These days, people who do manual work often receive far more money than people who work in offices. People who work in offices are frequently referred to as "white-collar workers' for the simple reason that they usually wear a collar and tie to go to work. Such is human nature, that a great many people are often willing to sacrifice higher pay for the privilege of becoming white-collar workers. This can give rise to curious situations, as it did in the case of Alfred Bloggs who worked as a dustman for the Ellesmere Corporation.
如今，从事体力劳动的人的收入一般要比坐办公室的人高出许多。坐办公室的之所以常常被称作“白领工人”，就是因为他们通常是穿着硬领白衬衫，系着领带去上班。许多人常常情愿放弃较高的薪水以换取做白领工人的殊荣，此乃人之常情。而这常常会引起种种奇怪的现象，在埃尔斯米尔公司当清洁工的艾尔弗雷德.布洛斯就是一个例子。
When he got married, Alf was too embarrassed to say anything to his wife about his job. He simply told her that he worked for the Corporation. Every morning, he left home dressed in a smart black suit. He then changed into overalls and spent the next eight hours as a dustman. Before returning home at night. He took a shower and changed back into his suit. Alf did this for over two years and his fellow dustmen kept his secret Alf's wife has never discovered that she married a dustman and she never will, for Alf has just found another job. He will soon be working in an office.He will be earning only half as much as he used to, but he feels that his rise in status is well worth the loss of money. From now on, he will wear a suit all day and others will call him 'Mr. Bloggs', not 'Alf'.
艾尔弗结婚时，感到非常难为情，而没有将自己的职业告诉妻子。他只说在埃尔斯米尔公司上班。每天早晨，他穿上一身漂亮的黑色西装离家上班，然后换上工作服，当8个小时清洁工。晚上回家前，他洗个淋浴，重新换上那身黑色西服。两年多以来，艾尔弗一直这样，他的同事也为他保守秘密。艾尔弗的妻子一直不知道她嫁给了一个清洁工，而且她永远也不会知道了，因为艾尔弗已找到薪职，不久就要坐办公室里工作了。他将来挣的钱只有他现在的一半。不过他觉得，地位升高了，损失点儿钱也值得。从此，艾尔弗可以一天到晚穿西 服了。别人将称呼他为“布洛格斯先生”，而不再叫他“艾尔弗”了。
manual：adj. 手工的，体力的
refer to：涉及，指的是
white-collar ：白领，
a great many：很多，大量
privilege：n.特权，给……特权
corporation：公司，法人
fellow：n.同伴，男子
Such is human nature, that a great many people are often willing to sacrifice higher pay for the privilege of becoming white-collar workers.
翻译：许多人常常情愿放弃较高的薪水以换取做白领工人的殊荣，此乃人之常情。
这里很多同学可能不明白Such is ＋ 名词 ＋ that从句的用法，that从句在这里解释说明强调“human nature”such为代词，代指human nature的具体内容。那么大家可能会说，这和我所了解的such……that的用法不一样啊，such开头的句子是要倒装的呀，确实，我们所了解的such……that的用法是这样的：
但是，没有但是了，已经说得很清楚了。
再举个例子：Such is the truth that where there is a will there is a way.（世上无难事，只怕有心人）
He will be earning only half as much as he used to,
翻译他将来挣的钱只有他现在的一半,
will be doing 为将来进行时，as much as 译为“和……一样多“，表示倍数的比较级，表倍数的比较级有以下几种表达方法：
he used to 为省略句，可译为“过去曾挣的钱”。因此整句可翻译为“他将来赚的钱只有现在的一半”。关于used的常用短语，大家要留意：
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