英语文摘[宝典]

英语文摘[宝典] 昔日华尔街白领 今朝餐厅服务员 Carlos Araya used to order lobster, filet mignon and $200 bottles of red wine at the Palm Restaurant in midtown Manhattan. Now, he seats customers at its Tribeca branch. Mr. Araya, 38 years old, lost his job in 2007 as a crude oil trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange. After visiting dozens of headhunters with no luck, he applied in August 2008 to be a host at the Palm to support his wife, two young daughters and mortgage payments. His salary has plunged from $200,000 to $25,000. If the financial crisis was the flood, then the Arayas are one of the families standing in the stagnant waters left behind. Some former Wall Street employees, highly trained and accustomed to comfortable salaries, are having trouble translating their specialized skills to other fields that pay well, and instead find themselves forced to accept low-wage work. Now, Mr. Araya is on the brink of losing it all and is doubtful that he will ever return to Wall Street. And he isn't alone. Nearly 25,000 jobs have been lost in New York City's financial sector since August 2007, according to the New York State Department of Labor. The finance industry in New York is expected to lose 56,800 jobs from the end of 2007 to the beginning of 2012, according to projections from the Independent Budget Office, a publicly funded information agency. John Carbonaro was let go as a floor clerk by Bank of America in January 2009, and despite his job-hunting efforts, remains a "Mr. Mom." Joe Morrone, a laid-off trading clerk from Prudential, has been unemployed for two years and struggles to support his daughters and grandson. He has had stints as a deli worker, a doorman and a bouncer. "I used to have three cars," Mr. Morrone says. "Now I share one." The result is an unlikely stream of erstwhile Wall Street pros need help. "I've got 'em all -- Lehman, AIG, Citi," says Bob Townley, head of Manhattan Youth in Tribeca, an organization that gave the Arayas financial assistance to pay for childcare while they are working. "I can hear it in a parent's voice when there's trouble. Others are too proud to ask for help." Many of these parents once made donations to Mr. Townley's program. Now they are asking for aid to pay for their kids. Mr. Araya's daughters, ages 6 and 7, are in an after-school program at Mr. Townley's center. Nowadays, during Mr. Araya's late nights at the Palm, reminders of his old life crop up when former colleagues come in. Some are encouraging and offer hugs. Others sneer, he says. "The way they look at you, you know they're thinking negatively," he says. Some are laid-off like him, and ask if the restaurant is hiring. As a host, Mr. Araya wears a suit and tie. He's on his feet most of the day, either escorting guests to tables or manning the podium at the front, answering phone calls, managing reservations on the computer and fielding orders from wait staff and managers. Although he's thankful for the work at the Palm, paydays can be bittersweet. "At the end of the week, I get my paycheck," he says, "and I think, 'I used to make this much in a day.' " Mr. Araya's wife, Dennise, has gone back to work as an administrative assistant for a construction company and leaves home at 6 a.m. Mr. Araya often works until one or two in the morning and on weekends, leaving little