2006年NPR美国国家公共电台五月-Recent College Grads Talk about Money Man

Renee Montagne: It's graduation season and we're looking at the finances of young people. Last week we reported on ways to help teenagers avoid debt, today, college grads. Several authors who are as young as the people they write about have portrayed¹ people in their twenties and thirties as facing an impossible financial situation ahead. They're struggling with debt; their salaries are stagnant². At least that's the stereotype³. NPR's Lisa Chow has more.

Lisa Chow: If the US economy depends on spending, Grace Kim is a great American. She's 28, single, and earns $50,000 a year at an architectural firm in New York. She spends all of her salary and then borrows on credit to spend more.

Grace Kim: There're so many options, there're so many things to do, there're so many bars and, you do feel a pressure to sort of stay on top of everything; like what's the new place to go, where's a new restaurant to eat and, and also to wear like the cool clothes and, buy the expensive shoes or...

Lisa Chow: On this evening, Kim and dozens of others gather in a small apartment in downtown Manhattan to celebrate her birthday. They're crowding doorways⁴, squeezing into the kitchen and living room. Apartments like this, about the size of a subway car, sell for more than a million dollars in this city. Kim talks about trying to take a friend's budgeting advice.

Grace Kim: And she was like, Okay, the next few months you are gonna spend 100 dollars a week, that was like hell... I mean, I mean my sister and I, we're making like gourmet⁵ mac 'n' cheese from 20-cent generic⁶ boxes. But, you know, after a while, we got really sick of mac 'n' cheese.

Lisa Chow: Grace Kim's story is typical of people in their twenties and thirties, but not as much as it used to be. A recent survey published by the Federal Reserve shows that since the early 90s, more people under 35 own their own homes, more put money into retirement⁷ accounts and fewer have credit card debt, like James Levie, who hates to waste money.

James Levie: An evening out is easily 100 to 200 dollars. You wake up in the morning, you're hung-over and you know, you've got a big hole in your pocket, that's not a feeling I've ever particularly enjoyed.

Lisa Chow: Levie works at a private equity⁸ firm. He's 30, and every year he puts the maximum in his company's retirement plan. He invests whatever's left over. In his working life so far, he has saved close to a quarter of a million dollars, more than triple what most sixty-year-olds have in financial assets. He and his wife Nami Sowajema don't always see eye to eye.

James Levie: So it's not so much the act of spending money that bothers me, it's the, the act of thoughtlessly spending money that bothers me.

Nami Sowajema: But you also enjoy saving money.

James Levie: Right. I do get pleasure...

Nami Sowajema: Like you, you get really excited when you find like a way to save a dollar from doing something.

James Levie: That was true, I do.

Lisa Chow: Levie made more than 200,000 dollars last year. When his wife decided⁹ to go to graduate school two years ago, he decided to pay her tuition 80,000 dollars of it in full out of his savings¹⁰. On his salary, it's not surprising that he saves until you hear how. Take grocery shopping.

Nami Sowajema: He has the places that he thinks is a better place to buy from, 'coz I would probably just go to wherever's closest.

Lisa Chow: He won't take cabs.

James Levie: I grew up in New York City, so I feel like I know how to get around the city and, to me, it's completely natural just to walk when you can.

Lisa Chow: When Levie is not saving money by walking, he's driving, out of his way to save.

James Levie: I've done all the calculations and I figured out, the, the routes that bypass the tolls¹¹. If they take an extra 2 minutes and I save 2 dollars, I have done the math to figure out whether or not my time is really worth that much.

Lisa Chow: James Levy¹² challenges the perception that young adults are all on debt. Save 2 dollars here; save 2 dollars there. All that money is going towards plans to buy an apartment. Not unlike the one he is visiting tonight.

Lisa Chow: Lisa Chows, NPR News, Washington.

Renee Montagne: Next week you can hear why young adults don't save as much as their parents did. This is Morning Edition from NPR News, I'm Renee Montagne.

1 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 stagnant   

adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的

参考例句：

• Due to low investment,industrial output has remained stagnant.由于投资少，工业生产一直停滞不前。
• Their national economy is stagnant.他们的国家经济停滞不前。

3 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

4 doorways   

n.门口，门道( doorway的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The houses belched people; the doorways spewed out children. 从各家茅屋里涌出一堆一堆的人群，从门口蹦出一群一群小孩。 来自辞典例句
• He rambled under the walls and doorways. 他就顺着墙根和门楼遛跶。 来自辞典例句

5 gourmet   

n.食物品尝家；adj.出于美食家之手的

参考例句：

• What does a gourmet writer do? 美食评论家做什么？
• A gourmet like him always eats in expensive restaurants.像他这样的美食家总是到豪华的餐馆用餐。

6 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

7 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

8 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

11 tolls   

（缓慢而有规律的）钟声( toll的名词复数 )； 通行费； 损耗； （战争、灾难等造成的）毁坏

参考例句：

• A man collected tolls at the gateway. 一个人在大门口收通行费。
• The long-distance call tolls amount to quite a sum. 长途电话费数目相当可观。

12 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。