美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Nomadland' Tracks Rising Number Of Americans Living On The Road

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Thousands of people in the United States are not exactly homeless; more like houseless. They live in vehicles - RVs, campers, vans. And they follow the work, moving from job to job. The journalist Jessica Bruder embedded¹ with this community, traveling all over the U.S. Our co-host, Ari Shapiro, spoke² with her about her new book, "Nomadland: Surviving America In The Twenty-First Century."

ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE⁴: Nobody knows exactly how many people in the U.S. are living the nomad³ life. It's literally⁵ a moving target. The author Jessica Bruder told me that many of the people she met are past what we think of as retirement⁶ age. Maybe they lost their savings⁷ in the Great Recession or they never had any to begin with. Now they do physical work for long hours, often earning just enough money to go the next mile.

JESSICA BRUDER: From harvesting sugar beets⁸ to working in Amazon warehouses⁹ to selling Christmas trees and pumpkins¹⁰ and roadside stands. Camping wherever they can, often on public land. Going off the grid¹¹, boondocking, using solar power. Getting together in groups and staying in touch on the Internet and basically forming a sort of mobile middle class.

SHAPIRO: I asked Jessica Bruder why these people decided¹² to pull up roots and take to the road.

BRUDER: For most of us, housing is the biggest expense we have. And it's an expense that keeps going up even as wages stay flat. Once you leave a house behind, you know, you no longer have utilities. You don't have maybe a lawn to keep up. You don't have mortgage payments. You don't have rent payments. And for so many people, that takes such a gigantic chunk¹³ out of incomes that are in many cases stagnant¹⁴. So in ways, getting on the road is actually a kind of ingenious hack¹⁵.

SHAPIRO: You spent years in this world and met lots of people. The main character in your book is a woman named Linda. Tell us how she ended up in this community of nomads¹⁶.

BRUDER: Her story is really the story of the economy over the past few decades - the prevalence of low-wage jobs, wage stagnation¹⁷. She worked a register at Home Depot¹⁸. She had done a bunch of other things even though she has a couple of degrees. She'd been a general contractor¹⁹. She'd owned her own company. She really got stuck on this low-wage treadmill²⁰ and realized that there was no way to get off it, and that she'd be walking that treadmill until the day she died. And that's when she discovered what some refer to as the mobile lifestyle. And she went out and bought a secondhand RV and started taking these jobs.

SHAPIRO: And did she find that that gave her freedom? Or did she find that that made her more or less kind of a homeless person?

BRUDER: Both of these things can be true.

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

BRUDER: I mean, I'm tempted²¹ to quote Janis Joplin here. But...

SHAPIRO: Wait, what's the lyric²²? I'm reaching for it.

BRUDER: Oh, the freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose. I mean, that's the...

SHAPIRO: Of course.

BRUDER: That's the cynical²³ take, right? But, yeah, I think she did feel free in some regards. You know, it was also an incredibly precarious²⁴ existence. She - everything she owns for the most part is in her RV, which is ancient and prone²⁵ to some mechanical troubles. And she's living in it at a campsite in weather that's, you know, going down to sub-zero. RVs are really not made for that sort of climate. So it's not an easy existence at all.

SHAPIRO: There's an element of romance to this and adventure, and there's also an element of desperation and economic necessity. And both come out in your narrative²⁶ in this book. I wonder at the end of the day which felt most salient to you.

BRUDER: I think they're both pretty deeply intertwined. I think there is a large element of wanderlust in our culture. So people are pretty excited of - about the idea of the great American road trip. But at the same time, there are all of these financial forces that govern the choices people make. So when I first got out on the road and talked to people in 2013, the first thing so many people wanted to tell me was that I chose to do this.

And then maybe four days later, a week later, if I'm still hanging around as a reporter, that's when I hear about the foreclosure or the 401(k) that got wiped out, those other details. So people are eager to tell you that they chose this, but their options have narrowed quite a bit in recent years. So, you know, on the one hand, there is the I'm out there and I'm having an adventure. And on the other hand, this is sometimes the result of few options.

SHAPIRO: Did you find that life on the road provided an escape for people? Or did you find that it was just avoiding the inevitable²⁷ reckoning?

