You've all heard the quote about lies, damned lies and statistics. We're not making any sweeping judgements based on the following stats, but it is mighty interesting to see just how much the United States has evolved over the decades.
你们应该都听过关于谎言、可恶的谎言和统计数据的语录。我们没有要清除任何建立在以下数据的判断，但是看看美国近几十年来进步了多少，这或许真的很有趣。
10.Over 145 Million Americans are Poor
10.超过1.45亿的美国人很穷
Based on 2011 estimates, nearly half of the American population is currently either considered to be low income or simply living in poverty. If you have $10 in your pocket right now and no debts, you're wealthier than 78 million Americans.
根据2011年的估计，将近美国人口的一半普遍地被认为是低收入，或者简单地生活在贫穷中。如果现在你口袋里有10美元并且没有负债，你已经比七千八百万美国人富裕了。
In 1950, only two in 10 men in the United States were without jobs. It's since gone up to about four in 10 men. Two out of 10 adults work at jobs that pay poverty level wages, and more than five in 10 Americans can't afford the house that they're living in right now. One in four kids live on food stamps. About 25 million adult Americans live with their parents, and some other 20 million live in mobile homes. We're not talking about poorly educated Americans only. There are 320,000 restaurant servers, 115,000 janitors, and 80,000 bartenders with Bachelor degrees. And over 33,000 PhD graduates are receiving public aid.
在1950年，在美国每10个男人中就有两个没有工作。自那以来上升到了4个。每10个成年人中有两个做着只有贫困水平工资的工作，每10个美国人中就有超 过一半人不能支付他们现在所居住的房子的房款。四分之一的孩子靠着发给失业者和贫民的粮票生活。大约两千五百万成年美国人和他们的父母生活在一起，还有另外两千万住在移动房子里。我们不只是讨论未受到良好教育的美国人。有32万餐馆服务员、11.5万看门人和8万酒吧侍者有学士学位。超过3.3万的哲学博士毕业生正在接收公共援助。
9.32 Million American Adults Can't Read this Line
9.320万美国成年人不识字
An April 2013 study by the US Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy revealed that 32 million adults in the United States can't read. That's about three Americans in any room of 20. It's a figure that hasn't changed much since the 1980s.
美国教育部门和美国识字研究院一份2013年4月的研究揭露了在美国有320万成年人不识字。那就表示不管任何20人的空间里就有约三个美国人不识字。这个数据自20世纪80年代就没有太变动过。
This means you can't read the hazard warnings on a bottle of pesticide. You can't write your sweetheart a love letter, an email or even a text message. You can't use the Internet or social media. You can't read street signs, and if you got lost you can't use a map. You find yourself living in a society that runs on facts and figures and unable to participate. Most problems in the United States directly correlate with illiteracy levels. More than six in 10 prison inmates, and nearly nine in 10 juveniles who show up in the courts, can't read. Interestingly, there are actually more public libraries in the US than McDonald's. But then there are also more prisons in US than degree granting colleges. Speaking of literacy, 27% of US Army enlistees can't read training manuals written at the seventh grade level.
这就意味着你无法读懂杀虫剂瓶子上的危险警告。你无法给你的心上人写情书、写邮件甚至是一条短信。你无法使用网络和社会媒体。你无法读懂街头标志，如果你迷失了还不能使用地图。你会发现你自己生活在一个运转着事实和数据的社会里，并且没有能力去参与。在美国，大部分的问题直接和文盲水平关联。在法庭露面的超过五分之三的监狱居民和将近十分之九的青少年都不识字。有趣的是，事实上，在美国公共图书馆多于麦当劳。但是在美国监狱也比授予学位的高校要多。说到读写能力，27%的美军士兵不能读懂用七年级水平写的训练手册。
8.Religious Beliefs Are Eroding
8.失落的宗教信仰
The 21st Century seems to be ushering in the fall of religion in the USA. Studies from Berkeley and Duke University, as well as a Pew Research survey, reveal that more and more people are leaving religion behind. In 1972, about five in 100 people said they had no religion. In 1990 that number was up to eight in 100. And then the numbers start rising a lot faster — in 2010 it was 18 in 100, and in 2010 it became 20. Surprisingly, half of those born in non-religious homes eventually turned religious, although that's just four in 100. But many more people are leaving religion alone. Men tend to hold the lead in having the No Religion status, as for every three non-religious men you have two non-religious women.
