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约翰·斯卡尔齐：贫穷的滋味（2005）
John Scalzi: Being Poor (2005)
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导读
John Scalzi 2005 年的博客文章《Being Poor》以一连串“Being poor is……”的句式，罗列贫困生活中具体而日常的瞬间：修车、看病账单、羞耻感、有限选择和长期压力。它写的不是抽象的“没钱”，而是匮乏如何渗透进人的尊严、教育、工作与希望。
为什么经久不衰：它把贫困还原成可感的生活细节，跨越十几年仍能让读者理解匮乏如何塑造选择，也因此反复引发共鸣和争论。
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用一连串亲身经历说明，贫穷是持续的具体困境和难以摆脱的生活惯性。
我经历过这些。贫穷是在拖车公园和垃圾场之间长大；是翘掉作业去帮忙修那辆 600 美元的车，好让爸爸明天能上班；是妈妈因为你第一次看牙收到的 100 美元账单而哭；是提前退学，因为佩尔助学金用完了，而时薪 12.15 美元的机会已是快餐工资的两倍多；是戴了三年的眼镜在前排眯着眼；是“下个月一定存点钱”；是因为车和头发寒酸被警察拦下；是因为文书错误坐两晚牢；是多年后发现自己仍像穷人一样生活；是在 Hacker News 上读风投、ICO 和融资轮，想着其中极小一部分钱能多大改善你的生活。
jachee查看英文原文
I lived this. Being poor is growing up between the trailer park and the dump. Being poor is skipping homework to help repair the $600 car so dad can make it to work tomorrow. Being poor is your mother crying over a $100 invoice for the dental service you just received for the first time in living memory. Being poor is quitting junior college early, because your Pell Grant ran out, and a $12.15/hr opportunity is over double your fast-food wage. Being poor is never going back. Being poor is 3-years-old glasses and squinting from the front row. Being poor is _definitely_ going to put some money in the savings account next month. Being poor is getting pulled over just for your car and hair looking ratty. Being poor is 2 nights in jail because of a clerical error. Being poor is realizing years later that you still live like you're poor. Being poor is reading about VCs and ICOs and funding rounds on HN and thinking how huge an improvement just a tiny, tiny fraction of that money could make in your life.
指出原文其实只是美国贫困，并用自己的东欧经历说明不同制度下匮乏可以更极端。
这该改名为“在美国贫穷”。你得和东德或苏联长大的人聊聊才有参照，第三世界的人肯定也有话说。我在社会主义匈牙利长大，处境稍好。文章勾起的记忆：杂牌玩具？1982 年前匈牙利福林根本买不到乐高，少数外交官商店用硬通货卖，而硬通货弄不到。800 美元的车？同志，你得等 5 到 10 年，车是纸和塑料做的，时速不能超过 60 英里。贫穷是希望牙痛自己消失——我做根管治疗时没止痛药，因为用完了。贫穷是 Goodwill 的内衣——我们的汗衫像灰抹布，因为多年买不到增白洗涤剂。空调？试试住在这种微区，夏天像烤箱，冬天太热因为集中供暖开足马力，你毫无办法。
chx查看英文原文
This needs a retitle of "Being poor in the USA". You need to talk to someone who grew up in the DDR or the CCCP to get some perspective (although I bet people from the so called third world would have quite something to add, too!). I am a little better as I grew up in socialist Hungary. Some memories that this article brought up: off-brand toys? You couldn't even buy LEGO until like 1982 for Hungarian forints. A few shops for diplomats sold it for hard currency which was impossible to get. $800 cars? Comrade, you need to wait 5-10 years for a car and it's made out of paper and plastic. And it is literally incapable of going above 60 miles per hour. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away. - man, I got a root canal done without painkillers because they ran out of painkillers. Being poor is Goodwill underwear. - our undershirts looked like gray rags because you couldn't get whitening detergent for years. It was a fluke that didn't get corrected until the next five year plan. air conditioning. --- HAHAHAHAHA try living in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microdistrict one of these, oven in the summer, too hot in the winter because the central heating is cranked up the wazzoo and you can't do shit about it.
