new concept 3=04 The double life of Alfred Bloggs

The double life of Alfred Bloggs

These days， people who do manual work often receive far more money than clerks who work in offices. People who work in offices are frequently referred to as 'white collar workers‘ for the simple reason that they usually wear a collar and tie to go to work.Such is human nature, that a great many people are often willing to sacrifice high pay for the privilege of becoming white collar wokers.This can give rise to curious situations, as it did in the case of Alfred Bloggs who worked as a dustman for the Ellesmere Corporation.

When he got married, Alf was too embarrassed to say anything to his wife about his job. He simply told her that he worked for Corporation.Every morning he left home dresed in a fine black suit. He then changed into overalls and spent the next eight hours as a dustman.Before returning home at night, he took a shower and changed back into his suit. Alf did this for over two years and his fellow dustmen kept his secret.Alf's wife has never discovered that she married a dustman and she nerver will, for ALF has just found another job. He will soon be working in an office as a junior clerk.He will be earning only half as much as he used to, but he feels that his rise in status is well worth the loss of money. From now on, he will wear a suit all day and others will call him 'Mr Bloggs', not 'Alf'.

New words and expressions 生词和短语

manual adj. 体力的

clerk n. 职员，办事员；店员；书记；记账员；vi. 当销售员，当店员；当职员

refer to as 把…称作…

collar n. 衣领

tie /tai/vt. 系；约束；打结；与…成平局 vi. 打结；不分胜负；被用带（或绳子等）系住

n. 领带；平局；鞋带；领结；不分胜负

Such is human nature 这是人之常情/人性

sacrifice v. 牺牲，献出

high pay 高额薪水

privilege n. 好处

give rise to 使--引起；发生

dustman n. 清洁工

corporation n. 公司

get marry 结婚

too embarrassed to 羞于

leave home 离家

dresed in 穿着

dress in （使）穿…的服装；乔装打扮

suit vt. 适合；使适应 n. 诉讼；恳求；套装，西装；一套外衣

chang into 变成；把…变成；兑换

changed back into 改变回了

overalls n. 工作服

return home/ go home 回家 归乡

shower n. 淋浴

took a shower

fellow

n. 家伙；朋友；同事；会员

adj. 同伴的，同事的；同道的

vt. 使…与另一个对等；使…与另一个匹敌

secret n. 秘密

junior adj. 年少的；后进的；下级的 n. 年少者，晚辈；地位较低者；大学三年级学生

earn 英 /ɜːn/ vt. 赚，赚得；获得，挣得；使得到；博得

From now on 从现在开始

status n. 地位

参考译文

如今，从事体力劳动的人的收入一般要比坐办公室的人高出许多。坐办公室的之所以常常被称作“白领工人”，就是因为他们通常是穿着硬领白衬衫，系着领带去上班。许多人常常情愿放弃较高的薪水以换取做白领工人的殊荣，此乃人之常情。而这常常会引起种种奇怪的现象，在埃尔斯米尔公司当清洁工的艾尔弗雷德.布洛斯就是一个例子。

艾尔弗结婚时，感到非常难为情，而没有将自己的职业告诉妻子。他只说在埃尔斯米尔公司上班。每天早晨，他穿上一身漂亮的黑色西装离家上班，然后换上工作服，当8个小时清洁工。晚上回家前，他洗个淋浴，重新换上那身黑色西服。两年多以来，艾尔弗一直这样，他的同事也为他保守秘密。艾尔弗的妻子一直不知道她嫁给了一个清洁工，而且她永远也不会知道了，因为艾尔弗已找到新职，不久就要坐办公室里工作了。他将来挣的钱只有他现在的一半。不过他觉得，地位升高了，损失点儿钱也值得。从此，艾尔弗可以一天到晚穿西服了。别人将称呼他为“布洛格斯先生”，而不再叫他“艾尔弗”了。