考研英译汉：Child-care Costs：Precious Little Burdens

考研英译汉：Child-care Costs：Precious Little Burdens

★ Part01 外刊原文 ★

　　Gone are the days when a mother’s place was in the home: in Britain women with children are now as likely to be in paid work as their unburdened sisters. Many put their little darlings in day care long before they start school. Mindful that a poor start can spoil a person’s chances of success later in life, the state has intervened ever more closely in how babies and toddlers are looked after. Inspectors call not only at nurseries but also at homes where youngsters are minded; three-year-olds follow the national curriculum. Child care has increasingly become a profession.

　　For years after the government first began in 2001 to twist the arms of anyone who looked after an unrelated child to register with the schools，the numbers so doing fell. Kind but clueless neighbours stopped looking after little ones, who were instead herded into formal nurseries or handed over to one of the ever-fewer registered child-minders. The decline in the number of people taking in children now appears to have halted. According to data released by the Office for Standards in Education on October 27th, the number of registered child-minders reached its lowest point in September 2010 and has since recovered slightly.

　　The new lot are certainly better qualified. In 2010 fully 82% of nursery workers held diplomas notionally equivalent to A-levels, the university-entrance exams taken mostly by 18-year-olds, up from 56% seven years earlier, says Anand Shukla of the Daycare Trust, a charity. Nurseries staffed by university graduates tend to be rated highest by inspectors, increasing their appeal to the pickiest parents. As a result, more graduates are being recruited.

　　But professionalization has also pushed up the price of child care, defying even the economic depression. A survey by the Daycare Trust finds that a full-time nursery place in England for a child aged under two, who must be intensively supervised, costs £194 ($310) per week, on average. Prices in London and the south-east are far higher. Parents in Britain spend more on child care than anywhere else in the world, according to the OECD, a think-tank. Some 68% of a typical second earner’s net income is spent on freeing her to work, compared with an OECD average of 52%.

　　The price of child care is not only eye-watering, but has also become a barrier to work. Soon after it took power the coalition government pledged to ensure that people are better off in work than on benefits, but a recent survey by Save the Children, a charity, found that the high cost of day care prevented a quarter of low-paid workers from returning to their jobs once they had started a family. The government pays for free part-time nursery places for three- and four-year-olds, and contributes towards day-care costs for younger children from poor areas. Alas, extending such a subsidy during stressful economic times would appear to be anything but child’s play.

★ Part02 英语提升角度外刊解读 ★

◆1.单词解读

unburdened / ʌn'bɜ:dnd / adj.没有拖累的;无经济负担的

spoil / spɔɪl / v.损坏(某事物);损害

intervene / ˌɪntəˈvi:n / v.插手;介入;干预

toddler / ˈtɒdlə(r) / n.学步儿童;刚学会走路的孩子

call at：访问;走访

nursery / ˈnɜ:səri / n.托儿所;保育院

curriculum / kəˈrɪkjələm / n.(学校等的)全部课程

twist the arms of sb to do sth：强制某人做某事

clueless / ˈklu:ləs / adj.愚笨的;无能的

herd / hɜ:d / v.(某人/某物)成群地移动;驱赶成群的(某人/某物)

child-minder：代人照看小孩者;儿童保育员

lot / lɒt / n.全体;全部;总量

diploma / dɪˈpləʊmə / n.文凭;毕业证书

notionally / 'nəuʃənəli / adv.假设地;理论上地

equivalent / ɪˈkwɪvələnt / adj.相等的;等同的

charity / ˈtʃærəti / n.慈善机构;慈善团体

picky / ˈpɪki / adj.挑剔的;难以取悦的

professionalization / prəˌfeʃənəlaɪz'eɪʃn / n.职业化

defy / dɪˈfaɪ / v.不受……的影响

eye-watering：令人吃惊的;让人难以接受的

pledge / pledʒ / v.保证;发誓

benefit / ˈbenɪfɪt / n.保险金;救济金;补助金

anything but一点也不;绝不

◆2.写作句式解读

原句：The decline in the number of people taking in children now appears to have halted.

句型：The decline in the number of … [某事物数量的下降]

例子：The decline in the number of wild animals needs our attention.

★ Part03 参考译文 ★

　　母亲的职业就是照顾家庭，这种日子已经一去不复返了;在英国，无论有无子女，妇女都要外出工作赚钱。许多母亲在孩子上学之前很久，就把他们放在日托幼儿园。考虑到不合格的幼儿教育可能会影响孩子未来的成就，国家对婴儿以及学步儿童的托管问题格外关注。视察人员不仅检查幼儿园，还检查那些照顾他人子女的人家;三岁的孩子都要学习全国性的课程。儿童看护逐渐成为一项职业。

　　2001年政府强制所有看护他人孩子的人去学校登记，从那以后看护人的数量越来越少。心地善良却又不太在行的邻居不再照看别人的小孩了，孩子们都被送进正式的托儿所，或者托付给为数不多的登记在案的儿童托管员。而如今，儿童保育员数量下滑的趋势似乎停止了。教育标准办公室于10月27日公布的数据表明，登记在案的儿童保育员数目在2010年9月跌到谷底后正缓慢回升。

　　如今的保育员拥有更高的资历。据一家名为信任日托的慈善机构的阿南德•舒克拉说，2010年，占总比例82%的保育员所持的文凭相当于A-level证书(一个主要由18岁学生参加的大学入学考试证书)，而在7年前这一比例为56%。员工为大学毕业生的托管所得到了检察员的最高评价，这些托管所逐渐得到挑剔的儿童家长的认可。因此，越来越多的大学毕业生受聘成为托管员。

　　尽管经济不景气，保育工作的职业化仍然推高了儿童保育费。信任日托的调查发现，在英格兰，看护一个需要悉心照料的两岁以下的儿童，平均每周收费194英镑(合310美元)。伦敦与英格兰东南地区的托管费还要高很多。智囊团经合组织(OECD)的统计显示，英国家长负担的保育费全球最高。一个普通家庭中收入占次要地位的妇女要外出工作，就要拿出净收入的68%支付托管费，而全球的平均水平为52%。

　　高昂的托管费不仅令人咂舌，而且成了很多人外出工作的屏障。英国联合政府掌权后不久就宣称，要确保人们工作后的生活要比依赖救济金生活更加富裕，但一家名为“救救孩子”的慈善机构最近调查发现，高额日托费使四分之一的低收入职工无法在有孩子后返回工作岗位。政府为三岁至四岁儿童提供免费的非全日托管，并资助贫困地区的儿童接受日托。唉，在经济形势这么严峻的时候还进一步增加这类资助可不是儿戏。

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