气和路况、
交通拥挤的程度和所驾车子
的性能。但亚
当斯说，关键的是这个司机还将根据他对风险变化的判断来调整自己的行为。
如果他系上
了安全带，
而他的车子带有前、
侧气囊和防滑刹车系统，
他驾起车来可能会更大
胆。
4 The point, stresses Adams, is that
drivers who feel safe may actually increase the
risk that they pose to other drivers,
bicyclists, pedestrians and their own passengers
(while
an
average
of
80%
of
drivers
buckle
up,
only
68%
of
their
rear-
seat
passengers do). And risk
compensation is hardly confined to the act of
driving a car.
Think of a trapeze
artist,
suggests Adams, or
a rock climber or motorcyclist. Add
some safety equipment to the equation-
a net, rope or helmet respectively- and the
person may try maneuvers that he or she
would otherwise consider foolish. In the
,.
case of seat
belts, instead of a simple, straightforward
reduction in deaths, the end
result
is
actually
a
more
complicated
redistribution
of
risk
and
fatalities.
For
the
sake of argument, offers
Adams, imagine how it might affect the behavior of
drivers
if a sharp stake were mounted
in the middle of the steering wheel? Or if the
bumper
were packed with explosives.
Perverse, yes, but it certainly provides a vivid
example
of how a perception of risk
could modify behavior.
4
亚当斯强
调说，问题就在于自我感觉安全的司机们实际上对其他司机、骑自行车者、行人
和自己车
上的乘客来说是更大的危险
(
平均
80
％的司机系安全带，而同车后座的乘客只有
68
％系安全带
)
。风险补偿绝不仅限于驾车行为。亚当斯
说，类似的还有表演高空秋千的艺
人、攀岩者或摩托车手。如果在他们的安全等式上增添
某种安全装置——比如说分别给他
们一张救生网、一根保险绳或一个头盔——这个人可能
就会试着做些平时认为很愚蠢的技
巧性表演。
因此，安全带并非
简单、
直截了当地减少死亡人数，而是对风险和死亡事故进行
了
更加复杂的再分配。
为了说明其中的道理，
亚当斯提出人们可以
想象一下，
如果在方向盘
中间安一个尖头的木桩，
司机开车时会受到怎样的影响
?
或者在保险杠上装满
炸药呢
?
这简直
是丧心病狂，
是的，
不过这确实提供了一个生动的例子，
来说
明人们如何根据对风险的判断
来调整行为。
5
In
everyday
life,
risk
is
a
moving
target,
not
a
set
number
as
statistics
might
suggest.
In addition to
external factors, each individual has his or her
own internal comfort
level with risk-
taking. Some are daring while others are cautious
by nature. And still
others
are
fatalists
who
may
believe
that
a
higher
power
devises
mortality
schedules that fix a predetermined time
when our number is up. Consequently, any
,.
single
measurement assigned to the risk of driving a car
is bound to be only the
roughest sort
of benchmark.
5
日
常生活中，风险是不断移动的靶子，而并不像统计数据那样是个固定数字。除了外部因
素
外，
每个人对于冒险都有自己内在的安全尺度。
有些人天生大胆
而有些人天生谨慎，
还有
些人是宿命论者，
他们会认为，
有一种更强大的力量设计了死亡时间表，
预先
确定了我们的
死期。因此，对驾车风险做任何单一的测算所得到的肯定只是最粗略的基准
数据。
Adams cites, as an
example the statistical fact that a young man is
100 times more
likely
to
be
involved
in
a
severe
crash
than
is
a
middle-aged
woman.
Similarly,
someone driving
at 3:00 a.m. Sunday is more than 100 times more
likely to die than
someone driving at
10:00 a.m. Sunday. Someone with a personality
disorder is 10
times more likely to
die. And let's say he's also drunk. Tally up All
these factors and
consider
them
independently
says
Adams,
and
you
could
arrive
at.
a
statistical
prediction that a disturbed, drunken
young man driving in the middle of the night
is 2.7 million times more likely to be
involved in a serious accident than would a
sober, middle-aged woman driving to
church seven hours later.
亚当斯引用了这样的统计事实
作例子：
青年男子发生严重撞车事故的概率比中年妇女高
100
倍。同样，在星期天凌晨
3
点钟驾车的
人比同一天上午
10
点钟驾车的人死亡风险高出
100
多倍，有人格障碍的人比一般人死亡风险高
10
倍。亚当斯说，假如这个人还喝醉了，汇总
所有这些因素并分别
加以考虑，
就会得到一个具有统计性的预测：
一位心理失常又喝
醉酒的
青年男子在午夜驾车，
7
个小时
后一位头脑清醒的中年妇女驾车去教堂，
前者发生严重交通
事故
的概率比后者高
270
万倍。
6 The bottom line is that risk doesn't
exist in a vacuum and that there are a host of
,.
factors that
come into play, including the rewards of risk,
whether they are financial,
physical or
emotional. It is this very human context which
risk exists. That is key,
says
Adams,
who
titled
one
of
his
recent
blogs:
What
Kills
You
Matters-
Not
Numbers.
