于孔春

Although Australia is not as rich as the United States and Japan， most Australian people live a quite good life. An ordinary Australian is able to get at least $120 per day if he can find a job. And this will be enough for a small family. If a couple works hard for years， they are soon to have their own apartment with a garden， cars and sometimes even a small-size swimming pool.

Besides， there are various kinds of social welfare1 facilities2 and life insurance3， which help the jobless， the retired， the handicapped4 and the children without parents.

In a word， Australians do not have many worries over their lives. As a result， they often have enough efforts and financial5 support to choose to enjoy themselves at any time. They give top priority6 to their holidays and will always put away everything to enjoy. This perhaps is rare in the world.

Many people say that the United States is a heaven for the children， a struggling field for the youth and a tomb7 for the aged. However， the situation is quite different in Australia. Different people have their own ways for enjoyment and their own worlds for pass-time.

Most children often work hard in school since they have to face various exams. After school they do not want to keep themselves reading books any more. Instead， they put aside their schoolbags at home and sneak8 quickly to some quiet street corners for their games. Bigger children like to shoulder their large kites to some steep9 cliffs10， and jump to fly in the sky with their kites.

Some old people often get up early in the morning and go to parks to do newspaper reading. After breakfast， they come to horse races， dog races and sometimes car races for betting. If he wins， he will feed himself a good dinner. In the evening， they stay at home， watching TV sometimes with grandchildren. Some of the aged also enjoy fishing and gardening.

Young people prefer to go outing for holidays. At the weekends， they go to the seashore for swimming or to the forest for hunting and camping， or mountainous areas for picnicking. Then in the evenings on Sundays， they start their long bumper-to-bumper drive back home on the highways. Nobody seems in a hurry.

The Australian Government also encourages its people to have more relaxtion after work. Sometimes， certain kind of subsidy11 is allocated12 to people going on holidays and public holidays are set on Monday or Friday on purpose so that Australians may have a longer weekend for enjoyment. They think people can work better only after they get a full relaxtion. And it is based on this idea that comes the top priority for enjoyment in Australia.

盡管澳大利亞不像美國(guó)和日本那樣富裕，但大多數(shù)澳大利亞人生活得相當(dāng)不錯(cuò)。一個(gè)普通的澳大利亞人如果有工作，每天至少能掙到120美元。這對(duì)一個(gè)小家庭而言已經(jīng)足夠生活。一對(duì)夫妻辛勤工作數(shù)年，很快就能買得起帶花園的房子、汽車，有時(shí)甚至還能擁有一個(gè)小游泳池。

此外，澳大利亞有各種各樣的社會(huì)福利設(shè)施和生活保險(xiǎn)，幫助失業(yè)者、退休人員、殘疾人和孤兒維持生活。

一句話，澳大利亞人不用過多地?fù)?dān)心他們的生活。因此，他們經(jīng)常有足夠的能力和財(cái)力隨時(shí)讓自己享受生活。度假是他們的頭等大事，為了度假，他們不惜放棄任何其他事情。這在世界上可能都是罕見的。

許多人說(shuō)美國(guó)是兒童的天堂，年輕人的戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)，老年人的墳?zāi)?。不過，在澳大利亞，情況卻完全不同。享受方式因人而異，娛樂天地也各有千秋。

大多數(shù)孩子在學(xué)校要面對(duì)各種考試，所以學(xué)習(xí)往往很努力。放學(xué)后，他們不愿一直死讀書，而是將書包放在家里，迅速溜到某處安靜的街角玩游戲。大一點(diǎn)的孩子喜歡扛著他們的大風(fēng)箏攀上陡峭的懸崖，然后隨風(fēng)箏滑翔而下。

常有老人早起去公園看報(bào)。早飯后，他們就去賽馬場(chǎng)、賽狗場(chǎng)，有時(shí)還去賽車場(chǎng)賭上一把。如果贏了的話，他會(huì)美美地吃上一頓晚餐。晚上，他們呆在家里與孫輩們一起看看電視。有些老人還喜歡釣魚和園藝。

年輕人則喜歡度假。周末他們到海邊游泳，或者到森林里去打獵、野營(yíng)，或者到山里野炊。周日的傍晚，他們才隨著公路上首尾相連的長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)車流打道回府。所有人看上去都很悠閑自在。

澳大利亞政府也鼓勵(lì)國(guó)民在工作之余多多放松享樂。有時(shí)，度假的人還可以得到一些補(bǔ)助，公共假日則被特意安排在周一或周五，這樣澳大利亞人就可以享受更長(zhǎng)的周末。政府認(rèn)為只有徹底放松之后，人們才能更好地工作。正是出于這個(gè)念頭，澳大利亞人才將享樂看成頭等大事。

1. welfare n. 福利；幸福

2. facility n. 設(shè)備

3. insurance n. 保險(xiǎn)

4. handicapped adj. 殘疾的；有生理缺陷的

5. financial adj. 財(cái)政的；財(cái)務(wù)的

6. priority n. 優(yōu)先，優(yōu)先權(quán)

7. tomb n. 墳?zāi)?；墓?/p>

8. sneak v. 潛行；偷偷溜走

9. steep adj. 陡峭的，險(xiǎn)峻的

10. cliff n. 懸崖，峭壁

11. subsidy n. 補(bǔ)貼；津貼

12. allocate v. 分配，分派