中國網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
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 FILE - In a Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010 file photo, a man who did not wish to be identified, who lost his job two months ago after being hurt on the job, works to collect money for his family on a Miami street corner. |
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The ranks of America's poorest poor have climbed to a record high — 1 in 15 people — spread widely across metropolitan areas as the housing bust pushed many inner-city poor into suburbs and other outlying places and shriveled jobs and income. New census data paint a stark portrait of the nation's haves and have-nots at a time when unemployment remains persistently high. It comes a week before the government releases first-ever economic data that will show more Hispanics, elderly and working-age poor have fallen into poverty. In all, the numbers underscore the breadth and scope by which the downturn has reached further into mainstream America. "There now really is no unaffected group, except maybe the very top income earners," said Robert Moffitt, a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University. "Recessions are supposed to be temporary, and when it's over, everything returns to where it was before. But the worry now is that the downturn — which will end eventually — will have long-lasting effects on families who lose jobs, become worse off and can't recover." Traditional inner-city black ghettos are thinning out and changing, drawing in impoverished Hispanics who have low-wage jobs or are unemployed. Neighborhoods with poverty rates of at least 40 percent are stretching over broader areas, increasing in suburbs at twice the rate of cities. Once-booming Sun Belt metro areas are now seeing some of the biggest jumps in concentrated poverty. Signs of a growing divide between rich and poor can be seen in places such as the upscale Miami suburb of Miami Shores, where nannies gather with their charges at a playground nestled between the township's sprawling golf course and soccer fields. The locale is a far cry from where many of them live. About 20.5 million Americans, or 6.7 percent of the US population, make up the poorest poor, defined as those at 50 percent or less of the official poverty level. Those living in deep poverty represent nearly half of the 46.2 million people scraping by below the poverty line. In 2010, the poorest poor meant an income of $5,570 or less for an individual and $11,157 for a family of four. That 6.7 percent share is the highest in the 35 years that the Census Bureau has maintained such records, surpassing previous highs in 2009 and 1993 of just over 6 percent. (Read by Lee Hannon. Lee Hannon is a journalist at the China Daily Website.) (Agencies) |
美國極貧人口的比例升至歷史新高——15個人中就有1個人極度貧困。這些極貧人口廣泛地分布在大都市各個地區(qū)中，因為大都市的房市崩潰迫使許多住在市中心貧民區(qū)的窮人搬到了郊區(qū)和其他邊遠地區(qū)，減少了他們的工作機會和收入。 新的統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)勾勒出在失業(yè)率居高不下的美國，富人和窮人之間反差強烈赤裸裸的現(xiàn)實。將于一周后首次發(fā)布的經(jīng)濟數(shù)據(jù)顯示，有更多的西班牙裔人口、老人和勞動年齡貧困人口已陷入赤貧。 總體而言，這些數(shù)據(jù)突出表明經(jīng)濟衰退的影響已經(jīng)進一步深入到美國主體，無論是廣度還是范圍。 約翰?霍普金斯大學的經(jīng)濟學教授羅伯特?莫菲特說：“如今真的沒有哪個人群逃過經(jīng)濟衰退的影響，也許只有收入最高的那部分人除外。人們原以為經(jīng)濟衰退是暫時的，在衰退過后，一切都會回到原來的樣子。但是現(xiàn)在讓人擔心的是，盡管經(jīng)濟衰退最終會結(jié)束，但是對失業(yè)家庭會產(chǎn)生持久的影響，這些家庭會更貧困，而且無法恢復原狀。” 傳統(tǒng)的市中心黑人貧民區(qū)人口正在減少并發(fā)生變化，新搬進來一些低收入或失業(yè)的赤貧西班牙人。貧困率達至少40%的居民區(qū)正延伸到更廣的區(qū)域，郊區(qū)貧民區(qū)的增長速度是市內(nèi)的兩倍。 曾經(jīng)繁榮的“陽光地帶”市區(qū)正越來越多地陷入集中貧困，部分地區(qū)的貧困率是增長最快的。 在邁阿密海岸的邁阿密市郊高檔居住區(qū)等地方，可以見到貧富差距不斷擴大的跡象。那里有大片的高爾夫球場和足球場，保姆們帶著主人家的小孩在兩個球場中間的一個操場聚集。這個地方和她們當中的許多人居住的地方相比簡直是天壤之別。 約有2050萬美國人（占美國人口的6.7%）屬于極貧人口，也就是生活水平在官方貧困水平的50%以下的人口。在貧困線以下勉強度日的4620萬人口中，有將近一半人極度貧困。2010年極貧人口的標準是個人收入在5570美元以下或四口家庭收入在11,157美元以下。 6.7%的極貧人口比例是美國人口普查局保有此項記錄的35年內(nèi)最高的，超越了2009年的高貧困比例，1993年這一比例僅略高于6%。 相關(guān)閱讀 （中國日報英語點津 陳丹妮 編輯：馬文英） |
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Vocabulary: inner-city: 市中心貧民區(qū) outlying: 遠離中心的；邊遠的 stark: 赤裸裸的；明顯的；突出的 underscore: 強調(diào) ghetto: 貧民區(qū) upscale: 高檔的；消費對象為高收入者的 charge: 被照顧的人（或事物） nestle: 半隱半現(xiàn)地處于 a far cry from: 同……有很大的差異 scrape by: 勉強過日子，勉強度日 |
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