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Lesson 4 The double life of Alfred Bloggs

These days, people who do manual work often receive far more money than people who work in offices. People who work in offices are frequently referred to as "white-collar workers' for the simple reason that they usually wear a collar and tie to go to work. Such is human nature, that a great many people are often willing to sacrifice higher pay for the privilege of becoming white-collar workers. This can give rise to curious situations, as it did in the case of Alfred Bloggs who worked as a dustman for the Ellesmere Corporation.

When he got married, Alf was too embarrassed to say anything to his wife about his job. He simply told her that he worked for the Corporation. Every morning, he left home dressed in a smart black suit. He then changed into overalls and spent the next eight hours as a dustman. Before returning home at night. He took a shower and changed back into his suit. Alf did this for over two years and his fellow dustmen kept his secret Alf's wife has never discovered that she married a dustman and she never will, for Alf has just found another job. He will soon be working in an office. He will be earning only half as much as he used to, but he feels that his rise in status is well worth the loss of money. From now on, he will wear a suit all day and others will call him 'Mr. Bloggs', not 'Alf'.

New words and expressions 生词和短语​

manual adj. 体力的 collar n. 衣领 sacrifice v. 牺牲，献出 privilege n. 好处 dustman n. 清洁工 corporation n. 公司 overalls n. 工作服 shower n. 淋浴 secret n. 秘密 status n. 地位

Notes on the text 课文注释​

  1. People who work in offices are frequently referred to as‘white-collar workers’, 那些坐在办公室的人，往往被称为“白领工人”。 white-collar workers往往指脑力劳动者，而体力劳动者则被称为 blue-collar workers, 蓝领工人。
  2. for the simple reason that…这里 that引导的从句是 the reason的同位语。
  3. Such is human nature, that… such位于句首，起强调作用，后面要用倒装语序， that引导的是 such的同位语从句。
  4. as it did in the case of Alfred Bloggs who… worked as a dustman for the Ellesmere Corporation. 正如给埃尔斯米尔公司当清洁工的艾尔弗雷德·布洛格斯的情况所造成的怪现象那样。 as it did中的 it是指上一句中that 从句所指的情况，而 did是替代give rise to curious situations。
  5. half as much as he used to, 只相当于过去的一半。

参考译文​

如今，从事体力劳动的人的收入一般要比坐办公室的人高出许多。坐办公室的之所以常常被称作“白领工人”，就是因为他们通常是穿着硬领白衬衫，系着领带去上班。许多人常常情愿放弃较高的薪水以换取做白领工人的殊荣，此乃人之常情。而这常常会引起种种奇怪的现象，在埃尔斯米尔公司当清洁工的艾尔弗雷德.布洛斯就是一个例子。

艾尔弗结婚时，感到非常难为情，而没有将自己的职业告诉妻子。他只说在埃尔斯米尔公司上班。每天早晨，他穿上一身漂亮的黑色西装离家上班，然后换上工作服，当8个小时清洁工。晚上回家前，他洗个淋浴，重新换上那身黑色西服。两年多以来，艾尔弗一直这样，他的同事也为他保守秘密。艾尔弗的妻子一直不知道她嫁给了一个清洁工，而且她永远也不会知道了，因为艾尔弗已找到薪职，不久就要坐办公室里工作了。他将来挣的钱只有他现在的一半。不过他觉得，地位升高了，损失点儿钱也值得。从此，艾尔弗可以一天到晚穿西服了。别人将称呼他为“布洛格斯先生”，而不再叫他“艾尔弗”了。