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Among the annoying challenges facing the middle class is one that will probably go unmentioned in the next presidential campaign: What happens when the robots come for their jobs?
中產階級所面臨的一個令人惱火的挑戰可能不會在下一屆總統競選時被提及，那就是：機器人取代了他們的工作后將會發生什么？
Don't dismiss that possibility entirely.
不要完全排除這種可能性。
About half of U.S. jobs are at high risk of being automated, according to a University of Oxford study, with the middle class disproportionately squeezed.
牛津大學的一項研究顯示，美國有大約一半工作面臨著被自動化取代的高風險，而壓力最大的則是中產階級。
Lower-income jobs like gardening or day care don't appeal to robots.
園藝、日托等低收入職業并不會吸引機器人。
But many middle-class occupations - trucking, financial advice, software engineering - have aroused their interest, or soon will.
但貨運、財務咨詢、軟件工程等許多中產階級職業已經或馬上就會引起它們的興趣。
The rich own the robots, so they will be fine.
富人是機器人的擁有者，因此他們沒事。
This isn't to be alarmist. Optimists point out that technological upheaval has benefited workers in the past.
這不是危言聳聽。樂觀主義者指出，在過去，技術的發展讓工人受益。
The Industrial Revolution didn't go so well for Luddites whose jobs were displaced by mechanized looms, but it eventually raised living standards and created more jobs than it destroyed.
工業革命對于被機械織布機取代工作的盧德派而言并不順利，但它最終提高了人們的生活水平，創造的就業機會也比淘汰的工作要多。
Likewise, automation should eventually boost productivity, stimulate demand by driving down prices, and free workers from hard, boring work.
同樣地，自動化最終會提高生產力、通過拉低價格來刺激需求、把工人從艱苦枯燥的工作中解放出來。
But in the medium term, middle-class workers may need a lot of help adjusting.
但從中期來看，中產階級工人可能需要很多幫助才能調整。
The first step, as Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee argue in The Second Machine Age, should be rethinking education and job training.
正如埃里克·布萊恩約弗森和安德魯·麥卡菲在二人合著的《第二次機器革命》中所述，第一步應該是重新思考教育和職業培訓。
Curriculums - from grammar school to college - should evolve to focus less on memorizing facts and more on creativity and complex communication.
從文法學校到大學的課程應該發展成更加注重創新和復雜交流，而不是記憶事實。
Vocational schools should do a better job of fostering problem-solving skills and helping students work alongside robots.
職業學校應該更好地培養學生解決問題和幫助學生與機器人共事的能力。
Online education can supplement the traditional kind. It could make extra training and instruction affordable.
在線教育可以作為傳統教育的補充，它提供了讓人們負擔得起的額外培訓和指導。
Professionals trying to acquire new skills will be able to do so without going into debt.
專業人士不用負債累累也可以獲取新技能了。
The challenge of coping with automation underlines the need for the U.S. to revive its fading business dynamism: Starting new companies must be made easier.
應對自動化這一挑戰強調，美國需要重振其衰退的商業活力：創立新公司要變得更加容易。
In previous eras of drastic technological change, entrepreneurs smoothed the transition by dreaming up ways to combine labor and machines.
在過去的技術大變革時代，企業家將勞動力和機器進行結合，以此實現平穩過渡。
The best uses of 3D printers and virtual reality haven't been invented yet. The U.S. needs the new companies that will invent them.
現在仍未發明出3D打印機和虛擬現實的最佳用途，而美國需要新的公司來發明出來。
Finally, because automation threatens to widen the gap between capital income and labor income, taxes and the safety net will have to be rethought.
最后，由于自動化會擴大資本收入與勞動收入之間的差距，人們必須重新考慮稅收和安全網。
Taxes on low-wage labor need to be cut, and wage subsidies such as the earned income tax credit should be expanded:
應當削減低薪員工的稅收，增加所得稅優惠等工資補貼：
This would boost incomes, encourage work, reward companies for job creation, and reduce inequality.
這會提高收入、鼓勵工作、獎勵創造就業的公司以及減少不平等。
Technology will improve society in ways big and small over the next few years, yet this will be little comfort to those who find their lives and careers upended by automation.
在未來的幾年里，技術將會以或大或小的方式改善社會，但對于那些因自動化而顛倒生活和工作的人而言，這并不能安慰到他們。
Destroying the machines that are coming for our jobs would be nuts. But policies to help workers adapt will be indispensable.
摧毀那些因我們的工作而生的機器是瘋狂的，但幫助工人適應的政策將是必不可少的。
