"I wanted an Aston Martin(阿斯顿马丁（豪车品牌）), I wanted a three-guinea linen shirt, I wanted a girl with a Riviera suntan(① 里维埃拉（Riviera）指南法-意...)." So Joe Lampton, the young working-class hero of "Room at the Top", announced his desire to penetrate the professional middle class(打入专业中产阶级). John Braine’s novel of 1957 was one of many post-war books to feature cocky(傲慢自负的), headstrong(固执任性的) social climbers. It ends tragically, with deception, heartbreak and death.(故事以欺骗、心碎和死亡悲惨收场。)
“我想要一辆阿斯顿马丁，我想要一件三基尼的亚麻衬衫，我想要一个拥有里维埃拉古铜色肌肤的女孩。”乔·兰普顿，这位《顶层房间》中年轻的工人阶级主人公，如此宣告他打入专业中产阶级的渴望。约翰·布雷恩1957年的这部小说是战后众多刻画傲慢、固执的社会攀登者的作品之一。故事以欺骗、心碎和死亡悲惨收场。
Upward social mobility(向上社会流动) was a common experience for men and women who grew up in the mid-20th century. It is rarer these days, mostly because the great economic shift from manufacturing to services(从制造业到服务业的巨大经济转型) has run its course(自然发展直到结束). Many people still acquire better jobs(获得更好的工作) than their parents had, but a growing number find worse ones(越来越多的人发现更差的工作) (see top chart). How do they feel about it?
对于在20世纪中期长大的人们来说，向上社会流动是一种普遍经历。如今这已更为罕见，主要是因为从制造业到服务业的巨大经济转型已基本完成。许多人仍然获得比父母更好的工作，但越来越多的人发现自己的工作更差了（见顶部图表）。他们对此作何感受？
The Sutton Trust(① 机构背景：总部位于伦敦，成立于199...), a charity, recently provided some answers. Kevin Latham and Esme Lillywhite draw on(利用，凭借) a long-running(长期进行的) survey that covers tens of thousands of families. They measure social mobility by looking at the jobs people do rather than how they describe themselves. That is wise, because Britons cannot be trusted on matters of class. Middle-class people tend to play up(夸大，突出) or invent working-class roots and overstate(夸大，言过其实) their own mobility.
慈善机构萨顿信托最近给出了一些答案。凯文·莱瑟姆和埃斯梅·莉莉怀特利用一项长期调查，涵盖了数万个家庭。他们通过观察人们实际从事的工作来衡量社会流动性，而不是看他们如何描述自己。这很明智，因为在阶级问题上英国人不可信。中产阶级倾向于夸大或编造工人阶级出身，并高估自己的流动性。