公务员职业:看上去很美

Judging from his pile of train tickets, Xie Cheng must travel a lot. So it’s odd that the 24-year-old history major knows nothing about the local attractions or food in the cities he’s visited – Qingdao, Lanzhou, Changchun, Yichang, Changzhou, Shijiazhuang, to name a few.
从谢成（音译）手中厚厚的火车票票根来看，他一定去过好多地方。但奇怪的是，这名24岁的历史专业毕业生竟对自己所到城市的风光及美食一无所知，这些城市包括青岛、兰州、长春、宜昌、常州、石家庄等等，不一而足。

Xie is one of many young Chinese graduates who have been caught in the civil service mania of recent years, hoping that their toil in taking the exams will land them a stable career with a decent income and a respectful social status.
近年来，中国许多年轻的大学毕业生都投身“公务员热潮”之中，希望自己不辞辛苦地一次次参加国考，最终能换来一个收入可观、受人尊敬的“铁饭碗”。谢成就是其中的一员。

“I have taken the national entrance exam for the central government’s civil service three times, and about a dozen times for civil service jobs in other provinces and cities,” said Xie.
“我先后参加了三次国家公务员考试以及十几次各省市的地方公务员考试。” 谢成说。

For Xie, the civil service paints a promising future. “It would mean a change of fate,” said Xie. “By becoming a civil servant, an apartment, cars and a happy family would be within my reach.”
对于谢成来说，公务员描绘了大好的前途。他表示：“这可能意味着一次命运的转折。如果成为一名公务员，房子、车子及美满家庭将指日可待。”