America’s Forgotten Working Class | J.D. Vance | TED

翻译人员: Hong Li 校对人员: Tingting Zhong

I remember the very first time I went to a nice restaurant,

我还记得第一次走进一家很棒的餐厅，

a really nice restaurant.

非常高档。

It was for a law firm recruitment dinner,

那是一家律师事务所的招新晚宴，

and I remember beforehand the waitress walked around

正式开始前，服务生四处游走，

and asked whether we wanted some wine,

询问客人是否需要来点葡萄酒，

so I said, "Sure, I'll take some white wine."

我说，“好吧，给我来点白葡萄酒。”

And she immediately said,

她马上问我，

"Would you like sauvignon blanc or chardonnay?"

“您是想要白苏维翁还是霞多丽？”

And I remember thinking,

我当时想，

"Come on, lady, stop with the fancy French words

“天哪，姐们儿，别整这些 高大上的法语词了行吗，

and just give me some white wine."

给我一杯白葡萄酒就好了。”

But I used my powers of deduction

但我发挥了自己杰出的推理能力

and recognized that chardonnay and sauvignon blanc

猜测霞多丽和白苏维翁

were two separate types of white wine,

应该是两种不同的白葡萄酒，

and so I told her that I would take the chardonnay,

于是我要了霞多丽，

because frankly that was the easiest one to pronounce for me.

因为这个词更好发音。

So I had a lot of experiences like that

这样的经历还有很多，

during my first couple of years as a law student at Yale,

尤其是在我在耶鲁大学念法律的头几年，

because, despite all outward appearances, I'm a cultural outsider.

因为我不是他们圈子里的人， 尽管看起来挺像，

I didn't come from the elites.

但我出身平凡。

I didn't come from the Northeast or from San Francisco.

不是东北那一带的人，也不是旧金山人。

I came from a southern Ohio steel town,

我的老家是俄亥俄州南部一个钢铁小镇，

and it's a town that's really struggling in a lot of ways,

它一直在挣扎求生，

ways that are indicative of the broader struggles

那种挣扎彷徨，就像美国工人阶级

of America's working class.

如今的处境一般。

Heroin has moved in,

海洛因泛滥，

killing a lot of people, people I know.

很多人因此丧生，其中有我的熟人。

Family violence, domestic violence, and divorce have torn apart families.

家庭暴力和离婚 导致许多家庭支离破碎。

And there's a very unique sense of pessimism that's moved in.

有一种特别悲观的情绪蔓延开来。

Think about rising mortality rates in these communities

死亡率不断升高，

and recognize that for a lot of these folks,

很多人都意识到这一点，

the problems that they're seeing

而他们亲眼见到的问题

are actually causing rising death rates in their own communities,

正是导致社区死亡率升高的原因，

so there's a very real sense of struggle.

这种挣扎彷徨的感受是如此真切。

I had a very front-row seat to that struggle.

而我正是这种感受的亲历者。

My family has been part of that struggle for a very long time.

我的家庭长期以来 一直经历着这种彷徨挣扎。

I come from a family that doesn't have a whole lot of money.

我生于一个不甚富裕的家庭。

The addiction that plagued my community

而在我们社区蔓延的毒品问题

also plagued my family, and even, sadly, my own mom.

同样伤害到了我的家庭， 很不幸，是我的母亲。

There were a lot of problems that I saw in my own family,

我亲眼见到了家里的很多问题，

problems caused sometimes by a lack of money,

这些问题的起因，有的是因为缺钱，

problems caused sometimes by a lack of access to resources and social capital

有的是因为缺乏社会资源和人脉，

that really affected my life.

而这对我的影响很大。

If you had looked at my life when I was 14 years old

如果你见过我14岁时过得怎么样，

and said, "Well, what's going to happen to this kid?"

并问到，“这孩子将来会怎么样？”

you would have concluded that I would have struggled

你也许会认为我会挣扎着往上爬，

with what academics call upward mobility.

