你是“受挤压的中产阶级”吗？

近两年听得最多的一句话是“什么都涨就工资不涨”。原先那么多钱能买的东西，现在都买不了了。受经济危机影响的欧洲各国人民也是这样的，他们都说自己是squeezed middle。

The squeezed middle refer to people on average incomes who have less money than previously to buy the things they need because rising costs have not been matched by an increase in pay.

The squeezed middle指收入一般的人群因为生活成本提高而收入未曾增加而变得手头紧，原先能买的东西现在都没钱买了，我们称之为“受挤压的中产阶级”。

The term squeezed middle refers to those people who neither fall into the lowest income category, where they might get support from the welfare state, nor count among the country's top earners, for whom financial cutbacks have little personal impact. These people are therefore 'piggy in the middle', seeing their income eroded through tax changes and rising prices, and consequently, though not struggling to make basic ends meet, experiencing a significant decline in their standard of living.

Squeezed middle所指的人群既不属于那些靠政府福利补助的低收入者，也不是金融危机也无法撼动的大富豪。他们是“中间阶层”，他们的收入因为税收改革和不断上涨的物价而缩水，由此，虽不至于朝不保夕，但他们的生活水准已明显下降。

The expression squeezed middle was launched into the public consciousness when it was used by UK Labour party leader Ed Miliband in a radio interview in 2011, and quickly caught on as something that a large proportion of the electorate felt they belonged to.

这个表达最先由英国工党领袖艾德•米利班德在2011年一次广播访问中使用，之后便被很多人接受并认为自己属于该人群。

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（中国日报网英语点津 Helen）

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