time for the family to be together. He calls his daughters every night during his break at the restaurant on his cellphone to say good night. Mr. Araya now is the one who gets his children ready for school. He's learned to tie pony tails, inadvertently shrunk sweaters in the wash and knows which grocery store has the best price on milk. The Arayas stopped dining out, pulled their daughters out of ballet and tumbling classes, and dropped cable television -- even though the flat screen he bought when they first moved in still sits in the living room. Last month, for the first time, the Arayas didn't make a mortgage payment. Their savings are almost depleted. The mortgage, taxes and fees for the family's condo cost $6,200. Combined, he and Denise bring in $4,000 a month. Three months ago, he and his wife applied to restructure their mortgage. The bank told them it is still processing the request. They fear foreclosure and bankruptcy. Recently, their oldest daughter asked Mr. Araya if the family would have to move. He told her he didn't know. She countered: "How much money do we need?" "The way she looked at me," Mr. Araya says, "I could tell she was counting the money in her piggy bank." He went into the bathroom and cried. After a few minutes, he dried his eyes and walked back into the living room. Mr. Araya, the son of a cab driver, grew up in a working-class neighborhood in nearby Queens. Like thousands of New Yorkers, he used a Wall Street job to vault into a comfortable lifestyle that included his apartment -- bought for $960,000 four years ago -- in Manhattan's Battery Park City neighborhood and family vacations to Cabo San Lucas, Disneyland and Las Vegas. The Arayas purchased the condo in 2005 with a 20% down payment and a pre-construction price. The proximity of the two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment to the trading pit allowed Mr. Araya to spend more time with his family and less time commuting. Ms. Araya diligently managed the family budget with Excel charts to ensure that they had no credit card debt, good credit histories even an emergency fund saved over five years that is now depleted. Mr. Araya says he would be lucky to find a buyer and break even on the apartment now. Mr. Araya dropped out of college in 1992 to work in the pits, where he quickly advanced from runner to trader. He shifted between large firms like J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and smaller shops like Aren Brokerage Service, the firm that eventually laid him off. A wrestler in high school, Mr. Araya was known for elbowing his way through the loud commodities pits. Nights were late; mornings began at 4:30 am, fueled by coffee. "You'd clock in and just try to kill each other till the bell rang," Mr. Araya says. He had a knack for the Merc job. He could gauge from the roar of traders' voices how the market was faring. He gained loyal clients, and was confident enough to engage in profane shouting matches with them on the phone. Mr. Araya still has dreams about the hand signals traders use to indicate orders. His trading jacket hangs in his closet. Every day lately, he spends two hours online, trolling job Web sites like Monster.com and e-mailing former colleagues. The leads have dried up, since some of them are laid off themselves. He's contacted headhunters, been on a dozen interviews in the last year and a half, but nothing has come of them. "It was a hard reality at first," he says. "I used to see unemployed people and think they were lazy, that it was all on them. Now it's happened to me." 