VOA慢速英语: 年轻一代损害了台湾的竞争力？

Is Younger Generation Hurting Taiwan’s Competitiveness?
年轻人损害了台湾的竞争力？
In October, a Taiwan negotiator to China warned that Taiwanese lacked what he called aggressiveness and an enterprising spirit. He warned against “being a sheep” -- following others -- in the face of fast-growing China.
十月，来大陆访问的台湾代表说：“台湾人现在缺乏进取心和创新精神。”他警告说：“面对中国大陆快速的发展不要成为一只跟随别人脚步的盲从者。”
The rarely heard criticism by a public official points to growing concern in Taiwan that young people are more likely to prefer a safe job to starting their own business. This way of thinking is different from that of their parents and modern mainland Chinese.
在台湾，过去很少听到官员类似的批评，但是现在越来越关心这一问题：年轻人更喜欢一份安定的工作来开始自己的事业。现在台湾年轻人的想法与他们父辈以及大陆人的想法不同。
This preference for safe jobs threatens new business startups on the island. Officials say such businesses are important for Taiwan’s future as an exporter of goods from plastics to electronic products. Officials want Taiwanese to keep inventing and investing so they can remain competitive against other areas.
年轻人选择安稳的工作，直接威胁到岛上新经济的起步。官员说新经济对台湾地区来说，对于塑料和电子产品出口的未来经济发展来说很重要。官员希望台湾人能够继续创造、不断投入时间、精力使台湾地区保持竞争力。
Yang Lian–fu is a publisher of books on Taiwanese history. He says parents in Taiwan guide their adult children to look for safe jobs and schools, and provide little motivation.
杨连福是台湾历史书籍的出版商，他说台湾的父母引导孩子寻找一份稳定的工作、去竞争压力小的学校读书，这无益于激发他们的进取心。
He says young Taiwanese people care most about the quality of life. He adds that this preference relates to history, and that modern parents want their children to lead a safe life after college.
他说台湾的年轻人更关心生活的品质，这一偏爱跟历史有关，现代的家长希望孩子大学毕业后寻找一份稳定的工作。
Yang Lian-fu calls Taiwan’s education system peaceful. He says there is no pressure for students who study hard.
杨连福称台湾的教育体制很安稳，学生学习没有什么压力。
But young people in mainland China are pushed harder to compete. The reason: their parents and schools. Tony Phoo is an economist in Taipei. He says Taiwan now risks being surpassed by China. China is already a less costly manufacturing base and a larger consumer market.
但是大陆的年轻人竞争很激烈。原因是他们的家长和学校。托尼·浦是台北的经济学家。他说台湾面临着被祖国大陆超越的风险。中国大陆已经不在是个廉价的加工厂，拥有更大的消费市场。
"Mainland Chinese are catching up very fast. They are also getting increasingly competitive not just in terms of technology but also in terms of talent. Chinese have acquired a certain advantage by attracting offshore talent to the mainland China and in time they was acquiring Taiwanese technology through overseas acquisitions."
“大陆人追赶的速度很快，不仅仅在技术领域，在人才方面日具竞争力。通过吸引海外的人才到大陆，同时引进台湾以及海外的科技，中国大陆已经获得一些优势。”
World Bank reports show that Chinese high-technology exports have risen from five percent to 26 percent of exports since the 1990s. In Taiwan, the number of people taking the civil service test for first-time government jobs nearly doubled between 2002 and 2012. About half a percent of those who took the first exam last year were offered employment.
世界银行报道称中国高科技的进口比例已经从20世纪90年代的26%上升了5个百分点。2002年到2012年间，在台湾参加政府部门的公务员考试的人数翻倍。其中有0.5%的人参加了去年我们的招聘工作考试。
Younger Taiwanese and their parents consider government jobs among the island's most secure.
台湾的年轻人和他们的父母认为政府工作是台湾最有保障的工作。
Fear of risk has also appeared in Taiwan's prized high-tech industry. Jay Yang is deputy director with the Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute in Taipei. He says younger people fear the costs of starting a business.
台湾的高科技领域也出现了害怕风险的担忧。杨杰伊是台北市场营销和咨询研究所的副所长。他说年轻人害怕开始创业的代价太高。
He says younger Taiwanese are not bad at inventing things. But he says there are fewer young people interested in launching businesses because of the risks they must take. He says most people work for large information technology companies.
他说台湾的年轻人不善于发明创造，但是有一些年轻人对创业很感兴趣，所以他们必须经历承担这些冒险。他说大多数人选择为大型的信息技术公司工作。
Jay Yang calls this a cultural problem and says people are conservative. He notes that starting a company could take years. He says one does not know in the beginning how long it will take to earn a profit.
杨杰伊称这一问题是文化问题，说他们保守。他指出开公司需要好些年，人们不知道开公司后，多长时间才会有回报。
His group found that Taiwanese high-tech inventors were more interested in starting businesses around 2000 -- when Internet use was growing. It says there was a pullback as industry competition intensified.
他的团队发现台湾高科技的创业人员大概在2000年的时候开始创业——当时因特网的使用正在发展。随着竞争的日益加剧，高科技领域创业出现回落。
I’m Marsha James.
我是玛莎·詹姆斯。
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Words in this Story:
being a sheep - n., a person who follows or copies others, without thought
surpass - v., to be better or greater than (someone or something)
preference - n. an advantage that is given to some people or things and not to others