relative to his workers--is that the worker,

曾就他的工人们写道
I couldn't invent this, "Should be constantly harassed by need,

这是原文 "他们应当时常被生计所困
for then he will not set his children a bad example

"这样他们才不会给孩子们树立一个坏榜样
and his poverty will be the guarantee of good behavior."

"而且贫困也是良好品行的保证"
Of course, this is a caricature of middle class self-absorption,

它无疑讽刺了中产阶级的自我热衷即自恋
of narcissism, of this inveterate cruelty to the classes below them.

以及他们对待其下层阶级一贯的残酷态度
On the other hand, the more we study the middle classes--

另一方面随着越来越多地了解中产阶级
and in the 1960s people really didn't study the middle classes

在二十世纪六十年代人们没怎么研究中产阶级
because they didn't like them very much.

因为人们都不怎么喜欢他们
They studied workers.

人们都在研究工人阶级
But there's been an awful lot of good work done on the middle classes.

但关于中产阶级已经有很多出色的研究
Among them my dear friend Peter Gay,

比如我的好朋友彼得·盖伊