背诵为王第四册第33课 On Social Equality

Lesson33 On Social Equality
There have been few examples in history of a truly classless society where, to any significant degree, equality of pay and conditions prevailed. Two short-lived examples are the Paris Commune of 1871 which was ruthlessly destroyed by the forces of the French government and the anarchist regime that controlled Barcelona in the early days of the Spanish Civil War which was ironically brought to violent end.
Today in Europe there is a new class which is growing apace that has come to be known as the underclass or sub-class. This class consists of groups of individuals who do not have access to the rights enjoyed by members of other social strata. Indeed, in order to secure very basic living conditions taken for granted by others, they are often forced to suffer the indignity of a means test, be at the receiving end of charity and have to rely on run-down public services. The worlds of private transport, private health care, private education and private housing are remote and inaccessible.
The underclass consists of the poor, the homeless, many of the unemployed, the emotionally disturbed, and the disabled. A high proportion will be from ethnic minorities, many being employed illegally at low wage levels and under sweatshop conditions. Some will be employed completely illegally; their very existence unrecognized and unrecorded by the authorities.
This class also includes drug addicts, prostitutes and alcoholics. The underclass is the unspoken but ever-present shadow of our modern lifestyle.
Whereas the poor of the last century were employed and formed the working class, the poor of today are now largely unemployed and form part of the underclass.

anarchist 无政府主义者
means 财力；收入

论社会公平
历史上鲜有真正的无阶级差别的社会，那种在较大程度上盛行薪酬和社会地位平等的社会。有两个短暂存在的社会是其适例，一个是1871年的巴黎公社，被法国政府的军队无情摧毁，另一个是在西班牙内战早期控制巴塞罗纳的无政府主义政权，具有讽刺意义的是，它以暴力手段收场。
如今在欧洲一个新阶级正在快速成长，它被称为下层阶级或亚阶级。该阶级由那些无法享有其他社会阶层的成员所享有的权利的群体组成。事实上，为了确保在其他人看来是理所当然拥有的最基本的生存条件，他们经常被迫遭受有辱尊严的收入调查，接受施舍，以及不得不依靠每况愈下的公共服务。拥有私人交通、私人医疗保健、私人教育和私人住宅的世界对他们来说遥不可及。
该下层阶级包括穷人、无家可归者、众多失业者、情感受挫者和残疾人。少数民族占很大比例，很多人非法受雇，工资很低，且工作条件极差。有些人完全是非法打工，他们的存在没有得到政府当局的认可和记录。这一阶级也包括吸毒者、妓女和酗酒的人。该下层阶级是我们现代生活方式中不可言及却又永远存在的阴影。
上个世纪的穷人拥有工作并形成了工人阶级，而如今的穷人大多都是失业者并形成了下层阶级的一部分。