Many women have wished their husbands could find a way to spend more time with their children and many husbands have wished the same. Now the recession is providing a forced chance for some couples to make those wishes come true。
很多妻子希望她們的丈夫能夠想辦法花更多時間和孩子們相處，許多丈夫也有着同樣的願望。如今的經濟衰退正給一些夫婦提供一個不得已的機會來實現這些願望。
The New York Times recently profiled some men in the New York suburb of Pelham Manor, out of work and finding a new closeness with their children and school communities. They're also finding some frustrations and disappointments with the loss of jobs that defined much of their identities。
《紐約時報》(The New York Times)最近報導了紐約郊區佩罕馬諾(Pelham Manor)的一些丈夫，他們在失業後發現自己和孩子以及學校社區建立起了一種新的親密關係。失業是他們的一大共同點，也給他們帶來了諸多挫折和失望。
Andrew Emery, who quit his insurance job ahead of expected layoffs but has spent months out of work, picks up his 8- and 5-year-old kids from school, works on home renovations and takes bike rides. Tom Imperato, who's seen a sharp decline in his real-estate business, does the food shopping for his wife and 9-year-old twin daughters″and has learned that Costco is pretty empty at 11:30 on a weekday. Mr. Emery's friend Jerry Levy, who lost his hedge-fund job a year ago, spends more time with his four children and has become active in the PTA, serving as its financial liaison to the school board and launching a run for the school board himself。
艾梅利(Andrew Emery)在預感到會被裁員後辭去了保險業工作，他在家待業已經有數月，每天去學校接送自己8歲和5歲的孩子，裝修房屋，騎騎單車。因佩拉託(Tom Imperato)目睹了自己的房地產生意一落千丈，他現在每天爲妻子和9歲大的雙胞胎女兒做飯，還知道了Costco商店在每個工作日上午11:30的時候人比較少。艾梅利的朋友萊維(Jerry Levy)一年前失去了對沖基金的工作，他現在花更多的時間陪伴四個孩子，積極參與家長會，成爲了家長會和學校董事會的財務聯絡人，並打算自己參選學校董事。
'On the one hand, the PTA can use all the help it can get from men with financial expertise at a time when the proposed school budget is under enormous pressure,' says the Times article. 'And women are happy to see stay-at-home husbands building closer relationships with their children. But one little-spoken effect is an uneasy feeling that these highly successful men are facing the pain and potential shame of being out of work.'
這篇報導說，一方面，在學校預算計劃面臨巨大壓力的時候，家長會可以用上從具有金融專業知識的人那裏獲得的所有幫助。妻子們很樂意看到居家丈夫和孩子們建立起更爲親密的關係。但一個很少宣之於口的影響是有種不自在的感覺：這些原先成就斐然的男人們現在要面對失業的痛苦以及可能的恥辱。
I imagine circumstances wouldn't allow me to pursue a similar path to these men's were I to lose my job. I would need to find another job quickly, or we would see a dramatic change in our lifestyle, since our savings are much thinner than they ought to be。
我想，如果我失業，自己的境況可不允許我追隨這幫人走上類似的道路。我可能需要迅速找到另一份工作，否則我們的生活方式就會面臨顯著的變化，因爲我們的積蓄實在少得可憐。
If I did have the chance to spend more time being involved with my daughter and son and their school, though, I'd be interested to see how our mother-centered parenting community would adapt. I admit I've taken too much advantage of other mothers' tendency to just ask for my wife when they call to make plans for the kids. Money permitting, maybe a spate of joblessness would jolt me into taking more initiative. But, of course, I should just go ahead and do that anyway。
不過，如果我真的有機會花更多時間接觸我的一對兒女以及他們的學校，我倒是有興趣看看我們以母親爲中心的家長羣體將如何適應。我承認，由於其他媽媽習慣於打電話來找我妻子商量孩子的事，我也順理成章地省了不少心。如果財力允許，或許失業一陣子會迫使我變得更加主動。不過，當然，我應當在繼續好好工作的同時做到這點。
Readers, are you noticing more out-of-work or underemployed men taking an active role in school and childcare″or are you one of them yourself?
讀者們，你們是否注意到現在有更多失業或不充分就業的男人們更爲積極地參與到學校以及照看孩子中去呢，或者你就是他們當中的一員？
新聞來源：華爾街時報