最近在BBC上读到了一篇有关中国“全职儿女”现象的报道，我在网上查到了解释：“全职儿女”，是一种新型的脱产生活方式，指的是年轻人脱产寄居父母生活，并通过付出一定的劳动换取经济支持，同时保持学习，尝试找到职业目标…
来看这篇 BBC 的报道：
01
“全职儿女”现象
The 29-year-old now spends her day washing dishes, preparing meals for her parents, and doing other household chores. Julie's parents pay for most of her daily expenses but she has refused their offer of a monthly wage of 2,000 yuan ($280; £215).
Her current priority, after all, is to get a breather from the 16-hour days in her previous job. "I lived like a walking corpse," she said.
Gruelling work hours and a dismal job market are forcing young Chinese to make unusual choices.
Julie is part of a growing cohort that call themselves "full-time children" who are driven back to the comfort of home either because they are craving a break from their exhausting work lives, or they simply cannot find a job.
如今，这位29岁的年轻人整日都在洗碗、为父母准备饭菜以及做其他家务。朱莉的父母支付了她大部分日常开销，但她拒绝了他们提供的每月2000元（约合280美元、215英镑）的工资。
然而，对她来说，目前的首要任务是摆脱以前16小时的漫长工作日。“我过得像个行尸走肉，”她说道。
艰苦的工作时间和黯淡的就业市场，迫使年轻的中国人做出不寻常的选择。
朱莉是一个日益壮大的群体中的一员，他们自称为“全职儿女”，因为他们要么因工作劳累而渴望休息，要么是因为根本找不到工作，被迫回到家中。
第一段讲了全职儿女的付出以及获得：
付出：
1）spends her day washing dishes 洗碗
2）preparing meals for her parents 为父母做饭
3）doing other household chores 做其他家务
获得：
1）pay for most of her daily expenses 有人支付日常开销
2）offer a monthly wage 提供月薪（不过Julie拒绝了）
二三两段分析了“全职儿女”的原因：
1）Gruelling work hours 艰苦的工作时间
2）a dismal job market 黯淡的就业市场。
第四段由点到面，概括了“全职儿女”这一现象。
看几个语言点：

年龄表达法：The 29-year-old，名词，表示“29岁的人”，也可以用 those at the age of 29 或 those aged 29 表示，其复数为 the 29-year-olds.
breather 意思是 a short pause for rest or to relax “短暂的休息”，常见用法为 have / take / get a breather 休息一下，喘口气，相当于 take a break.
gruelling 意思是 very difficult and tiring “使人筋疲力尽的、折磨人的”，后面可以加 journey/schedule/day/work 等词，《鱼翅与花椒》中就出现过这个词：
Although his parents were still in their forties, they looked older, worn out by a life of gruelling agricultural labour.
他的父母都是四十多岁，但看着显老，一辈子辛辛苦苦做农活让他们饱经风霜。
《经济学人》曾用这个词来描述中国残酷的高考制度：
dismal 指 sad or depressing，形容前景或形势“惨淡的”，a dismal job market 意思是“黯淡的就业市场”，其中 dismal 也可以用 bleak, pessimistic, gloomy, dark 等词替换。《哈利波特与魔法石》中就出现过这个词：
cohort [ˈkəʊhɔːt] 意思是 a group of people who share a common feature or aspect of behaviour （有共同特点或举止类同的）一群人，一批人，文中 a growing cohort that call themselves "full-time children" 意思是：越来越多的、自称为“全职儿女”的人群。
再看两个例子：
the 1999 birth cohort (= all those born in 1999)
1999 年出生的同龄人口
美剧中有时也能看到这个表达：
真正的蝙蝠侠会通知战友
CNN 中有个类似的句子，可以对比来看：
Exhausted by the pressure to succeed as a photographer, Litsky Li accepted a better offer: quit work to become one of China’s growing legions of children paid by their families to stay home.
legion 和 cohort 意思相近，前者表示 a large number of people of six particular type 大批人。
crave 相当于 desire, long for “想要”，程度很强烈，文中 craving a break from their exhausting work lives 意思是：渴望从疲惫的工作生活中得到片刻休息，其中 crave a break 相当于 get a breather.
如果童年缺乏安全感，长大就会渴望被关注，看个例子：
an insecure child who craves attention
渴望被注意的缺乏安全感的孩子
美剧《绝望的主妇》中也出现过这个词：
补充一个同义替换：
covet
，意思是 to want sth very much，形容词为 coveted “人人向往的”，看一个美剧《摩登家庭》里的例子：

02
躺平毕业照
In recent weeks, Chinese social media has been flooded withatypical graduation photographs that speak to fresh graduates' disillusionment. Some show young people "lying flat" in graduation gowns, faces covered with mortarboards (学位帽); others show them holding their graduation certificates above dustbins, ready to bin them.
最近几周，中国社交媒体上涌现出不寻常的毕业照片，折射出新毕业生的幻灭感。其中一些照片显示年轻人穿着学士服“躺平”，脸上盖着学士帽；另一些照片显示他们将毕业证书举在垃圾箱上方，准备扔进垃圾桶。
be flooded with 是个很地道的表达，意思是“充斥着”，它源于 flood 的动词含义“发洪水”，发洪水意味着有大量的水涌入某个地方，所以引申为“涌入、充斥”。看两个例句：
We've been flooded with offers of help.
人们纷纷表示愿意为我们提供帮助。
The office was flooded with applications for the job.
办公室堆满了应征该职的求职信。
social media has been flooded with 可以当成一个语块积累下来，表示“社交媒体上充斥着某个消息”，可以形容事件火爆，比如：
Social media has been flooded with a common saying that graduation equals unemployment.
社交媒体上充斥着“毕业即失业”的说法。
atypical 由否定前缀“a-”和词根“typical”组成，意思是“非典型的”。“a-”表示否定含义构成的单词还有：atheist 无神论者，atypical 非典型的， asexually 无性地。
speak to 在这里表示“对...有感染力、引起...共鸣”，看一下词典里的英文解释：if something such as a poem, painting, or piece of music speaks to you, you like it because it expresses a particular meaning, quality, or feeling to you.
同义替换有 express, convey, demonstrate, indicate, reflect 等。
看个例句：
Modern art just doesn't speak to me.
现代艺术实在引不起我的共鸣。
文中 that speak to fresh graduates' disillusionment 意思是：这些照片表达了毕业生的失望情绪。
今天就到这里，感谢阅读！
另外发布一条重要通知：
最新课程「外刊精读·写作 21 期」开始招生了，6 篇精读，12-18 篇泛读，150 个考试热门话题的句子仿写，提高阅读、写作能力。
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