多数美国人的新年决心与工作有关

Most Americans made work-related New Year's resolutions this year, be they to try to change jobs or get a raise or promotion at their current workplace, according to a survey released Friday.

The survey, conducted by jobs websites Monster.com and HotJobs.com, found 98 percent of Americans polled were looking to make a change in their work situation in 2011.

"Employers have been doing more with a lot less and people are getting fed up," said Charles Purdy, senior editor of the websites.

"Last year people were buckling down, and hoping the worst wouldn't happen, but now people are more optimistic about their job prospects," he said.

Sixty-six percent of those polled said they were looking for a new job with a new employer, 15 percent were hoping for a raise or promotion at their current employer and 17 percent were hoping to start their own business. Two percent said they were happy with the status quo.

A government report on Friday showed US employers hired fewer workers than expected in December and a surprisingly large number of people gave up searching for work, tempering the positive news of a big drop in the unemployment rate.

Forty-two percent of respondents to the Monster survey said they expected employment conditions to improve in 2011, compared to 33 percent who expected the jobs situation to worsen and 25 percent who don't think it will change much.

Seventy-eight percent of respondents had a New Year's resolution related to their work, compared to 68 percent last year.

The survey comprises an ongoing series of online polls and 3737 people responded to the question about New Year's resolutions, Purdy said.

He added that the polls reflect only the opinions of people who choose to take part.

周五发布的一项调查显示，今年大部分美国人的新年决心与工作有关，比如说决定跳槽，或者是决心在现有公司获得升职或加薪。

招聘网站巨兽网和热门职业网联合进行的这项调查发现，98%的受访美国人期待着2011年改变一下他们的工作现状。

网站资深编辑查尔斯．珀迪说：“雇主们近来一直是少雇人，多做事。员工们现在也忍无可忍了。”

他接着说：“去年人们都拼命工作，希望自己不会被炒鱿鱼。但是现在人们对他们的工作前景更有信心了。”

66%的被调查者说他们在找新工作，15%的人希望在现有的工作岗位上获得加薪或者升职，17%的人希望能开始创业，只有2%的人称他们对现状很满意。

周五发布的一份政府报告显示，美国公司在12月份新雇佣的员工数比预期的少，而且让人意外的是很多人都放弃了找工作。这份报告使得“失业率大幅下降”的好消息打了折扣。

在巨兽网的调查中，42%的受访者说他们预期2011年的就业形势会好转，33%的人持相反意见，还有25%的人认为形势不会有太大的变化。

78%的受访者的新年决心跟工作有关，而去年的这一比例是68%。

珀迪说该调查是正在进行的一系列关于新年决心的在线调查中的一项，共有3737个人参与了该系列在线调查。

他补充说调查结果只能反映那些选择参与调查的人的意见。

Vocabulary:

buckle down: 倾全力，开始认真从事

status quo: the situation as it is now, or as it was before a recent change（现状；原来的状况）

temper: to make something less severe by adding something that has the opposite effect（使缓和；使温和）