Four years ago, Gao Shangming was convinced that his son Yueqing needed to remain in the family's one-room apartment and help harvest corn rather than go to college. 'Our financial situation wasn't good,' the 50-year-old peasant farmer says.
四年前，高栓明确信他的儿子高乐清需要留在他们只有一间房的家里并帮助收获玉米，而不是去上大学。这位50岁的农民说，我们的经济条件不好。
But Gao Yueqing was determined to escape the dusty north China mountain village of 200 households where nearly all young people either become farmers or migrate to nearby cities to work in restaurants. His father's relatives talked up young Gao's case, as did a respected high-school teacher who told the elder Gao how hardworking his son was.
但高乐清却决心逃离这个尘土飞扬的中国北方山村。这个村子有200户人家，村里几乎所有的年轻人不是当农民就是到附近城市的餐馆里打工。高栓明的亲戚们和一位受人尊敬的高中老师都在替高乐清求情，这位老师告诉高栓明他的儿子学习是多么刻苦。
The clincher: 'He told me, 'If I let him get a college degree, he'd make more money,'' the elder Gao recalls.
那位老师的一句话促使高栓明改变了想法。他回忆说，老师告诉我，如果我让儿子拿到大学文凭，他就能挣更多的钱。
So the father put in extra hours in nearby coal mines to pay his son's 10,000 yuan ($1,600) annualtuition and expenses at Shanxi University's business school in Taiyuan, in the heart of China's coal country. His grateful son was so frugal that his roommates nicknamed him 'Iron Chicken,' because it was as hard to separate him from a yuan as it would be to pluck a feather from an iron fowl.
此后，为了支付高乐清在太原的山西大学商务学院每年人民币一万元的学费和生活费，高栓明在家乡附近的煤矿加班加点地工作。对父亲心存感激的高乐清是如此节俭，以至于他的室友们给他起了"铁公鸡"的绰号，因为从他手里拿出一元钱和从一只铁公鸡身上拔下根羽毛一样难。
Gao Yueqing is set to graduate this June with a degree in accounting, the most practical major he and his father could agree upon. But the younger Mr. Gao, like many Chinese college students, is finding it hard to nail a job, especially one that pays decently.
高乐清今年6月将大学毕业，届时他将获得会计学方面的学位，而会计学在他和父亲看来是最实用的专业。但高乐清像中国许多大学生一样发现，他们难以找到工作，特别是一份薪酬体面的工作。
During a job fair at the school's aging gymnasium this past fall, Mr. Gao squeezed through the crowds to check out an accounting job at a sportswear retailer. Can't the retailer offer more than $50 a week to start, he asked? 'You're lucky if anyone recruits you,' the sportswear representative answered. 'Don't bargain too much. We have more applicants to choose from.'
去年秋天在山西大学那座老旧体育馆里举行的一次招聘会上，高乐清挤过拥挤的人群来到一家运动服零售商的展台前，应聘该公司的会计职位。他问道，你们公司难道就不能提供起薪超过每周300元的职位吗？这家零售商的招聘人员回答说，有人招聘你就算你走运了，别要价太高，我们有的是人可挑选。
Four hours of talking to potential employers yielded Mr. Gao five interviews, just two of them in his major. None led to a job offer.
高乐清在这次招聘会上花了四个小时与用人单位的招聘人员攀谈，这使他获得了五次面试的机会，其中只有两次面试的是会计岗位，但没有一家单位最终决定雇佣他。
The following months didn't bring much better news.
在接下来的几个月中也没有多少好消息传来。
Few top-tier employers recruit in Taiyuan. After applying to dozens of companies, he snagged one interview at a supermarket chain, but found the company was looking for cashiers, not accountants. A computer company expressed interest, but he says he couldn't pass their computer-programming test. A third company dangled a job before him, but he balked when told he would have to pay for months of computer training upfront. He worried that the job would disappear after the course work, a common Chinese job scam.