以前的卡洛斯?阿瑞亚，经常在位于曼哈顿中心地带的棕榈饭店吃饭，他点的菜不是龙 虾就是菲利牛排，外加200美元一瓶的红酒。 如今，他是棕榈饭店特丽贝卡分店的楼面服务生。 阿瑞亚先生今年38岁，原先在纽约期货交易所从事原油贸易工作，但2007年这份 工作就丢了。他先后去过不少猎头公司碰运气，可是运气实在不好。 2008年，他不得不 在棕榈酒店当一名服务生，否则很难养活老婆和两个幼小的女儿，更供不起房贷。当然， 他的年薪也从原来的20万美元缩为2.5万美元。 如果把这次金融危机比作一场洪水，那么阿瑞亚一家就和其他很多家庭一样，属于葬 身于洪水过后留下的大水窟里的人。以前华尔街的一些高级雇员，都受过高级培训，且早 就习惯了令人羡慕的高收入，可如今他们的特殊专业却难以转变成其他高薪职位所需要的 技能，面对现实，他们不得不接受低收入的工作。现在，阿瑞亚先生甚至有可能连这样的 工作都保不住。至于有没有重归华尔街的希望，那就遥遥无期了。 别以为他是绝无仅有的倒霉蛋。据纽约州劳工部门统计，从2007年8月至今，纽约 市金融系统已减少工作职位25000个。另据一家公共资金赞助的信息机构——“独预办” (IBO, Independent Budget Office)预计，从2007年底到2012年初，纽约金 融业工作职位将减少56800个。 约翰?卡尔博耐罗原先是美国银行营业大厅的职员，2009年1月也下岗了。尽管他费了不少力气四处奔波找工作，但现在还是个“住家先生”。乔?莫尔隆，美国保德信(Prodential)金融集团的业务员，从下岗到现在两年了，也找不到事做，还得供养几个女儿和外孙子。这期间，他先后干过几份临时工作:熟食店售货员、看门工、酒吧保安员。莫尔隆说:“以前我有三辆车，现在是一家几口合用一辆。” 结果是什么呢,那就是以前这些华尔街公关宠儿，反过来需要寻求别人的帮助，而且像他们这样的求助者还源源不断，实在让人难以相信昔日华尔街竟有今日。 鲍勃?唐利是曼哈顿青年俱乐部特丽贝卡办事处的负责人。这家机构曾经从经济上帮助过阿瑞亚一家，以便大人在外上班时，小孩有人照顾，费用就由这个机构帮助支付。唐利说:“什么大公司的员工我没帮过,——雷曼兄弟、美国国际集团、花旗银行……这些公司以前的员工都来找过我帮忙。我可以从他们作为家长的口吻中听出来他们的生活确实遇到麻烦了。其他人则太过于顾及面子，不好意思来找我们帮助。” 现在来寻求帮助的家长们，以前曾赞助过唐利先生的事业，可如今则反过来求唐利帮助他们支付孩子的托管费用。阿瑞亚先生有两个女儿，一个6岁，一个7岁，现在都在唐利先生的托管中心参加校外补习班。 这段日子里，每当阿瑞亚先生在棕榈饭店值夜班的时候，还时不时能碰到他以前的那些同事，令他不禁想起过去那风光的日子。有的老同事还能说几句鼓励他的话，和他拥抱一下。其他那些老同事，则多有蔑视之神情。他说:“从他们看我的样子，我知道他们在想什么，肯定不会往好处想的啦。”还有一些老同事，则都和他一样，同是天涯沦落人，问他这家饭店是否还要雇人。 做为一名服务生，阿瑞亚先生整天得穿西装打领带，一天的大多数时间都得站着干活，不是引领客人就座，就是在饭店前庭的台阶上恭候客人，或者接听订座电话，同时在电脑上登记和安排座席，或者跟一跟服务员及楼面经理递给他的菜单。 在棕榈饭店有份工作，已经得谢天谢地了。可是，到了发工资的那些日子，心里总是甜中带苦。阿瑞亚说:“到了周末，我终于可以拿到工资了。可是我会想，要是在以前，我一天就能赚这么多。” 阿瑞亚先生的太太丹奈丝，也得出去打工，她现在做的是一家建筑公司的行政助理，每天早上6点钟就得出门。而阿瑞亚先生本人常常得工作到深夜一两点才回家，到了周末，也没多少时间和家人在一起。每天晚上，他只是在上班中途休息的时候才能用手机打电话，向女儿们说声晚安。 阿瑞亚先生和别的家长一样，都到了准备送孩子入学的时候了。他已学会了如何给女儿扎辫子，学会随手把皱巴巴的汗衫放进洗衣机里，也知道哪家超市的牛奶最合算了。 阿瑞亚一家已不再在外面吃饭了，俩女儿也从芭蕾舞学习班退了学，家里也看不起有线电视了——虽然他们刚搬进新居时所买的平板电视机还静静地立在客厅里。 上个月，阿瑞亚一家已开始还不起房贷了，这是他们买房以来第一次出现断供的情形。他们的储蓄已几乎花光了。他们现在住的这套公寓套房，每月还贷、地税和各项杂费就要6200美元，而他们俩口子满打满算一个月的收入加在一起也就4000美元。三个月前，他和妻子就开始申请调整还贷 计划 项目进度计划表范例计划下载计划下载计划下载课程教学计划下载 ，可银行方面告诉他们说，他们的申请还在研究中。他们很担心自己的房子会成为法拍屋(foreclosure)而变得一无所有。 前不久，大女儿竟懂事似的问阿瑞亚先生是不是得搬家了。他告诉女儿，他也不知道。大女儿甚至问:“咱家到底需要多少钱,” 阿瑞亚先生说:“看着女儿说话的神情，我可以判断孩子正在打她那个小猪钱罐罐的主意了。”他躲进了浴室，偷偷地哭了。几分钟后，他擦干了眼泪才敢走回客厅里。 阿瑞亚先生是一名出租车司机的儿子，从小生活在皇后区(Queens)附近，那里是属于工薪阶级居住的地方。后来，他和其他成千上万纽约人一样，借助在华尔街的一份工作，迅速享受到了舒心的生活方式，包括房子——四年前用96万美元买的，地点就在曼哈顿的电池工业城附近，度假不是去卡波圣卢卡斯，就是迪斯尼乐园或拉斯维加斯。 阿瑞亚一家2005年购买的是预售房，首期只需房价的20%。房子有两间卧室和两间浴室，离他所在的交易中心也很近，这样阿瑞亚先生不但可以多给家人一点时间，上下班路上也可少花不少时间。而阿瑞亚太太也善用Excel图 表 关于同志近三年现实表现材料材料类招标技术评分表图表与交易pdf视力表打印pdf用图表说话 pdf 对家里的一切开支进行精打细算，以防止信用卡透支，保持良好的信用记录。她甚至还能预留一笔长达5年的救急资金，可这笔救急资金如今也用完了。阿瑞亚先生说，如果能找到买主来买他的房子，即使只是把本钱捞回来，也就很幸运了。 1992年，阿瑞亚先生中断大学学业，在曼哈顿的这个交易中心谋到一份工作，并从一个跑堂工迅速晋升为专职交易员。期间他还换过不少工作，从摩根大通这样的大公司到阿仁经纪公司这样一些小一点的企业，他都干过。他最后就是在阿仁经纪这里下的岗。 阿瑞亚先生上高中时就是一名摔跤好手，他在商品交易中心几乎得手脚并用，忙得不亦乐乎。那时候对他来说，所谓的夜晚就是凌晨，而早上4点半，又得开始一天的忙碌，困了累了，就用咖啡提神。 阿瑞亚先生说:“你每天都得准时打卡上班，然后就是一天的忙碌，那样子简直像要置对方于死地似的，一直到下班铃声响了才能收手。” 他似乎有从事期货交易的天份:从交易商所发出的吼声中，他能够判断市场行情见长;他有一帮忠诚的顾客，能够十分自信地在电话里和他们进行掏心窝式的大喊大叫。阿瑞亚 先生现在还能梦见那些交易商用来表示下单的各种手势，他的衣柜里还挂着期货市场开市时必须穿著的交易背心。 现在他每天很晚的时候都还要用两小时上网浏览各类求职网站，如Monster.com，还给以前的同事发发电子邮件。不过很多联系渠道都中断了，因为很多老同事也都下岗了。他也接触过不少猎头公司，这一年半以来，至少也面试过十几家，可最后一家都没谈成。 他说:“这从一开始就是一个很残酷的现实。我以前也见过一些失业的人，还认为，一切都是因为他们自己的懒惰造成的。可是今天，这一切却降临在我头上了。”