Advice in this session is designed specially for members of the middle class, especially white-collar and quasi-white-collar workers. Let’s begin with a small test -- which of the following descriptions pertain to you?

    1. You spend the bulk of your time on the internet chatting with members of the opposite sex or playing games.

    2. You rarely tidy up your room and never cook at home, and almost all your meals are fast food.

    3. After work, you splay out on the couch, clutching the remote control, flipping from channel to channel for entertainment programs. You haven’t read a book in months.

    4. Your biggest goal in life is to make enough money to buy an apartment or to pay off your mortgage. The pressure to meet the mortgage payments is just too much.

    5. You buy lottery tickets regularly. You feel jealous and frustrated when you see in the news that someone has hit the big jackpot.

    6. You change jobs frequently or are even out of work occasionally. You have not had a promotion in the past three years.

    7. You have no desire for the high-earner lifestyle of golfing, concerts and overseas vacations. You feel that cheap DVDs are a perfect entertainment option.

    8. You loathe parties, thinking they are a pointless waste of money. You never talk to strangers. You have no friends apart from your former classmates, coworkers and family.

    9. You feel that voluntary community service is stupid and simply a way to gain attention.

    10.  You don’t have any plan for continuing education. You have no idea why or what you should learn. You are clueless about what you will be doing in five years’ time.

    If you said yes to more than five of these ten descriptions, you may be well on your way toward falling out of the middle class. Let’s be alert to the danger of degradation in the

    New Year and boost our enthusiasm toward life by setting a goal, trying something new or simply being nice to others.

       新年忠告本来应该是忠言，因为说多了会逆耳，换个说法自欺欺人。这期的忠告对很多中产，白领或者准白领大军的读者比较有用。已经激流勇进的读者可以直接跳转到下一页。

      在忠告之前，让我们先做个小测试：

      1.平时的业余时间大多是通过上网来打发的，经常找异性聊天或玩网络游戏。

      2.几乎不收拾房间，也从不在家自己做饭，差不多每顿饭都是吃各种快餐。

      3.下班后通常抱着遥控器搜各种娱乐节目，已经三个月没完整看过一本书了。

      4.觉得最大的生活目标就是挣钱买房子，或者尽快把房贷还清，房子压力太大了。

      5.经常买彩票，每次听到新闻中说谁中了大奖，会非常羡慕，同时感到懊悔。

      6.经常换工作，偶尔还处在失业状态，近三年内在职位上没有任何提升。

      7.不羡慕高收入阶层经常打高尔夫球、听音乐会、出国旅游，觉得花几元钱买两张影碟看就是很好的娱乐方式了。

      8.非常讨厌聚会活动，一是觉得费钱、二是觉得没意义。从不找陌生人交流，除了同学、同事、家庭的圈子外，你没有任何朋友。

      9.你觉得参加公益活动的人都是傻帽，都是在做秀。

      10.你没有任何再教育计划，因为你不知道要学什么，或者学了有什么意义。你没想过5年后要干什么。

    上面这十条中，如果有五条以上符合你现在的工作、生活及思想状态。那么，很抱歉地说，你已经处于“下流社会DOWN”或正在向下沉沦。

    “DOWN社会”不仅仅是通过收入水平来衡量的，其特征的概括是：沟通能力、生活能力、工作意愿、学习意愿、消费意愿等的全面下降，也可以说是“对全盘人生热情低下”。

       2001年新周刊推出《忽然中产》的时候，那时候，白领中流行的词汇是“背包族”、“NGO组织”，而现在呢？变成了“房奴”、“啃老族”、“宅男宅女”。从这些词汇中，明显能够感受都市白领从对人生充满热情演变成焦虑和无奈。

       虽然这不能说明，短短六年的时间，蓬勃兴起的中产阶级变得向下沉沦。但我们要相信点什么，要追求点什么，要自我突破点什么吧。年龄的增长实际是无意义的——如果我们能伴随思想，境界，灵魂，精神和智慧等等的提升，不能保证生命热情的持续不减，不能让你和周围的关系更加美好，那么，套时下的环保术语说，你也要进入“减排”行列。

       所以，在新年伊始，让我们托住“DOWN”,让自己“UP”起来，做全面的提升，对抗岁月或者地心引力。

       我要你相信温暖、美好、信任、尊严、坚强这些老掉牙的字眼。

       我要你相信，比起那些名表、名牌、时装，更加美丽的是勤奋而有朝气的你自己。

       我要你相信要快乐，要开朗、要坚韧、要温暖。这和性格或者基因无关。

       我要你相信，觉得自己较富足、有保障、够休闲并不能证明稳定，因为真正的稳定在人们心里。

       最后，请你相信奇迹。相信好生活只在于你的选择。

                                                                               双语周刊主编

                                                        CT Editor in Chief