英语笔译综合能力教材3级，Working Better at the Bottom

备考英语笔译3级考试。

Brad Hooper quit his previous job at a grocery in Madison because his boss was "a little crazy". The manager threatened to sack him and other cashiers for refusing orders to work longer than their agreed hours. Not long ago, Mr Hooper's decision to walk out might have looked foolhardy because he has no education beyond high school and suffers from recurrent ill-health including insomnia.

Brad Hooper 上次辞职是在麦迪逊的一个杂货店，因为他的老板有点疯狂。当时经理要求他和收银员们拿出比约定的更长的时间去工作，如果他们拒绝的话，就威胁要开除掉他们。不久前，Hooper先生的这个走出困境的决定或许显得有点莽撞，毕竟他只有初中学历，而且反反复复的失眠，使得他的身体状况不尽如意。

This time he struck lucky, finding much better work. Today he sells tobacco and cigarettes in a chain store for 32 hours a week. That leaves plenty of time for his passion, reading science fiction. His improving fortunes reflect recent gains for many of America's lowest-paid. Handwritten "help wanted" signs adorn windows of many cafes and shops in Madison. A few steps on from the cigarette shop is the city's job centre, where a manager with little else to do points to a screen that tallies 98678 unfilled vacancies across Winsconsin.

这一次他撞了好运，找到了一份更好的工作。如今他在一个连锁店售卖烟草和香烟，一周工作32个小时。这使得他有大量时间来看科幻小说，从而获取激情。他的经济的改善反映出了近期美国大多数低薪群体的一个状态。在Madison这个城市，很多咖啡店和商店的橱窗都挂着手写“需要帮助”的牌子.香烟商店往前再走几步路就是城市的就业中心，可以看到那里有一个无所事事的经理正指向一个屏幕，上面写着Winsconsin整个地区暂有98678个空缺职位。