补充贫困带来的羞耻、自卑和受限志向，也指出它逼人学会自给自足。
撒谎隐瞒自己长大的地方；为免费学校午餐感到羞耻；每天穿同样几件衣服被嘲笑而难堪；冬天不穿外套因为羞于多年穿同一件；面试午餐只点开胃菜；10 美元运动鞋的鞋底在体育课上掉了；不会玩同事从小玩的电子游戏；一旦有点钱就极度保守，买最便宜的冰淇淋、豆子等；没有毕业舞会、学校舞会、女朋友，连穷女孩也不喜欢你；只考虑公立大学，因为私立意味着贷款额等于父母一年收入，哪怕你考试分数高于 MIT 平均水平；成长岁月里只有一次家庭度假；自卑；志向受限；觉得自己不属于那里；知识有缺口；太愿意忍受艰辛。另一方面，自己用原料做饭：汉堡、披萨、炸薯条；对以前不知道的食物惊奇：河粉、寿司、stromboli、贝果、烤香肠；以天真接近新地方和人；所有获得和学到的知识都学得扎实，大多自学。
babesh查看英文原文
- Lying about where you grew up - Being ashamed of free school lunch - Being embarrassed and made fun of for wearing the same sorts of clothes every day - Not wearing a coat in winter because you are embarrassed wearing the same coat for years - Only ordering an appetizer over lunch at a job interview - The soles of my $10 sneakers came off in P.E. - Not playing any of the video games your coworkers played growing up - Being extremely conservative with a little money once you have it, buying the cheapest ice cream, beans, etc... - No prom, school dances, girl friends, etc... even the poor girls don't like you - Only considering the public university since private ones meant taking loans as much as your parents made in a year and even though your test scores are higher than the average at MIT - One family vacation in all the years growing up - Inferiority complex - Limited ambitions - Feeling you don't belong - Gaps in knowledge - Too much willingness to take up hardship On the other hand, - Making your own food from raw ingredients: hamburgers, pizza, french fries, etc... - Being amazed by foods that you were never aware of: pho, sushi, stromboli, bagels, sausages on a grill - Approaching new places and people with naivety - All knowledge gained and learned is well learnt and mostly self learnt
贫困最可怕的是限制想象力与希望；摆脱贫穷需要先相信自己能改变。
真正贫穷是想象不出别的可能。我父母在赤贫中长大：母亲和姐妹共用一张床，穿旧衣到结婚；父亲直到参军才第一次一天吃三顿。他们多次想解释，但每个故事最后都说“算了，你不会懂”。他们决心逃离，成年后几乎每个决定都受童年一无所有影响；他们几乎每天辛勤工作，只为让我们不再经历。家里没有讨论：我们都要读完高中、上大学、建立自己的生活。我们没人饿过一顿或缺过必需品。我知道很多人同样决心但仍未逃离贫困，没有保证。我只是不知道，一个人若不能想象自己能改变，如何打破循环。没钱很糟，没希望更糟。
edw519查看英文原文
Being truly poor is not being able to imagine anything else. Both of my parents grew up with absolutely nothing. My mother shared a bed with her sisters and wore nothing but hand-me-downs until she got married. My father never had 3 meals in the same day until he joined the army. They both tried to explain what life was like to us many times, but every story ended with, "Never mind. You just wouldn't understand." They were so determined to escape their situations, almost every decision they made as adults was shaped by growing up with nothing. They worked hard almost every day of their lives so that none of us would ever have to experience what they went through. There was never any discussion or debate about what life would be like in our house: we were all going to finish high school, go to college, and build lives of our own. None of us has ever missed a meal or gone without anything essential. I realize many people are just as determined as my parents were, but still don't escape poverty. There are no guarantees. I just don't know how anyone can reverse the cycle without imagining that they can. Having no money is bad. Having no hope is worse.
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