Japan’s army of dark-suited salarymen are scraping by on a monthly allowance from their wives that is less than half what they got in the 1980s bubble years, a survey has shown.
日本大批穿著深色西裝的上班族，通常只靠妻子每月給的零用錢勉強度日。一項調查顯示，現在上班族每月的零用錢，比起1980年代泡沫經濟時期少了一半以上。
Despite frequently being the sole breadwinner at home, many Japanese husbands hand over their entire pay packet to the woman of the house, who manages the family’s bills and balances the books.
儘管日本丈夫常是家庭收入的唯一來源，他們仍會將薪水全數交給掌握家計收支的妻子。
During the heady days of the late 1980s when the country was awash with cash, husbands enjoyed the high life with 80,000 yen a month.
日本在1980年代後期現金充斥，日子令人陶然，先生每月可從太太手中領到8萬日圓，過著手頭寬裕的生活。
But the average salaryman in today’s more frugally-minded Japan has just 38,457 yen to play with, Shinsei Bank said in a recent study. The bank, which has surveyed men’s allowances since 1979, said the reading this year was the lowest since 1982.
日本新生銀行在最近一份研究中指出，當前節儉成風，男性上班族平均零用錢只有3萬8457日圓。新生銀行自1979年起調查男性零用錢，該行表示，今年的數據是1982年以來最低紀錄。
To keep a lid on expenses, the average man budgets 518 yen for lunch every day, data from 1,000 men aged between their 20s and their 50s showed.
根據1000名20幾歲至50幾歲的男性受訪者，為節省開支，每天午餐的平均花費是518日圓。
"Despite the Abenomics effect, which has seen corporate performance improve and stock prices go up, salaried men have not yet felt it in their pocket," the bank said.（AFP）
新生銀行表示：「雖然有了安倍經濟學效應，企業績效改善，股市上漲，但上班族的荷包還是無感。」（法新社）
新聞辭典：
pinch：名詞，緊缺，匱乏。例句：James felt the pinch after he lost his job. （詹姆士失業後開始覺得手頭緊了。）
breadwinner：名詞，負擔生計的人。例句：She’s not the breadwinner, no wonder she can afford so many name brand bags. （她不用負擔家計，難怪買得起那麼多名牌包。）
keep a lid on：片語，控制。例句：She couldn’t keep the lid on her simmering anger. （她控制不了沸騰的怒火。）
資料來源 http://iservice.libertytimes.com.tw/Service/english/english.php?engno=695030&day=2013-07-09
留言列表