Our
reaction
to
risk
very
much
depends
on
the
degree
to
which
it
is
voluntary (scuba diving),
unavoidable (public transit) or imposed (air
quality), the
degree to which we feel
we are in control (driving) or at the mercy of
others (plane
travel), and the degree
to which the source of possible danger is benign
(
orders), indifferent (nature) or
malign, (murder and terrorism). We make dozens of
risk calculations daily, but you can
book odds- that most of them are so automatic
or visceral- that we barely notice
them.
6
问题的要点就在于风险并不是孤立存在的，
它会受到许多因素的影响，
包括承担风险所带
来的种种回报——无论是财产方面的、身体方面的，还是情感方面的。这正是风险赖以存
在的真实的人类社会。
亚当斯说，
这才是问题的关键，
正如他把近期的一篇博客题目定为
《关
键的是
置人于死地的东西，而不是数字》
。我们对风险的反应多半取决于它在多大程度上是
自发的行为
(
如戴水肺潜水
)
、是不可避免的
(
如公共交
通
)
、还是强加给我们的
(
如空气质量
)
；
取决于我
们认为在多大程度上是我们能控制的
(
如驾驶
< br>)
或是由别人控制的
(
如乘飞机
)
；还取
决于这种潜在危险在多大程度
上是出于好意
(
如医生的指令
)
、无意的
(
如自然因素
)
或恶意的
(
如谋杀和恐怖活动
)
。我们每天要做几十遍风险计算，但是可以确信的是，多数时候人
们对
风险的计算自然而然或者说是出自本能，以至于我们几乎注意不到我们在做计算。<
/p>
Unit Nine
THE
HOUSING CRISIS GOES SUBURBAN
住房危机走向郊区
,.
迈克尔·格伦沃尔德
在过去的五年里，
弗吉尼亚州费尔法
克斯县的住房价格增长速度是家庭收入增长速度的
12
倍．
今天，
该县中等家庭不得不将其收入的
54
％用于购买位于该县的普通住房；
在
2
000
年，这个数字是
26
％。形势如
此严峻，以至于费尔法克斯县最近开始对年收入
90
，
000
美
元的家庭提供住房补贴；很快，这个数
字可能提高到
110
，
000
美元。
1 Seventy years
after President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared
that the Depression
had
left
one-third
of
the
American
people
ill-clothed
and
ill-nourished,
Americans
are
well-clothed
and
increasingly
over
nourished.
But
the scarcity of
affordable housing is a deepening national crisis,
and not just for
inner-city
families
on
welfare.
The
problem
has
climbed
the
income
ladder
and
moved to the suburbs, where service
workers cram their families into overcrowded
apartments,
college
graduates
have
to
crash
with
their
parents,
and
firefighters,
police
officers and teachers can't afford to live in the
communities they serve.
1
富兰克
林·罗斯福总统曾经说经济大萧条造成
1
／
3
的美国人住房简陋、衣衫褴褛、营养不
良，然而
70
年后的今天，美国人却是穿着考究、营养日益过剩。但是，廉价房稀
缺是一场
日益加深的民族危机，
而不仅仅是依靠福利为生的城市
家庭的危机。
这个问题已经波及中产
阶级，
并向郊区蔓延，
在那里服务工作者及其家属挤在过于狭小的公寓里，
大学毕业生不得
不借宿在父母家，而消防队员、警察和教师在他们所服务的社区
也买不起房。
2 Home ownership is
near an all-time high, but the gap is growing
between the
Owns and the Own-Nots
—
as well as the Owns and the
Own-80-Miles-From-Work.
One-third of
Americans now spend at least 30% of their income
on housing, the
federal definition of
an
,.
least 50%
of their income on rent, a
past decade
has produced windfalls for Americans who owned
before it began, but
affordable housing
is now a serious problem for more low- and
moderate-income
Americans than taxes,
Social Security4 or gas prices.
2
住房拥有率接近历史最高位，
但有房户和无房户之间的差距越来越大，
有房户和房子离工
作单位
80
英里远的有房户之间的差距也越来越大。现在，
1
／<
/p>
3
的美国人花费至少
30
％的
收入用于住房，
联邦政府将这种情况定义为“无力
支付”
的负担，
而有一半的穷打工仔花费
至少
50
％的收入用于租房，这种情况被称为“极其严重”的
负担。在过去
10
年里，房地
产迅猛发
展，
这使得在此之前就已经购置房产的美国人大赚特赚了一把，
但现在廉价房对中、
低收入的美国人来说，是一个比税收、社会保险、汽油价格更严重的
问题。
3 America used to care a
lot about affordable housing. Roosevelt signed
housing
legislation
in
1934
and 1937,
providing
mortgages,
government
apartments and
construction jobs for workers down on
their luck. In 1949, Congress .set an official
goaljjf
decent
home
and
a
suitable
living
environment
for
every
American
family,
and
in
1974,
President
Richard
M.