没有多少顶级用人单位在太原招聘。在向数十家企业发出求职申请后，高乐清终于从一家超市连锁企业获得了面试机会，但他发现这家公司要招的是收银员而不是会计。一家电脑公司表示有兴趣录用他，但高乐清说他没能通过这家公司的电脑编程考试。另有一家公司向他提供了就业机会，但当高乐清听说在上岗前他需花钱接受数月的电脑培训时，他退缩了。他担心课程结束后这个工作岗位也会随之消失，这种事是中国常见的求职骗局。
The closest he came to a job was at a food-processing company. He passed two interviews, but says he was told that he would have to start on the slaughterhouse floor killing chickens before he progressed to an accountant's chair. 'Too weird,' says Mr. Gao, who turned down the job.
他最有希望获得一份工作的时候是他向一家食品加工企业求职时。他说自己通过了两轮面试，但却被告知要先在屠宰场从事杀鸡工作，然后才能逐步转去做会计工作。高乐清说，这太奇怪了。他拒绝了这份工作。
Late last year, Mr. Gao landed an internship at a local tax-auditing firm, which could turn into a full-time job in July when the firm decides whom to hire. It would mean working for a couple of years at a monthly salary of about $250 to $400, not much in a city where sharing a tiny apartment can cost $110. He would have hardly any money left over to help his parents.
去年年底时，高乐清获得了到当地一家税务审计公司当实习生的机会。今年7月当这家公司决定谁可以录用时，他有可能获得一份全职工作。这意味着他将有好几年的时间每月只能拿到1,500元至2,500元的工资，在与人合租一套小单元房每月就要花上近700元的太原市，这份工资不算多。高乐清几乎不会剩下多少钱来资助父母的生活。
He says he would put up with low pay to get an accounting slot where he could eventually move up.
他说，为了能获得一个最终有可能升迁的会计职位，他愿意忍受低工资。
His boss, an auditing veteran, isn't making promises of full-time work. 'Gao is quite promising, but his skills aren't developed yet,' she says. Plus, she has a half-dozen other accounting interns to choose from.
高乐清的上司是一位审计行业的资深人士。她说，高乐清很有前途，但他的工作技能还有待提高。此外，还有另外六个人在与高乐清竞争这份全职工作。
BOB DAVIS
- apartment [ə´pɑ:tmənt]
n.一套房间 (初中英语单词) - harvest [´hɑ:vist] n.&v.收获；收割 (初中英语单词)
- financial [fi´nænʃəl] a.金融的，财政的 (初中英语单词)
- peasant [´pezənt] n.农民；庄稼人 (初中英语单词)
- annual [´ænjuəl] a.每年的 n.年刊 (初中英语单词)
- tuition [tju:´iʃən, tu:-] n.教诲；教学；学费 (初中英语单词)
- grateful [´greitful] a.感谢的；令人愉快的 (初中英语单词)
- feather [´feðə] n.羽毛 (初中英语单词)
- bargain [´bɑ:gin] n.买卖合同 v.议(价) (初中英语单词)
- interview [´intəvju:] n.&vt.接见；会见；交谈 (初中英语单词)
- computer [kəm´pju:tə] n.计算机；电子计算器 (初中英语单词)
- working [´wə:kiŋ] a.工人的；劳动的 (初中英语单词)
- promising [´prɔmisiŋ] a.有希望的；有为的 (初中英语单词)
- finding [´faindiŋ] n.发现物；判断；结果 (高中英语单词)
- potential [pə´tenʃəl] n.&a.潜在的；可能的 (高中英语单词)
- recruit [ri´kru:t] n.新兵 v.征募(新兵) (高中英语单词)
- monthly [´mʌnθli] a.每月(的) n.月刊 (高中英语单词)
- veteran [´vetərən] n.老兵 a.老练的 (高中英语单词)
- migrate [mai´greit] v.迁移；移居(外国) (英语四级单词)
- eventually [i´ventʃuəli] ad.最后，终于 (英语四级单词)
- frugal [´fru:gəl] a.节俭的，俭朴的 (英语六级单词)
- gymnasium [dʒim´neiziəm] n.体育馆 (英语六级单词)
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