英语词汇实用小百科 白领white collar

Xiaohua: 又到了RoundTable词汇小百科时间了。这周我们来谈谈白领--white collar. Because previously¹, we had a topic talking about the new standard for white collar. Apparently², it’s so complicated. It includes salary, where you live, how you travel, things like that.

John: Yeah, I think it really does show a fundamental difference between the way the world white collar is used in Chinese versus³ the way it’s used in English and in most of the rest of the world. Typically, white collar work is performed in an office or cubicle⁴. And so a white collar worker is a person who performs professional, managerial, or administrative⁵ work.

Xiaohua:其实白领的定义在西方和我们所说的白领新标准是非常不一样的。White collar 指的是从事专业方面，管理或者行政方面的工作。典型的白领就是坐在办公室的小隔间里工作的人。

John: There are other types of workers, which I’m sure our listeners are already aware of. For example, blue collar whose job usually requires manual labor⁶. Something that our listeners might have never heard of is pink collar worker, usually related to customer interaction, entertainment, sales, or other service oriented work that was typically associated with what a female would do and we’re seeing more and more men take up these roles. And then, also, there’s something called a green collar worker. Most of you guys can guess what that means. It’s basically just someone who works in a green industry.

Xiaohua:蓝领大家都知道，指的一般是体力劳动者。还有更新的词汇，比如pink collar，粉领，是指一些传统由女性所从事的工作，或者一些服务业领域的从业者。另外还有一个新词就是green collar，绿领，一般指的是在环境产业或环保业工作的人。

John: Looking at white collar first. Sometimes they’re actually called a knowledge worker as well; someone who uses their brains more than their hands. The actual term, white collar worker, refers to the white dress shirts of many male office workers common through the 19th and 20th centuries. The term white collar is actually credited to Upton Sinclair, an American writer in relation to contemporary clerical, administrative, and management workers during the 1930s.

Xiaohua:先说说白领吧。白领又被称作是脑力工作者。白领这个词汇首次出现实在二十世纪三十年代一位美国作家的书里。

John: The blue collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor in terms of United States usage. Interestingly enough, industrial and manual workers usually wear durable⁷ canvas or cotton clothing. Navy and light blue colors can conceal⁸ potential dirt or grease on the workers’ clothing and so that’s why we see that most manual laborers⁹ wear blue. Thus, the word blue collar.

Xiaohua: 蓝领为什么是叫蓝领呢？体力工作者一般会穿一些禁脏或者非常耐穿的蓝色制服。That’s why there’s the word blue collar.

John: And even white collar jobs these days, most people don’t even wear white dress shirts anymore. They might wear blue. They might wear red or black or whatever they want.

Xiaohua: 虽然我们用颜色区别这些不同领域的工作者，但是到了今天很多白领都不见得会穿白色的西装衬衫上班。而很多的蓝领也不会穿蓝色的制服了。

And that’s we have for this edition of Round Table’s Word of the Week.

1 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

2 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

3 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

4 cubicle   

n.大房间中隔出的小室

参考例句：

• She studies in a cubicle in the school library.她在学校图书馆的小自习室里学习。
• A technical sergeant hunches in a cubicle.一位技术军士在一间小屋里弯腰坐着。

5 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 durable   

adj.持久的，耐久的

参考例句：

• This raincoat is made of very durable material.这件雨衣是用非常耐用的料子做的。
• They frequently require more major durable purchases.他们经常需要购买耐用消费品。

8 conceal   

v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽

参考例句：

• He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方，他只好隐瞒身份。
• He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。

9 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言