BRUDER: Probably the latter in that it was an escape, but in so many cases temporarily. I know people - there are people I've interviewed over the course of the past three years who are no longer with us. There are people who are no longer on the road. There are people who don't know what they'll do when they're old enough that they can't drive. Some of those people have no plan at all. Some of those people talk about essentially²⁸ driving out into the middle of the desert and calling it a day. So while I think it does feel like an escape and there's a degree to which people feel really liberated²⁹ in the moment by it, it's not - it's not a long-term solution.

SHAPIRO: Jessica Bruder is the author of the new book "Nomadland: Surviving America In The Twenty-First Century." Thanks for talking with us.

BRUDER: Thanks for having me.

(SOUNDBITE OF MIKE VASS' "QUIET VOICES")

1 embedded   

a.扎牢的

参考例句：

• an operation to remove glass that was embedded in his leg 取出扎入他腿部玻璃的手术
• He has embedded his name in the minds of millions of people. 他的名字铭刻在数百万人民心中。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 nomad   

n.游牧部落的人，流浪者，游牧民

参考例句：

• He was indeed a nomad of no nationality.他的确是个无国籍的游民。
• The nomad life is rough and hazardous.游牧生活艰苦又危险。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

6 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。

7 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。

8 beets   

甜菜( beet的名词复数 )； 甜菜根； （因愤怒、难堪或觉得热而）脸红

参考例句：

• Beets are Hank's favorite vegetable. 甜菜根是汉克最爱吃的蔬菜。
• In this enlargement, barley, alfalfa, and sugar beets can be differentiated. 在这张放大的照片上，大麦，苜蓿和甜菜都能被区分开。

9 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

10 pumpkins   

n.南瓜( pumpkin的名词复数 )；南瓜的果肉，南瓜囊

参考例句：

• I like white gourds, but not pumpkins. 我喜欢吃冬瓜，但不喜欢吃南瓜。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they cut faces in the pumpkins and put lights inside. 然后在南瓜上刻出一张脸，并把瓜挖空。 来自英语晨读30分（高三）

11 grid   

n.高压输电线路网；地图坐标方格；格栅

参考例句：

• In this application,the carrier is used to encapsulate the grid.在这种情况下，要用载体把格栅密封起来。
• Modern gauges consist of metal foil in the form of a grid.现代应变仪则由网格形式的金属片组成。

12 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。

13 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

14 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。

15 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

16 nomads   

n.游牧部落的一员( nomad的名词复数 )；流浪者；游牧生活；流浪生活

参考例句：

• For ten years she dwelled among the nomads of North America. 她在北美游牧民中生活了十年。
• Nomads have inhabited this region for thousands of years. 游牧民族在这地区居住已有数千年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 stagnation   

n. 停滞

参考例句：

• Poor economic policies led to a long period of stagnation and decline. 糟糕的经济政策道致了长时间的经济萧条和下滑。
• Motion is absolute while stagnation is relative. 运动是绝对的，而静止是相对的。

18 depot   

n.仓库，储藏处；公共汽车站；火车站

参考例句：

• The depot is only a few blocks from here.公共汽车站离这儿只有几个街区。
• They leased the building as a depot.他们租用这栋大楼作仓库。

19 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

20 treadmill   

n.踏车；单调的工作

参考例句：

• The treadmill has a heart rate monitor.跑步机上有个脉搏监视器。
• Drugs remove man from the treadmill of routine.药物可以使人摆脱日常单调的工作带来的疲劳。

21 tempted   

v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词）

参考例句：

• I was sorely tempted to complain, but I didn't. 我极想发牢骚，但还是没开口。
• I was tempted by the dessert menu. 甜食菜单馋得我垂涎欲滴。

22 lyric   

n.抒情诗，歌词；adj.抒情的

参考例句：

• This is a good example of Shelley's lyric poetry.这首诗是雪莱抒情诗的范例。
• His earlier work announced a lyric talent of the first order.他的早期作品显露了一流的抒情才华。

23 cynical   

adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的

参考例句：

• The enormous difficulty makes him cynical about the feasibility of the idea.由于困难很大，他对这个主意是否可行持怀疑态度。
• He was cynical that any good could come of democracy.他不相信民主会带来什么好处。

24 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

25 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

26 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

27 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

28 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

29 liberated   

a.无拘束的，放纵的

参考例句：

• The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进，解放了那座城市。
• The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应，释放出氧气。