学术界管这叫“向上流动”。

So upward mobility is an abstract term,

向上流动是一个抽象的术语，

but it strikes at something that's very core

但它触及到了美国梦

at the heart of the American Dream.

最核心的部分。

It's the sense,

它是一个标准，

and it measures whether kids like me

能衡量那些像我一样

who grow up in poor communities are going to live a better life,

家境贫寒的孩子， 能不能过上好日子，

是不是有机会过上衣食无忧的生活，

whether they're going to have a chance to live a materially better existence,

or whether they're going to stay in the circumstances where they came from.

还是说会继续贫穷下去。

And one of the things we've learned, unfortunately,

但不幸的是，我们了解到，

is that upward mobility isn't as high as we'd like it to be in this country,

在美国，向上流动并没有 我们想象的那么容易，

and interestingly, it's very geographically distributed.

而且有趣的是，它跟地域有很大的关系。

So take Utah, for instance.

就拿犹他州来说，

In Utah a poor kid is actually doing OK,

在犹他州，一个穷孩子可能会过得还好，

very likely to live their share and their part in the American Dream.

很有可能在美国梦中找到自己的位置。

But if you think of where I'm from,

但如果在我的家乡，

in the South, in Appalachia, in southern Ohio,

南部的一些州，阿巴拉契亚地区， 俄亥俄州南部，

it's very unlikely that kids like that will rise.

穷孩子可能就没什么出路。

The American Dream in those parts of the country

从某种意义上来说，美国梦在这些地方

is in a very real sense just a dream.

可能真的就只是个梦。

So why is that happening?

为什么会这样呢？

So one reason is obviously economic or structural.

一个原因显然是跟经济或结构有关。

So you think of these areas.

看看这些地区。

They're beset by these terrible economic trends,

它们的经济趋势很不好，

built around industries like coal and steel

当年依靠煤炭和钢铁起家，

that make it harder for folks to get ahead.

这些产业如今已经没落。

That's certainly one problem.

这肯定是原因之一。

There's also the problem of brain drain, where the really talented people,

还有一个问题就是人才流失， 很多有才华的人，

because they can't find high-skilled work at home,

因为在家乡找不到有技术含量的工作，

end up moving elsewhere,

只能远走他乡，

他们无法在老家创业或造福社会，

so they don't build a business or non-profit where they're from,

就只能带着自己的才华远赴他乡。

they end up going elsewhere and taking their talents with them.

这些地区有很多衰败的学校，

There are failing schools in a lot of these communities,

failing to give kids the educational leg up

无法给予孩子们更好的教育，

that really makes it possible for kids to have opportunities later in life.

因此无法帮助他们在未来占得先机。

这些事都很重要。

These things are all important.

我并不是说要忽视 （之前提到的）结构壁垒。

I don't mean to discount these structural barriers.

但是当我回首人生， 回想我们社区的时候，

But when I look back at my life and my community,

something else was going on, something else mattered.

发现还有一些其他的事情也与之有关。

It's difficult to quantify, but it was no less real.

这些事情很难量化，但是却真实存在。

So for starters, there was a very real sense of hopelessness

首先，在我成长的社区，

in the community that I grew up in.

你能真切感受到那种无望的氛围。

There was a sense that kids had that their choices didn't matter.

孩子们觉得自己的选择毫无意义。

No matter what happened, no matter how hard they worked,

无论他们如何努力，

no matter how hard they tried to get ahead,

如何努力向前，

nothing good would happen.

结果都是一样。

So that's a tough feeling to grow up around.

这种消极的情绪四处蔓延。

That's a tough mindset to penetrate,

命定论甚嚣尘上，

and it leads sometimes to very conspiratorial places.

甚至有点阴谋论的感觉。

So let's just take one political issue that's pretty hot,

以非常热门的一个政治话题为例，

affirmative action.

平权法案。

So depending on your politics, you might think that affirmative action

根据政治观点（不同）， 你也许会认为平权法案

在推动工作场所或者学校的多样性上

is either a wise or an unwise way to promote diversity in the workplace

是明智的或者不明智的。

or the classroom.

