Each morning, they march to work, in coffee shops, training centres, import/export companies, hairdressers, even art galleries, and then, plain old retail. Each night, they return to their tiny apartments, cramped on account that as many as six may share a bed. Together, they are a veritable army. They are the ant tribe.
每天早上，他们都会去咖啡店、培训中心、进出口公司、美发店，甚至艺术画廊，然后是普通的老零售。 每天晚上，他们都会回到他们的小公寓，因为拥挤得多达六个人可能共用一张床。 在一起，他們是一支真正的軍隊。 他们是安特部落。
On paper, these young Chinese soldiers are over qualified for such positions. All have a degree to their name and all believe they will one day become part of the country’s burgeoning middle class that buys homes and cars, then takes holidays abroad. The problem is, few are going to make it.
从纸面上说，这些年轻的中国士兵对这些职位的资格过高。 所有人都有学位，所有人都相信有一天他们会成为该国新兴的中产阶级的一部分，他们购买房屋和汽车，然后在国外度假。 问题是，很少有人能成功。
For, just as with their six-legged moniker, there are just two many members of the ant tribe. In order for China’s big development push in the 1990s and 2000s to succeed, the country was going to need a lot more educated talent. After all, much clever stuff needed to be done. As a result, the directive from on high was to build more universities and churn out more graduates.
因为，就像他们的六条腿的绰号一样，只有两个成员的ant部落。 為了讓中国在20世纪90年代和2000年代的大力发展取得成功，中国需要更多的受過教育的人才。 畢竟，需要做很多聰明的事情。 因此，来自高层的指令是建立更多的大学，培养更多的毕业生。
With its focus on the churning, rather than the educating, the program was a runaway success. According to the New York Times, “In 1998, when Jiang Zemin, then the president, announced plans to bolster higher education, Chinese universities and colleges produced 830,000 graduates a year”. By 2010, the number had risen to six million. Last year, over eight million students in China graduated.
由于专注于搅动，而不是教育，该计划取得了巨大的成功。 据《纽约时报》报道，“1998年，当时任总统江泽民宣布加强高等教育的计划时，中国大学和学院每年培养了83万名毕业生。” 到2010年，这个数字已经上升到600万。 去年，中国有800多万学生毕业。
Yet, graduates come in many different flavours; back when they entered university, they chose a variety of majors, and then passed their exams in a variety of colours, some of them flying, others more… trudging.
然而，毕业生有许多不同的口味；当他们进入大学时，他们选择了各种专业，然后以各种颜色通过了考试，其中一些是飞行，另一些则更……走着。
Those who chose engineering, economics, IT and science majors, who also graduated with honours are the ones who have landed the top jobs. They have the golf club memberships and drive their family for flashy holidays in their even more flashy cars. The reason they can afford all this is that their long term earning potential also far outstrips many who chose a different field of study. The annual report, China Occupational Skills, reveals that within 3 years of graduating, the top 15 percent of such graduates earn double the average salary of others. They are the poster child for the modern dream of China’s youth.
那些选择工程、经济学、信息技术和科学专业的人，也以优异的成绩毕业，是那些获得顶级工作的人。 他们拥有高尔夫俱乐部的会员资格，并开着更华丽的汽车开车送家人去华而不實的假期。 他们之所以能负担得起这一切，是因为他们的长期收入潜力也远远超过了许多选择不同学习领域的人。 年度报告《中国职业技能》显示，在毕业后3年内，前15%的毕业生的收入是其他人平均工资的两倍。 他们是中国青年现代梦的海报儿童。
They are also the antipathy of the ant tribe. Yet it is not a situation whereby there is widespread unemployment among Chinese youth. It is true that the graduate unemployment rate in China has remained relatively stable; only 8 percent of graduates are still unemployed 6 months after donning their mortar board. Nevertheless, 25 percent of graduates end up with a salary below that of a migrant worker, while many of the remainder work jobs that are low-skilled and do not require a degree. With a vast pool of graduates available to employers for filling such positions, there is no incentive to offer any more than the minimum wage.
他们也是对反对动物部落的反感。 然而，这并不是中国青年普遍失業的局面。 诚然，中国的毕业生失业率一直保持相对稳定；只有8%的毕业生在上砂浆板6个月后仍然失业。 尽管如此，25%的毕业生最终的工资低于移民工人，而其余许多人从事低技能且不需要学位的工作。 由于有大量的毕业生可供雇主填补此类职位，因此没有动力提供超过最低工资。
Our ants are now pretty much running in circles, with career progressions that call into question the very value of their degree.
我们的蚂蚁现在几乎都在绕圈子，职业发展质疑他们学位的价值。
The other realty to be faced is many ants lack necessary skills which are unrelated to their field of study anyway. Research by the American management consulting and analytical giant, McKinsey, has revealed that there is a short supply of graduates with “soft skills” assets that include communication, analytical and managerial skills. Chinese companies complain of not being able to find the high-skilled graduates that they need, and end up “making do” by perhaps employing two ants instead of one queen bee.
面临的另一个现实是，许多蚂蚁缺乏与研究领域无关的必要技能。 美國管理諮詢和分析巨頭麥肯錫的研究表明，缺乏包括溝通、分析和管理技能在內的「軟技能」資產的畢業生。 中国公司抱怨说，他们找不到他们需要的高技能毕业生，最后“做到”，也许雇佣两只蚂蚁而不是一只蜂王。
It is this that lies at the crux of the ant conundrum. It is also this that has given rise to the ant tribe’s status within China’s social paradigm; a disadvantaged class that holds hands with peasants, migrant workers and the unemployed left behind by economic reform.
正是这个难题的关键所在。 也正是这一点导致了非洲部落在中国社会范式中的地位；一个弱势阶级，与农民、农民工和因经济改革而留下的失业者手拉手。
For the powers that be, the biggest worry is the ant tribe also possesses the most potential for creating social unrest, unhappy at their state of affairs, and seemingly impossible future. With six to a bed, they have plenty of time together to hatch cunning plots to bring about an undoing of the harmonious society that China works so hard to protect.
对于当权者来说，最大的担忧是，安特部落也拥有制造社会动荡的最大潜力，对他们的状况感到不高兴，未来似乎是不可能的。 六人同床共枕，他们有充足的时间一起策划狡猾的阴谋，以毁灭中国努力保护的和谐社会。