却要深陷群鼠围攻了。

海伦：噢，天啊！

大卫：有一天地球将会因为老鼠过多而重心偏移了。你同意吗？

海伦：同意……

大卫：这个观点有点疯狂……

海伦：同意……

大卫：我们有没有夹子啊？我们如果没有夹子怎么办好……

注释:

1) blizzard n. 暴风雪

2) san fernando valley: 位于加利福尼亚州洛杉矶市。

3) sissy n. [口]胆小鬼，懦弱的人

4) johnny carson: 美国著名谈话节目(tonight show)的主持

5) loose a. 自由的

6) flirt v. 调戏某人，与某人调情

7) donald rumsfeld: 唐纳德·拉姆斯菲尔德，美国国防部长

8) entré n.（正菜前或两道菜之间的）小菜

9) epidemic n 流行病；时疫

10) tilt v. 使倾斜

★★《2003年09月号-第42期-disc01-09》★★

graduates' best choice: back to college

with the job market offering few opportunities for advancement, many in the workforce are going back to school, as a result applications to the nation’s graduate schools are 1)soaring. and the job picture is even tougher for those students graduating from college in the next few months.

with a 3.7 grade point average, a network of contacts and a resume full of achievements, tracy silverman, a senior at new york university, figured she’d have no problem getting a job after college.

tracy silverman: i thought that is was going to be very easy, i’ve had tons of internships, i’ve met lots of people in the industry but, you know, i passed out my resume and they’re not calling me.

silverman and other seniors are facing the tightest job market in nearly a decade, with employers expected to hire 20% fewer graduates than last year.

marilyn mackes: this year is a very different kind of job market for college grads than last year. and actually for the last couple of years, they’ve been really looking at a boom market.

but that boom has turned to bust and one of the places it’s most noticeable, college career centers. at 2)nyu last year standing room only, crowd of corporate recruiters is gone.

trudi steinfeld: i remember two years ago that there were forty days during our recruiting season where myself and members of our staff had to give up, give up our offices because we really did not have enough space to hold all our recruiters.

recruiting visits are down at least 20% at the school and on some campus, they’ve been cut in half.

trudi steinfeld, nyu’s director of career services says seniors are nervous.

trudi steinfeld: they’ve entered college at a time when the economy was booming. they really thought they would have not only one great job, but maybe the ability to select from three or four great jobs. they feel like the rug has been pulled out from under them.

that uncertainty is starting a trend on college campuses across the country, like here at the university of chicago, where applications for graduate school are soaring. some from college seniors looking to ride out the down economy and many others from those already in the workforce, who are going back to school to sharpen their skills.

twenty-six-year-old jeremy oberfeld applied to chicago’s business school after the telecom start-up he was working for 3)crumbled.

jeremy oberfeld: if the economy would be doing well, i would continue my professional career and developing that start-up business. unfortunately, since this did not happen. i believe, i believe that was a great time for me to pursue my education further.

applications to the graduate school of business are up 100% over a year ago. and starting to pile over in the admissions office. officials say sorting through all of them is tough business.

ann mcgill: we read carefully, every single one of them, multiple people. what we’ve done is shifted work away from those people so they’re working longer hours.

and the trend is widespread. at 4)ucla, biz school applications are up 90%. at emory and atlanta up 80%, and at yale almost a 60% jump. graduate school officials say returning for more education during a poor economy can be valuable. for more than the education.

ann mcgill: you get other things, you get an alumni network, you have a ready 5)credential that tells a perspective employer that you know what you are doing.

staying in school paid off for mba student, shannon ryan, who graduates this summer with a job, but the choices were slim.

shannon ryan: because companies were very conservative about the number of offers they gave out. they really asked you to give them an answer immediately. so that would be three weeks verses typically you would have three months to think about an offer.

but for many of the nation’s seniors the waiting and worrying goes on.

tracy silverman: i just would like anything with a salary and benefits right now. so i’m broadening what i’m willing to do. i have to be extremely optimistic but, you know, something will come my way.

experts say the key to finding a job in this current market: flexibility. showing the employer that you have enough skills to adapt to a number of different positions.

美国毕业生重返校园

由于劳工市场提供的就业机会鲜有增加，许多已参加工作的人打算重新回到学校，这导致美国研究生院的入学申请数量猛涨。工作前景对于往后几月要从学校毕业的学生而言将更加严峻。

特蕾西·西尔弗曼是纽约大学高年级的学生，平均成绩3.7分，拥有广泛的关系网和硕果累累的履历表，她曾认为毕业后找工作毫无问题。

特蕾西·西尔弗曼∶我以为找工作非常简单，我有很多实习经验，我见过许多业界人士，但