21世纪似乎带领美国走进了一个信仰缺失的时代。伯克利大学和杜克大学的研究，以及一项皮尤研究中心的调查显示，越来越多的的人开始放弃宗教信仰。在1972年，每100个人里约有5个人说自己没有信仰。到1990年，数据上升到了8/100。随后数据急速飙升——2010年上升到18/100, 2012（达到）20/100.令人惊讶的是，半数出生于无宗教信仰家庭的人却转变为宗教信徒，即使只有4/100的人如此。而更多的人则将宗教置诸脑后。在无信仰的人群里，男性的人数趋于领先地位，每5个无信仰人士中有3个是男性。
New England — Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont – was founded by devout Puritans. Today, these same states now hold some of the largest non-religious populations in the USA.
新英格兰地区——包括康涅狄格州、缅因州、马萨诸塞州、新罕布什尔州、罗德岛州和佛蒙特州——是由虔诚的清教徒建立的。如今，这些州的无信仰人士的数目在美国也是名列前茅。
7.Apple Is Making More Than the US Government
7.苹果公司的收入远超美国政府
Apple has twice as much money as the US Government, and Microsoft is also wealthier than Uncle Sam. It helps that some of America's big corporations know their way around Uncle Sam's laws — in 2010, General Electric made over $14 billion in profits but paid no taxes in the US.
苹果公司的资产是美国政府的两倍，微软同样比“山姆大叔”富有。这让美国一些大企业知晓如何钻“山姆大叔”的法律空子——在2010年，通用电气盈利超过140亿美元，而并未缴纳任何税款。
As for what the US is raking in, America held the world's number one GDP per capita in the 1950s, but now ranks 13th. The 2011 fiscal year saw the US trade deficit with China at more than 49,000 times what it was in 1985!
至于美国的GDP排名，在上世纪50年代，美国曾稳居世界第一，但现已排至第13名。在2011年的财政危机中，美国对华贸易逆差超过49000倍——更甚于1985年的惨况！
6.马苏里拉奶酪和苏打水
Mozzarella and soda. On average, an American drinks about 600 sodas a year. While soda guzzling managed to fall by nearly 25% between 1998 and 2013, mozzarella consumption in 2013 had tripled the 1970s volume!
一个美国人平均每年要喝大约600瓶苏打水。然而，在1998至2013年间人们对苏打水的狂热度消减了近百分之二十五。但是，2013年马苏里拉奶酪的销量暴涨到了上世纪七十年代销量的三倍。
Americans consume about 100 pounds of chocolate every second. 100 acres of pizza are consumed daily. Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the US, but only Hawaii farms coffee in the US on a commercial scale. Another surprise came with the discovery that there are more cows in Montana than humans, at a three to one ratio. Little wonder that 50 billion hamburgers are sold every year in the US alone. As for those chicken nuggets and all that chicken noodle soup? Eight billion chickens lose their lives in the US yearly.
美国人平均每秒约消费100磅的巧克力、每天需要消耗100英亩的披萨饼。咖啡是美国消费量最大的饮料之一，但是只有夏威夷农场生产的咖啡量达到商业规模。另一个惊人的发现是在蒙塔纳州（Montana），奶牛的数量以3:1的比例超过了人口数。很少有人会对美国每年仅仅是汉堡就会售出500亿感到奇怪。至于鸡块和鸡肉面条汤？每年就有80亿只鸡因此被杀。
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