produced in each generation was greater

儿童数量里
among wealthy families than among poor ones.

在富裕家庭中要比贫穷家庭中多得多
It's pretty easy to think of reasons that might be true.

可能的原因显而易见
For example, money for heating your house and feeding the babies.

比如有更多钱来取暖和哺育婴儿
The point that Clarke makes of that is more controversial.

但克拉克的观点更具争议性
Clarke wants to say that a cascade of children born

克拉克想要说的是在金字塔型社会
at the top of the pyramid, a cascade of those children

最顶层降生的孩子在很长的时间段中
were forced to be downwardly mobile for a long period of time

要被迫逐渐向社会的下层移动
populating each level of British society with adults

从而使英国社会的各个阶层
who had begun life with the advantages of being on top.

都充斥着拥有上层血统的成年人
It's easy to make up a story, which Clarke does,

故事很好编造正如克拉克做的那样
to the effect that the energetic effort you might expect

来期待这些被挤出上层社会的人