In 2015, the boss of a card payments company in Seattle introduced a $70,000 minimum salary for all of his 120 staff – and personally took a pay cut of $1m. Five years later he’s still on the minimum salary, and says the gamble has paid off.
2015年，西雅图一家信用卡支付公司的老板对其120名员工实施了最低工资7万美元的规定，而他本人也因此减薪100万美元。五年后，他仍然拿着最低工资，他说这次赌博是有回报的。
Dan Price was hiking with his friend Valerie in the Cascade mountains that loom （耸立）majestically over Seattle, when he had an uncomfortable revelation（启示）.
丹·普莱斯(Dan Price)和他的朋友瓦莱丽(Valerie)在卡斯克特山徒步旅行，这座山巍然耸立在西雅图上空。
As they walked, she told him that her life was in chaos, that her landlord had put her monthly rent up by $200 and she was struggling to pay her bills.
他们走着，她告诉他，她的生活一团糟，她的房东把她每月的房租提高了200美元，她正在努力支付账单。
It made Price angry. Valerie, who he had once dated, had served for 11 years in the military, doing two tours in Iraq, and was now working 50 hours a week in two jobs to make ends meet.
这让普莱斯很生气。他曾经和瓦莱丽约会过，她在军队服役了11年，在伊拉克服役了两次，现在每周做两份工作，工作50个小时，以维持生计。
“She is somebody for whom service, honour and hard work just defines who she is as a person,” he says.
他说:“对她来说，服务、荣誉和辛勤工作就定义了她是什么样的人。”
Even though she was earning around $40,000 a year, in Seattle that wasn’t enough to afford a decent （像样的）home. He was angry that the world had become such an unequal place. And suddenly it struck him that he was part of the problem.
尽管她的年收入在4万美元左右，但在西雅图，这些钱还是不够买一套像样的房子。他对世界变得如此不平等感到愤怒。他突然意识到，自己也是问题的一部分。
At 31, Price was a millionaire. His company, Gravity Payments, which he set up in his teens, had about 2,000 customers and an estimated worth of millions of dollars. Though he was earning $1.1m a year, Valerie brought home to him（让他明白） that a lot of his staff must be struggling – and he decided to change that.
普莱斯在31岁时是百万富翁。他十几岁时成立的他的公司Gravity Payments大约有2000个客户，估计价值数百万美元。尽管他的年薪为110万美元，但瓦莱丽（Valerie）让他明白，他的许多员工肯定在苦苦挣扎，于是他决定改变这一状况。
“We’re glorifying（颂扬） greed all the time as a society, in our culture. And, you know, the Forbes list is the worst example – ‘Bill Gates has passed Jeff Bezos as the richest man.’ Who cares!?”
“在我们的文化中，我们一直在颂扬贪婪的社会。而且，你知道，福布斯榜单就是最糟糕的例子——“比尔·盖茨已经超过杰夫·贝佐斯成为最富有的人”。“谁在乎! ?”
Before 1995 the poorest half of the population of the United States earned a greater share of national wealth than the richest 1%, he points out. But that year the tables turned – the top 1% earned more than the bottom 50%. And the gap is continuing to widen.
他指出，在1995年之前，美国最贫穷的一半人口所获得的国民财富所占比例超过了最富有的1％。但是那一年，收入排在第一位的收入者比收入最低的50％者多。差距正在继续扩大。
Breathing in the crisp mountain air as he hiked with Valerie, Price had an idea. He immediately promised Valerie he would significantly raise the minimum salary at Gravity.
普赖斯和瓦莱丽徒步旅行，呼吸着山间清新的空气，他有了一个主意。他立即向瓦莱丽承诺，他将大幅提高Gravity的最低工资。
After crunching（大量处理数字） the numbers, he arrived at the figure of $70,000. He realised that he would not only have to slash his salary, but also mortgage （抵押）his two houses and give up his stocks and savings. He gathered his staff together and gave them the news.