Nixon
began
offering
subsidized
rent
vouchers to millions of low-income
tenants in private housing. For half a century,
most housing debates in Washington
revolved around how much to expand federal
assistance.
3
美国曾经
非常关注廉价房问题。
1934
年和
1
937
年，罗斯福签署了住房立法，提供抵押
贷款、政府公寓，
并为那些穷困潦倒的工人提供建筑工作。
1949
年，国会树立
了官方目标
——“让每一个美国家庭都能拥有一个体面的家和宜居环境，
”而到了
1974
年，尼克松总
统开始对数以百万计的低收入租户在私有住房方面提供租金补贴凭单。
半个世纪以来，
在华
,.
盛
顿发生的大多数住房方面的辩论都围绕着一个主题：
即应该在多大程度上扩大联邦政府的
资助。
4 But for the
past two decades, the only new federal housing
initiative has been
HOPE VI5, a Clinton
administration program that has demolished 80,000
units of
the worst public housing and
built mixed-income developments in their place.
The
program has eliminated most of the
high-rise hellholes that gave public housing a
bad
name
and
has
revived
some
urban
neighborhoods.
But
it
has
razed
more
subsidized apartments than it has
replaced.
4
但在过去<
/p>
20
年中，
唯一的联邦住房新提案就是<
/p>
HOPE VI
，
也就是克林顿政府拆毁
80,000
单位的最差公共住房，
重
建混合收入寓所来取而代之。
该计划已经拆除了大部分高度危险的
房子，
它们曾使公共住房声名狼藉，
并已重建了一些城市的社
区。
但是它更多的是把享有补
贴的公寓房夷为平地而不是取而代
之。
5 Overall, the number of
households receiving federal aid has flatlined
since the
early 1990s, despite an
expanding population and a ballooning budget.
Congress
has rejected most of President
Bush's proposed cuts, but there has been virtually
no
discussion
of
increases;
affordable-
housing
advocates
spend
most
of
their
time
fighting to preserve
the status quo.
5
总的来说，
自
90
年代初以来，
接受联邦援助的家庭数已经降到最低，
尽管人口不断增加、
预算不断膨胀。
美国国会已经拒绝了美国总统布什提出的大部分的削减计
划，
但几乎没有讨
论过增加计划；廉价房的倡导者花费的大部分
时间都被用于努力争取保持现状。
6 And it's a
tough status quo. Today, for every one of the 4.5
million low-income
families
that
receive
federal
housing
assistance,
there
are
three
eligible
families
,.
without
it.
Fairfax
County
has
12,000
families
on
a
waiting
list
for
4,000
assisted
apartments.
golden
when
you
get
one
—
nobody
wants
to
give
it
up,
says
Conrad
Egan,
chairman
of
the
Fairfax
housing
authority.
It
sounds
odd,
but
the
victims of today's
housing crisis are not people living in
who aren't even that lucky.
6
而现状真是很艰难。今天，有
450
万低收入家庭享受联邦住房救助，还有
3
倍于此的家
庭符合被救助资格，却拿不到救助。费尔法克斯县有
12,000
户家庭在排队轮候
4,000
套救
助公寓。
“这太宝贵了，
一旦拥有，
没有人愿意放弃。
”
费尔法克斯住房委员会主席康拉德
·艾
根这样说。这听起来奇怪，但如今住房危机的受害者不是那些已经享受“救助计划”
的人，
而是那些没那么幸运去享受这个计划的人。
7 Some liberals6 dream of extending
subsidies to all eligible low-income families,
but that $$100 billion-a-year solution
was unrealistic even before the budget deficit
ballooned
again.
So
even
some
housing
advocates
now
support
time
limits
on
most
federal rent aid. The time limits included in
welfare reform 10 years ago were
controversial, but studies suggest
they've helped motivate recipients to get off the
dole. And unlike welfare, housing aid
is not a federal entitlement, so taking it away
from one family after a few years would
provide a break for an equally deserving
family.
7
一些自由派人士梦
想着对所有合格的低收入家庭都给予补贴，
但是这个每年要斥资上千亿
< br>美元的解决办法很不现实，
即便是在预算赤字再度膨胀之前也不现实。
因此，
即使一些曾经
主张住房政策的人，现在也支
持对大多数联邦租房救济金实行时间限制。人们对
10
年前福<
/p>
利改革中所涉及的时限问题有争议，
但研究表明，
这些时限有助于激励受助人摆脱对福利的