But if you grow up in an area like this,

但如果你成长于这样的社区，

you see affirmative action as a tool to hold people like you back.

你可能会把平权法案看作是一种限制。

That's especially true if you're a member of the white working class.

尤其当你是白人工人阶级的一员时。

You see it as something that isn't just about good or bad policy.

在你眼里，它不再简单的 是一个好政策或者坏政策。

You see it as something that's actively conspiring,

你会把它看成是

那些握有政治或财政大权的人

where people with political and financial power

are working against you.

来压迫你的工具。

And there are a lot of ways that you see that conspiracy against you --

你可以从不同角度 来看待这种针对你的阴谋论——

perceived, real, but it's there,

可察觉的，真实的，但它确实存在，

and it warps expectations.

而且会扭曲你的期望。

So if you think about what do you do when you grow up in that world,

想象一下，成长在 那样的环境中，你该怎么办，

可能应对方法有很多种。

you can respond in a couple of ways.

第一种，你可以说， “我才不会努力奋斗，

One, you can say, "I'm not going to work hard,

因为无论怎样努力，结果都一样。”

because no matter how hard I work, it's not going to matter."

而另一种方式就是，

Another thing you might do is say,

"Well, I'm not going to go after the traditional markers of success,

“好吧，我不会追求传统意义上的成功，

比如上大学，或者找份体面的工作，

like a university education or a prestigious job,

because the people who care about those things are unlike me.

因为重视这些事的人跟我不是一类人，

他们不会接纳我。”

They're never going to let me in."

当我被耶鲁大学录取后，一个亲戚问我，

When I got admitted to Yale, a family member asked me

我是不是假装成民主党成员， 来获得招生委员会的认可。

if I had pretended to be a liberal to get by the admissions committee.

Seriously.

真事儿。

And it's obviously not the case that there was a liberal box to check

入学申请表上当然没有 “民主党成员”这个选项

on the application,

让你勾选，

but it speaks to a very real insecurity in these places

但这件事道出了一个事实， 就是我们那里非常缺乏安全感，

that you have to pretend to be somebody you're not

你需要伪装成另一种人，

才能越过重重社会壁垒。

to get past these various social barriers.

It's a very significant problem.

这是一个非常重要的问题。

Even if you don't give in to that hopelessness,

即便你没有感到无望，

even if you think, let's say,

即使你坚定的认为，

that your choices matter and you want to make the good choices,

你的选择是有意义的，你想做出好的选择，

you want to do better for yourself and for your family,

你想为了自己和家庭努力奋斗，

it's sometimes hard to even know what those choices are

但生长在我那样的社区，

when you grow up in a community like I did.

你甚至都不知道有哪些路可以选。

I didn't know, for example,

像我小时候，

that you had to go to law school to be a lawyer.

不知道想成为律师，要先上法学院。

I didn't know that elite universities, as research consistently tells us,

不知道一流的大学 ——像研究结果不断表明的那样——

are cheaper for low-income kids

对于贫困的孩子收费要低，

because these universities have bigger endowments,

因为好大学得到的捐款更多，

can offer more generous financial aid.

可以给学生更多资助。

I remember I learned this

直到我收到耶鲁大学的助学津贴信，

when I got the financial aid letter from Yale for myself,

我才知道有这么回事，

tens of thousands of dollars in need-based aid,

那是上万美元的按需资助，

which is a term I had never heard before.

我以前连听都没听过。

But I turned to my aunt when I got that letter and said,

我拿着信对我阿姨说，

"You know, I think this just means that for the first time in my life,

“这是我有生以来第一次，

being poor has paid really well."

因为穷得到的实惠。”

So I didn't have access to that information

我之前不了解这方面的信息，

because the social networks around me didn't have access to that information.

是因为我周围的圈子 都不知道这些信息。

I learned from my community how to shoot a gun, how to shoot it well.