在计算完数字之后，他得出了70,000美元的数字。他意识到，他不仅必须大幅削减薪水，而且还必须抵押他的两所房屋并放弃其库存和储蓄。他聚集了他的员工，并给了他们消息。
Since then, Gravity has transformed.
从那时起，他的公司发生了变化。
The headcount （点头人数）has doubled and the value of payments that the company processes has gone from $3.8bn a year to $10.2bn.
员工人数翻了一番，公司处理的付款价值从每年38亿美元增加到102亿美元。
But there are other metrics（衡量指标） that Price is more proud of.
但Price还有其他一些指标值得骄傲。
“Before the $70,000 minimum wage, we were having between zero and two babies born per year amongst the team,” he says.
他说:“在70,000美元的最低工资之前，我们团队每年会有0到2个孩子出生。”
“And since the announcement – and it’s been only about four-and-a-half years – we’ve had more than 40 babies.”
“自从宣布这个消息以来，仅仅四年半的时间，我们已经有了40多个孩子。”
More than 10% of the company have been able to buy their own home, in one of the US’s most expensive cities for renters. Before the figure was less than 1%.
该公司超过10%的人已经能够在美国房租最高的城市之一购买自己的房子。在此之前，这个数字还不到1%。
“There was a little bit of concern amongst some people out there that people would squander （挥霍）any gains that they would have. And we’ve really seen the opposite,” Price says.
他说:“有些人有点担心，人们会浪费掉他们本可以获得的任何收益。而我们看到的却是相反的情况。”
Two senior Gravity employees resigned in protest. They weren’t happy that the salaries of junior staff had jumped overnight, and argued that it would make them lazy, and the company uncompetitive.
两名Gravity高级雇员辞职以示抗议。他们不满意初级员工的薪水一夜之间跳了起来，并认为这会使他们变得懒惰，从而使公司失去竞争力。
This hasn’t happened.
这还没有发生。
Rosita Barlow, director of sales at Gravity, says that since salaries were raised junior colleagues have been pulling more weight.
Gravity销售总监Rosita Barlow说，自从薪水提高以来，初级同事的负担越来越重。
Senior staff have found their workload reduced. They’re under less pressure and can do things like take all of the holiday leave to which they are entitled.
高级工作人员发现他们的工作量减少了。他们承受的压力较小，可以做一些事情，例如休所有应有的假期。
“You’re not thinking I have to go to work because I have to make money,” Rosita Barlow agrees. “Now it’s become focused on ‘How do I do good work?'”
罗西塔·巴洛（Rosita Barlow）同意：“你不认为我必须去上班，因为我必须赚钱。” “现在，它的重点是’我如何做好工作？’”
Before 2015, he had already begun giving employees 20% annual pay rises. But it was his conversation with Valerie that convinced him to go further.
在2015年之前，他已经开始为员工提供20％的年薪涨幅。但是正是他与瓦莱丽（Valerie）的对话才说服他走得更远。
Price had hoped that Gravity’s example would lead to far-reaching （深远的）changes in US business. He’s deeply disappointed and sad that this hasn’t happened.
普赖斯曾希望Gravity的榜样会导致美国业务发生深远的变化。对于这件事没有发生，他深感失望和难过。
“Boy, was I wrong,” he says. “I’ve really failed in that regard. And it’s changed my perspective on things because I really believed that through the actions that I did and that other people could do, that we could turn the tide on runaway（恶性的） income inequality.”
“哎，我错了，”他说。 “我确实在这方面失败了。这改变了我对事情的看法，因为我真的相信，通过我所做的以及其他人可以做的事情，我们可以扭转收入失衡的局面。”
Five years later, Price is still on Gravity’s minimum salary. He says he’s more fulfilled than he ever was when he was earning millions though it’s not all easy.
五年后，普莱斯仍然是Gravity的最低工资。他说，尽管并非一帆风顺，但他比赚几百万时的成就更加满足。
“I’m the same age as Mark Zuckerberg and I have dark moments where I think, ‘I want to be just as rich as Mark Zuckerberg and I want to compete with him to be on the Forbes list. And I want to be on the cover of Time magazine, making lots of money.’ All these greedy things are tempting.”
