Callum Atkinson is 23 years old, and lives in the Greater Manchester town of Rochdale. Until very recently, he was one of hundreds of thousands of young people in the UK reckoned not to be in education, employment or training: what officialspeak rather coldly terms a Neet, and therefore part of a huge national problem being investigated by the former New Labour high-up Alan Milburn, whose final report on young people and work is due any day now, and will be a big, hyped-up political event.(直到不久前，他还是英国数十万被认定不升学、不就业、不进修的年轻人之一——官方语言冷冰冰地称之为NEET，因此他也成了一个巨大国家问题的一部分。这个问题正由前新工党高层艾伦·米尔本调查，他关于年轻人与就业的最终报告随时可能发布，届时将成为一场大肆炒作的政治事件。)
卡勒姆·阿特金森23岁，住在曼彻斯特大区的罗奇代尔镇。直到不久之前，他还是英国数十万被认定不升学、不就业、不进修的年轻人之一——官方语言冷冰冰地称之为NEET，因此他也成了一个巨大国家问题的一部分。这个问题正由前新工党高层艾伦·米尔本调查，他关于年轻人与就业的最终报告随时可能发布，届时将成为一场大肆炒作的政治事件。
Milburn – quite rightly – thinks the UK’s estimated 981,000 Neets represent the profound(深远的) risk of “a lost generation(迷失的一代)” and a “moral crisis” that is already upon us(降临到我们头上). If you are interested in matters of finance as well as ethics, you may also be aware that the annual cost of maintaining such young people was recently put at £125bn, which is more than the British state spends on either education or defence.(如果你既关心伦理也关心财政，你可能也注意到，维持这些年轻人的年度成本最近被估算为1250亿英镑，这比英国政府在教育或国防上的支出都要多。)
米尔本——完全正确地——认为英国估计98.1万NEET代表着“迷失的一代”的深层风险，以及一场已经降临的“道德危机”。如果你既关心伦理也关心财政，你可能也注意到，维持这些年轻人的年度成本最近被估算为1250亿英镑，这比英国政府在教育或国防上的支出都要多。
Until a month or so ago, Callum told me last week, he was one tiny element of those statistics. He has three A-levels(英国高中高级水平考试) graded at A, B and C, respectively(分别地) in maths, further maths and computer science: although educational failure is a major factor in the current crisis, 21% of Neets have at least one A-level or its equivalent, and 15% have graduated from university. What his life so far does point up, however, is the labyrinthine lunacy and callousness of the modern labour market, and how its serial failures are often only finally mended by small, ground-level organisations.(然而，他迄今为止的人生确实凸显了现代劳动力市场的迷宫般荒谬与冷酷，以及它的接连失败往往只能靠小型基层组织最终弥补。)
卡勒姆上周告诉我，直到大约一个月前，他还是那些统计数据中微不足道的一个。他有三门A-level成绩，分别是数学A、进阶数学B和计算机科学C：尽管教育失败是当前危机的主要因素，但21%的NEET至少有一门A-level或同等学历，15%大学毕业。然而，他迄今为止的人生确实凸显了现代劳动力市场的迷宫般荒谬与冷酷，以及它的接连失败往往只能靠小型基层组织最终弥补。