我从社区学到的是 如何开枪，如何打得准。

I learned how to make a damn good biscuit recipe.

我学到的是如何做好吃的饼干。

The trick, by the way, is frozen butter, not warm butter.

顺便提一句，诀窍就是， 用冰冻的黄油，不要用加热的。

But I didn't learn how to get ahead.

但我不知道如何出人头地。

I didn't learn how to make the good decisions

不知道在关键时刻如何抉择，

about education and opportunity

比如选择大学，面临机遇，

that you need to make

怎样才能做出对的选择，

to actually have a chance in this 21st century knowledge economy.

从而在21世纪这个 知识经济时代赢得一席之地。

Economists call the value that we gain from our informal networks,

经济学家将我们从 人脉圈子中获取的价值，

from our friends and colleagues and family "social capital."

比如朋友、同事和家人， 叫做“社会资本”。

The social capital that I had wasn't built for 21st century America,

而我过去的社会资本根本 不适用于21世纪的美国，

and it showed.

事实也证明了这一点。

There's something else that's really important that's going on

还有一些非常重要的事情

that our community doesn't like to talk about,

我们的社区不愿意谈起，

but it's very real.

但它们又真实存在。

Working-class kids are much more likely

工人阶级的孩子更多的

to face what's called adverse childhood experiences,

要面临所谓的“不利的童年经历”，

which is just a fancy word for childhood trauma:

其实这就是对童年创伤 一种比较委婉的说法：

getting hit or yelled at, put down by a parent repeatedly,

被家长不停打骂和惩罚，

watching someone hit or beat your parent,

目睹他人殴打自己的父母，

watching someone do drugs or abuse alcohol.

目睹别人吸毒或者酗酒。

These are all instances of childhood trauma,

这都是童年创伤的例子，

and they're pretty commonplace in my family.

在我家这些现象很常见。

Importantly, they're not just commonplace in my family right now.

重要的是，这种情况不是现在才有。

They're also multigenerational.

而是延续了好几代人。

So my grandparents,

我的外公外婆，

the very first time that they had kids,

在他们刚有了孩子的时候，

they expected that they were going to raise them in a way

他们原本也期望用好的方法

that was uniquely good.

将孩子养育成人。

They were middle class,

他们曾属于中产阶级，

they were able to earn a good wage in a steel mill.

在炼钢厂有不错的薪水。

But what ended up happening

但结果却是

is that they exposed their kids to a lot of the childhood trauma

他们给孩子们带来了许多童年创伤，

that had gone back many generations.

跟早几代人的处境没什么区别。

My mom was 12 when she saw my grandma set my grandfather on fire.

我母亲12岁那年， 看见我外婆在我外公身上点火，

His crime was that he came home drunk

就因为他喝得醉醺醺地回家，

after she told him,

而外婆事先警告过他，

"If you come home drunk, I'm gonna kill you."

“如果你喝醉酒回家，我就要杀了你。”

And she tried to do it.

结果，她真的试着这么做了。

Think about the way that that affects a child's mind.

想想这样的事会对孩子的心灵 产生怎样的影响。

And we think of these things as especially rare,

我们可能会认为这只是个别现象，

but a study by the Wisconsin Children's Trust Fund found

但威斯康辛儿童信托基金的研究表明，

that 40 percent of low-income kids face multiple instances of childhood trauma,

低收入家庭的孩子遭受 多种童年创伤的几率为40%，

compared to only 29 percent for upper-income kids.

而高收入家庭的孩子为29%。

And think about what that really means.

想想这意味着什么。

If you're a low-income kid,

如果你们都生在低收入家庭，

almost half of you face multiple instances of childhood trauma.

你们中间差不多会有 一半的人会遭遇多种童年创伤。

This is not an isolated problem.

这不是一个孤立的问题。

This is a very significant issue.

非常值得我们注意。

We know what happens to the kids who experience that life.