“我和马克·扎克伯格同龄，我也有过黑暗的时候，我会想，‘我想和马克·扎克伯格一样富有，我想和他竞争福布斯富豪榜。我想上《时代》杂志的封面，赚大钱。所有这些贪婪的东西都很诱人。”
“It’s not like it’s easy to just turn down. But my life is so much better.”
“拒绝并不是件容易的事。但我的生活好多了。”
那我们接下来, 将找出这篇文章有趣又有用的短语和句子！
Analysis – Page 1
1. To make ends meet = 维持生计
例句(illustrative sentences):
a) I can’t make ends meets on my small salary.
我靠微薄的薪水无法维持生计。
b) Many families struggle to make ends meet in a financial crash.
许多家庭在经济崩溃中挣扎求生。
2. It struck him = 感到
例句(illustrative sentences):
a) It struck him as odd that she didn’t turn up for work.
她没有来工作使他感到奇怪。
b) It struck him as absurd that the shop wouldn’t sell him the item.
商店不向他出售该物品，这使他感到荒唐可笑。
3. Brought home = 使我意识到
例句(illustrative sentences):
a) Her words brought home the severity of what was happening.
她的话使我意识到发生了多严重的事情。
b) Seeing her face brought home to me how ill she was.
看到她的脸使我意识到她病得很重。
4. The tables turned = 翻盘
例句(illustrative sentences):
a) The tables have turned this game and we’re winning.
这场比赛翻盘了，我们赢了。
b) The tables turned for him and he ended up losing everything, including his friends.
情况反转了，他最终失去了一切，包括他的朋友。
5. Crunching the numbers = 仍在计算数字
例句(illustrative sentences):
a) I was so excited by the business deal that I stayed up till 6am crunching the numbers.
我对这项商业交易感到非常兴奋，以至于我一直待到凌晨6点来处理这些数字。
b) The winner will be announced later, the officials are still crunching the numbers.
获胜者将在以后宣布，官员们仍在计算数字。
6. Headcount = 人数
例句(illustrative sentences):
a) After the merger, the business will need to cut its headcount.
合并后，该业务将需要裁员。
b) The firm’s headcount has double this year.
今年该公司的员工人数增加了一倍。
c) The teacher did a headcount to make sure everyone was there.
老师进行了人数统计，以确保每个人都在那里。
7. Metrics = 指标
例句(illustrative sentences):
a) The UK and US use different metrics to measure temperature.
英国和美国使用不同的度量标准来测量温度。
b) Profits and debts are some of the most important metrics in a company.
利润和债务是公司中最重要的指标。
8. Resigned in protest = 辞职来抗议
例句(illustrative sentences):
a) The director resigned in protest at the decision.
董事辞职以抗议该决定。
b) He resigned in protest of the privatization.
他辞职以抗议私有化。
9. Pulling more weight = 更努力
例句(illustrative sentences):
a) If you don’t start pulling more weight you’re going to get fired.
如果你没有开始努力工作，你将被解雇。
b) She was dropped from the committee because she wasn’t pulling more weight.
她因工作不够努力而被辞职。
10. Far-reaching changes = 深远的变革/变更
例句(illustrative sentences):
a) The bosses were unwilling to push for far-reaching changes.
老板们不愿意推动意义深远的变革。
b) Technology has brought far-reaching changes to the structure of society.
技术给社会结构带来了深远的变化。
11. Turn the tide = 扭转
例句(illustrative sentences):
a) The company is struggling to turn the tide on its failing business.
公司正在努力扭转失败的业务。
b) Their intervention turned the tide on the war.
他们的介入扭转了战争的进展。
12. More fulfilled = 更加满意
例句(illustrative sentences):
a) He was more fulfilled in his new job where he was working with the elderly.
他在与老人一起工作的新工作中更加满意。
b) Adult education helps people feel more fulfilled in their lives.
成人教育可以使人们的生活更加满意。