What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up? 當你長大後想成為什麼呢？
我們常問小孩子的一個普遍問題是，“當你長大後想成為什麼呢？”意思是，“當你成為成年人時，你想要什麼工作或職業？”有時候，我們作為成年人在彼此間交談時會用這個詞語開玩笑，暗示我們還沒有成熟或者已經很老了。
The most common responses from young boys are often things like “fireman” or “policeman” or perhaps “baseball player.” (We usually say firefighter and police officer nowadays, since it could be a man or a woman.)
年輕男孩最常見的回答通常是像“消防員”、“警察”或者也許是“棒球選手”。（現在我們通常說消防員和警察，因為可能是男性或女性。）
A 2008 national survey of American adults asked which professions they thought had “very great prestige.” “Prestige” means that you have a good opinion of it, that it is very desirable. Here were the top answers, with the percentage of people indicating that profession in parentheses:
2008年一項針對美國成年人的全國性調查問及了他們認為哪些職業具有“非常高的聲望”。“聲望”意味著你對它有很好的評價，它非常值得擁有。以下是最受歡迎的答案，括號內是表示該職業的人數百分比：
- Firefighter (57%) 消防員
- Scientist (56%) 科學家
- Doctor (53%) 醫生
- Nurse (52%) 護士
- Teacher (52%) 老師
- Military officer (46%) 軍官
- Police officer (43%) 警察
- Clergy (leader of a church, such as a priest, minister) (40%) 牧師（教堂的領袖，例如牧師，牧師
- Congressman (a U.S. government representative) (28%) 國會議員（美國政府代表）
- Lawyer (24%) 律師-
- Athlete (such as a football, soccer, or baseball player) (20%) 運動員（如足球、足球或棒球選手）
- Journalist (18%) 記者
- Actor (16%) 演員
- Business executives (11%) 商業高管
- Real estate brokers (people who sell houses and buildings) (6%) 房地產經紀人（賣房子和建築物的人
As you can see, firefighter and police officer are still “held in high esteem” (people have a good opinion of them), but athletes are not considered so prestigious. It is also interesting to “note” (notice; see) that “business executive” (bosses in a company or business) is among the lowest ranked professions, almost as low as real estate brokers, although there are certainly a lot more businesspeople than there are doctors or firefighters.
正如你所見，消防員和警察仍然被“非常尊敬”（人們對他們有好評），但運動員並不被認為是如此具有聲望。另外，值得“注意”的是，“商業高管”（公司或企業的老闆）位列最低的職業之一，幾乎與房地產經紀人一樣低，盡管商人的數量肯定比醫生或消防員要多得多。
重要單字
- prestige 聲望 /prɛsˈtiːʒ/
- firefighter 消防員 /ˈfaɪərˌfaɪtər/
- police officer 警察 /pəˈlis ˈɔfɪsər/
- scientist 科學家 /ˈsaɪəntɪst/
- nurse 護士 /nɜːrs/
- military officer 軍官 /ˈmɪlɪˌtɛri ˈɔfɪsər/
- clergy 牧師 /ˈklɜːrd
- congressman 國會議員 /ˈkɑŋɡrɛsmən/
- lawyer 律師 /ˈlɔɪər/
- athlete 運動員 /ˈæθliːt/
- journalist 記者 /ˈdʒɜːrnəlɪst/
- actor 演員 /ˈæktər/
- business executives 商業高管 /ˈbɪznɪs ɪɡˈzɛkjətɪvz/
- real estate brokers 房地產經紀人 /rɪəl ɪˈsteɪt ˈbrəʊkərz/