我们都清楚， 这样的孩子会经历怎样的人生。

They're more likely to do drugs, more likely to go to jail,

他们很可能会吸毒，会进监狱，

more likely to drop out of high school,

会从高中辍学，

and most importantly,

最重要的是，

they're more likely to do to their children

他们很可能会在自己的孩子身上

what their parents did to them.

重复父母对自己的所作所为。

This trauma, this chaos in the home,

这种伤害，这种家庭的混乱，

is our culture's very worst gift to our children,

是我们的文化给孩子最糟糕的礼物，

and it's a gift that keeps on giving.

而这种礼物还在不停地被送出。

So you combine all that,

把这些都加在一起，

the hopelessness, the despair,

无望，绝望，

the cynicism about the future,

对未来的怀疑，

the childhood trauma,

童年的创伤，

the low social capital,

低社会资本，

and you begin to understand why me,

你就会了解，为什么我

at the age of 14,

在14岁那年，

was ready to become just another statistic,

几乎就要成为又一个例子，

another kid who failed to beat the odds.

被这些壁垒困死的又一个孩子。

But something unexpected happened.

但意料之外的事情发生了。

I did beat the odds.

我冲破了这些壁垒。

Things turned up for me.

事情出现了转机。

I graduated from high school, from college, I went to law school,

我念完高中，上了大学，进入法学院，

and I have a pretty good job now.

找到了一份不错的工作。

So what happened?

究竟发生了什么呢？

Well, one thing that happened is that my grandparents,

首先是我的外公外婆，

the same grandparents of setting someone on fire fame,

就是尝试在人身上点火的外公外婆，

they really shaped up by the time I came around.

在我出生之后，改过自新了。

They provided me a stable home,

他们给了我一个稳定的家，

a stable family.

稳定的家庭。

They made sure

他们竭尽全力，

that when my parents weren't able to do the things that kids need,

在我的父母无法尽到责任时，

他们能及时出现，顶替父母的角色。

they stepped in and filled that role.

My grandma especially did two things that really matter.

我的外婆做了2件非常重要的事。

One, she provided that peaceful home that allowed me to focus on homework

第一，她创造了和平的 家庭环境，让我专心做功课，

and the things that kids should be focused on.

专心做孩子应该做的事情。

But she was also this incredibly perceptive woman,

而且她是一位洞察力极强的女性，

despite not even having a middle school education.

尽管连中学都没有上过。

She recognized the message that my community had for me,

她察觉到了社区 对我产生的不良影响，

that my choices didn't matter,

就是我们的选择毫无意义，

that the deck was stacked against me.

我们面前有重重阻碍。

有一次她告诉我，

She once told me,

"JD, never be like those losers who think the deck is stacked against them.

“JD，不要像那些没出息的人一样， 觉得整个世界都在跟他们作对。

You can do anything you want to."

你可以做成任何想做的事情。”

And yet she recognized that life wasn't fair.

尽管她知道生活是不公平的。

It's hard to strike that balance,

要打破这种平衡非常难，

to tell a kid that life isn't fair,

要告诉一个孩子生活不公平也非常难。

but also recognize and enforce in them the reality that their choices matter.

但即使这样，也要告诉孩子， 他们的选择是有意义的。

But mamaw was able to strike that balance.

但是外婆能打破这种平衡。

The other thing that really helped was the United States Marine Corps.

另一个帮到我的就是美国海军陆战队。

我们认为海军陆战队 是一个军事单位，它当然是，

So we think of the Marine Corps as a military outfit, and of course it is,

但对我而言，美国海军陆战队 是一次长达4年的，

but for me, the US Marine Corps was a four-year crash course

性格教育课程。

in character education.

它教会我如何铺床，怎么洗衣，

It taught me how to make a bed, how to do laundry,

怎么早起，怎么规划自己的开销。

how to wake up early, how to manage my finances.

These are things my community didn't teach me.

这些都是社区没有教我的东西。

I remember when I went to go buy a car for the very first time,

我还记得第一次去买车，

I was offered a dealer's low, low interest rate of 21.9 percent,

一个经销商给了我非常非常 “低”的贷款利息，21.9%，

and I was ready to sign on the dotted line.

