度人物亚军:中国工人

去年12月,美国《时代》周刊(TIME)2009年度人物榜出炉。美联储主席本・伯南克(Ben Bernanke)当选该杂志年度人物,而“中国工人”作为榜单上的唯一群体,荣升亚军宝座。世界的目光犹如聚光灯般投射到“中国工人”身上,而肖红霞、黄冬艳、彭春霞、邱小院等人的名字和笑容在一夜之间传遍了世界。这群来自深圳的普通工人成为千千万万勤劳坚韧的中国工人的代表。也许就个体来说,他们再平凡不过,然而所有平凡人的努力积聚起来,就能创造出让世人为之惊叹的伟大与奇迹。不要怨叹自己过于平庸、没有大作为,实际上,伟大很可能就如同做好本分工作那么简单。

In China they have a word for it. Baoba means “protect eight,” the 8% annual economic growth rate that officials believe is critical to ensuring social stability. A year ago, many thought hitting such a figure in 2009 was a pipe dream[白日梦]. But China has done it, and this year it remains the world’s fastest-growing major economy and an economic stimulus[刺激物] for everyone else. Who deserves the credit? Above all, the tens of millions of workers who have left their homes, and often their families, to find work in the factories of China’s booming coastal cities in plants like the Shenzhen Guangke Technology Co.’s, just outside Hong Kong, which sits amid a jumble[混乱] of snack stands, cheap clothing stalls, and old men dragging carts filled with candy to sell to workers on their day off. Near the factory we found some of the people who are leading the world to economic recovery: Chinese men and women, their struggles in the past, their thoughts on the present and their eyes on the future.

在中国,有一个名词叫“保八”,即保持8%的年经济增长率,官方认为这对保证社会稳定至关重要。一年前,很多人认为在2009年实现这个目标是白日做梦。然而中国做到了,它依然是全世界经济增长最快的主要经济体,同时也带动了其他国家的经济发展。这应归功于谁?最应该感谢的是成千上万离乡别井的工人,他们来到中国繁华的沿海城市,在莱依迪光电科技(深圳)有限公司这样的工厂寻找工作。该工厂紧靠香港,地处杂乱无章的小吃摊档、廉价衣服铺子和在工人休息日拉着小推车卖糖果的老人之中。在这家工厂附近,我们找到了他们:中国的男女工人――他们在过去的奋斗,对今天的思考以及对未来的展望,领引世界经济走向复苏。