The idea of the 'leisure class' has been dying for decades. The wealth boom of the past 20 years has been fueled more by the workingwealthy entrepreneurs and executives than by passive capitalists who earn a living off their investments and spend the rest of their days sailing or golfing.
"有闲阶级"的概念在数十年前就销声匿迹了。过去20年来涌现出的财富更多得益于努力工作的富人企业家和高管，而不是光靠投资过活、业余时间消磨在航海或打高尔夫上的消极资本家。
Yet new research shows the change has been more rapid than we might expect. A study released Tuesday in Canada shows that the top 1% of earners now get more than two-thirds of their total income from salaries. That is up markedly since the 1950s and 1960s, when less than half (45%) of their total income came from paychecks.
然而，新的研究表明，这种变化也许比我们想象中快得多。加拿大周二发布的一项研究显示，现在最富1%人群总收入的三分之二都来自薪水。这个比例自20世纪50年代和60年代以来大幅上涨，那个时候这一人群的薪水只占总收入的不到一半（45%）。
'What's driving the trends is how the work of those at the top is valued. It's not capital gains, it's not how many assets you've got, it's really a question of earnings and how the work of the bosses, the celebrities, the artists, the athletes are rewarded now,' Armine Yalnizyan, senioreconomist Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, told the Vancouver Sun.
加拿大政策研究中心（Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives）高级经济师亚尔尼珊（Armine Yalnizyan）接受《温哥华太阳报》采访时说，这种趋势的动力在于这些高收入人群工作的价值定义方式。不是资本收益，也不是所获资产数量，真正的问题在于赚取的收入，在于老板们、名人们、艺术家们还有运动员们的工作获得回报的方式。
The U.S. has experienced a similar increase. According to incomeresearch from Emmanuel Saez, wages accounted for 56% of income for the top 1% of earners in 2008, up from 40% in 1960. Dividends, interest income and collected rent accounts for the rest. He also found that business ownership accounted for only a third of the occupations among the top 1%.
美国也经历了类似的增长。根据赛斯（Emmanuel Saez）的收入研究，2008年，工资占最富1%人群收入的56%，比1960年的40%有所增加。其余为分红、利息收入和收取的租金。他还发现，最富1%人群中仅有三分之一拥有企业所有权。
Says Mr. Saez: 'The evidence suggests that top incomes earners today are not 'rentiers' deriving their incomes from past wealth but rather are 'working rich,' highly paid employees or new entrepreneurs who have not yet accumulated fortunes comparable to those accumulated during the Gilded Age.'
赛斯说，证据显示，如今的高收入人群已不再是通过财富累积获得收入的"食利者"，而是"努力工作的富人"，他们是高薪员工，或财富尚未积累到与镀金时代富豪同等水平的新兴企业家。
The fact that soaring salaries at the top have helped the rich, and driven up inequality, isn't news. Attacks on Wall Street bonuses and CEO pay are now part of the daily media diet. Whether these salaries are actually justified or not is another debate.
高收入人群薪水飙升对富人有利，加剧了不平等性，这早已不是新闻。攻击华尔街的红利和CEO的薪水早已是媒体每日的家常便饭。至于这些薪水是否真的合情合理又是另一个议题了。
But the marked increase of the salaried rich shows just how much the upper class has changed in recent decades. Thorstein Veblen, in his famous 'Theory of the Leisure Class,' published at the turn of the century, wrote that 'manual labour, industry, whatever has to do directly with the everyday work of getting a livelihood, is the exclusiveoccupation of the inferior class.'
但富人收入中薪水比例的大幅增加表明上层阶级在近几十年发生了巨变。凡勃伦（Thorstein Veblen）在其知名的世纪之交出版的《有闲阶级论》（Theory of the Leisure Class）一书中写道，凡是体力劳动、生产工作或是同谋生直接相关的任何日常工作，都是下层阶级的专有工作。
Today, even the true leisure class or what's left of them want to be seen as productive.
如今，即使真正的有闲阶级也想被视为具有生产力。
Why do you think salaries have replaced capital as the source of high incomes?
你认为薪水代替资本成为高收入来源的原因是什么？
Robert Frank
- wealth [welθ]
n.财富，财产 (初中英语单词) - working [´wə:kiŋ] a.工人的；劳动的 (初中英语单词)
- wealthy [´welθi] a.富有的；丰富的 (初中英语单词)
- passive [´pæsiv] a.被动的 n.被动性 (初中英语单词)
- research [ri´sə:tʃ] n.&vi.调查；探究；研究 (初中英语单词)
- income [´inkʌm] n.收入，所得 (初中英语单词)
- canadian [kə´neidiən] a.加拿大的n.加拿大人 (初中英语单词)
- driven [´driv(ə)n] drive 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
- actually [´æktʃuəli] ad.事实上；实际上 (初中英语单词)
- whatever [wɔt´evə] pron.&a.无论什么 (初中英语单词)
- occupation [,ɔkju´peiʃən] a.职业的；军事占领的 (初中英语单词)
- senior [´si:niə] a.年长的 n.前辈 (高中英语单词)
- leisure [´leʒə] n.空闲；悠闲；安定 (高中英语单词)
- everyday [´evridei] a.每日的，日常的 (高中英语单词)
- exclusive [ik´sklu:siv] a.独有的；集中的 (高中英语单词)
- inferior [in´fiəriə] n.下级的 n.下级；晚辈 (高中英语单词)
- economist [i´kɔnəmist] n.经济学家；节俭的人 (英语四级单词)
- policy [´pɔlisi] n.政策；权谋；保险单 (英语四级单词)
- experienced [ik´spiəriənst] a.有经验的；熟练的 (英语四级单词)
- ownership [´əunəʃip] n.所有权；所有制 (英语四级单词)
- comparable [´kɔmpərəbəl] a.可比较的；类似的 (英语四级单词)
- livelihood [´laivlihud] n.生活，生计 (英语四级单词)
- earnings [´ə:niŋz] n.收益；报酬；获得 (英语六级单词)
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