我都准备签合同了。

But I didn't take that deal,

但我最后没有签，

because I went and took it to my officer

因为我把合同拿给我的长官看，

who told me, "Stop being an idiot,

他告诉我，“别傻了，

go to the local credit union, and get a better deal."

去找本地的信贷联盟，拿一个更好的价。”

And so that's what I did.

我照做了。

But without the Marine Corps,

如果没有海军陆战队，

我可能永远也没法了解这个知识。

I would have never had access to that knowledge.

我可能还会遭遇财政危机。

I would have had a financial calamity, frankly.

The last thing I want to say is that I had a lot of good fortune

最后我还想说，我非常幸运

in the mentors and people

能遇见很多很好的导师和人，

who have played an important role in my life.

他们在我生命中扮演了 非常重要的角色。

From the Marines, from Ohio State, from Yale,

在海军陆战队，在俄亥俄州，在耶鲁大学，

from other places,

在其他地方，

people have really stepped in

大家都走近我，

and ensured that they filled that social capital gap

帮我填满那条社会资本的鸿沟，

that it was pretty obvious, apparently, that I had.

这条鸿沟在我身上表现得很明显。

That comes from good fortune,

这是一种很大的幸运，

but a lot of children aren't going to have that good fortune,

但是很多孩子都没有这样的好运，

and I think that raises really important questions for all of us

这就为我们引出了非常重要的问题，

about how we're going to change that.

那就是该如何改变这一点。

We need to ask questions about how we're going to give low-income kids

我们要思考如何帮助 那些低收入家庭的孩子，

who come from a broken home access to a loving home.

让他们破碎的家庭重新充满爱。

We need to ask questions

我们要思考

about how we're going to teach low-income parents

如何教育低收入的父母

how to better interact with their children,

同自己的孩子，同自己的爱人，

with their partners.

更好地互动。

We need to ask questions about how we give social capital,

我们要思考如何为贫穷的孩子，

mentorship to low-income kids who don't have it.

提供社会资本和引导。

We need to think about how we teach working class children

我们要思考如何教育工人阶级的孩子，

about not just hard skills,

不仅仅是硬技能，

like reading, mathematics,

比如阅读，数学，

but also soft skills,

还有软技能，

like conflict resolution and financial management.

比如危机处理和理财。

Now, I don't have all of the answers.

现在，我并没有所有这些问题的答案。

I don't know all of the solutions to this problem,

我也不知该如何彻底解决这些问题，

but I do know this:

但我明确知道的是：

in southern Ohio right now,

现在，在南俄亥俄州，

there's a kid who is anxiously awaiting their dad,

有孩子在焦急等待自己的父亲，

wondering whether, when he comes through the door,

在想着，当他走进家门的时候，

he'll walk calmly or stumble drunkly.

是正常的，还是喝得东倒西歪的。

There's a kid

有的孩子

whose mom sticks a needle in her arm

看着自己的母亲往胳膊里扎针，

and passes out,

然后失去知觉，

and he doesn't know why she doesn't cook him dinner,

他不明白为什么妈妈不给自己做饭，

and he goes to bed hungry that night.

只好饿着肚子爬上床。

There's a kid who has no hope for the future

有的孩子对未来不抱希望，

but desperately wants to live a better life.

但又非常想过上更好的生活。

They just want somebody to show it to them.

他们需要有人教他们怎么做。

I don't have all the answers,

我没有所有的答案，

but I know that unless our society starts asking better questions

但我知道，除非整个社会开始思考

about why I was so lucky

为什么我如此幸运，

and about how to get that luck to more of our communities

如何让更多的社区，

and our country's children,

让更多的孩子得到这份幸运，

we're going to continue to have a very significant problem.

否则我们将会 不断遇到非常严重的问题。

Thank you.

谢谢大家。

(Applause)

（掌声）