最近在看 Philippa Perry 的《The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read (and Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did)》(中文译为《真希望我父母读过这本书(你的孩子也会庆幸你读过)》。书中发现了这样一句话:
It is so much harder to finance a family now than it was for the generation before us because buying or renting a home costs many times as much as it did.
试译:现在养活一家人比我们上一代人要难得多,因为买房或租房的成本是以前的好几倍。
如此老生常谈的一句话,原本并不应该引起我的注意,三句话不离房价甚至是我认为所谓「油腻」的重要特征。但或许是因为外语带来的陌生感,阅读时不免看得仔细。
作者是英国人,这里说的上一代人的状况应该也不是我们上一代那种基本吃饱的状态。在这种情况下,依然有这一代人供养家庭比上一代人难的感慨或结论,让我不禁想问,社会真的在进步吗?或问,对大多数有这种体验的人来说,社会真的在进步吗?