社會階層 social stratum

社會階層 social stratum

● 字源

Stratum 源自拉丁文 stratum，意為「鋪開之物、一層、覆蓋物」，是動詞 sternere（鋪開、攤平）的過去分詞。字面意思是「被鋪開的一層」。複數為 strata，不是 stratums。這個詞原用於地質學，指一層一層疊起來的岩層。社會學家借來比喻社會按財富、教育、職業、權力分成上下層次。同源的有 street（來自 via strata「鋪好的路」）和 prostrate（伏倒）。中文譯為「社會階層」，相關詞 stratification 譯為「社會分層」。

● 例句（70字長句）

It is in modern societies, whose members still hope to rise through merit, that social strata, having been shaped by wealth, education, and occupation, persist, not because laws forbid movement but because families, knowing that schools reward polished manners only when children learn them early, pass advantages along so reliably that neither talent nor effort closes the gap, even though reformers, whom no ruler can silence, keep demanding fairer chances.

● 排列為比較容易閱讀的方式

It is in modern societies,

whose members still hope to rise through merit,

that social strata,

having been shaped by wealth, education, and occupation,

persist,

not because laws forbid movement

but because families,

knowing that schools reward polished manners only when children learn them early,

pass advantages along so reliably

that neither talent nor effort closes the gap,

even though reformers,

whom no ruler can silence,

keep demanding fairer chances.

● 分解為原初的短小句

Social strata persist in modern societies.

（原句為 It is ... that 強調句，把 in modern societies 夾在 It is 與 that 之間強調；拿掉 It is 與 that，即還原為簡單句。）

Members of modern societies still hope to rise through merit.

（whose 為所有格關係代名詞，相當於 of which，「whose members」即「這些社會的成員」；rise 指向上流動，through merit 表「憑藉才能」。）

Social strata have been shaped by wealth, education, and occupation.

（having been shaped 為完成式被動分詞構句，主詞同為 strata；by 引出施動因素，三個名詞並列。）

Laws do not forbid movement.

（not because ... but because ... 為對比結構，本句是被否定的理由；movement 指階層間的流動。）

Families know something.

（knowing that ... 為現在分詞構句，表「同時具備的認知」，相當於 as they know that ...。）

Schools reward polished manners only when children learn them early.

（only when 引導條件副詞子句，表「唯有……時才」；them 指 polished manners；early 為副詞。）

Families pass advantages along so reliably.

（pass ... along 為「傳遞下去」，advantages 為受詞置於 pass 與 along 之間；so reliably 為結果結構的前半。）

Neither talent nor effort closes the gap.

（so ... that 的結果子句；neither ... nor ... 連接兩個單數名詞，動詞與較近的 effort 一致，用單數 closes。）

Reformers keep demanding fairer chances.

（even though 引導讓步副詞子句；keep + 動名詞 demanding 表「持續不斷地」；fairer 為 fair 的比較級。）

No ruler can silence reformers.

（whom 為非限定關係代名詞，指 reformers，在子句中作 silence 的受詞，故用受格 whom；no ruler 為否定主詞，動詞不再加 not。）

● 文法解析

It is ... that 強調句與 whose 關係子句：

It is in modern societies ... that social strata ... persist 是強調句，被強調的是地點副詞片語 in modern societies。that 之前插入 whose members still hope to rise through merit，說明這些社會有「憑才能向上」的期待，這與後面階層仍然存續形成張力。讀者要到 that 之後才看到真正的主詞 social strata。

完成式被動分詞構句 having been shaped：

social strata, having been shaped by wealth, education, and occupation, persist 中，having been shaped 由 as they have been shaped 簡化而來。完成式表「先發生」，被動表階層是「被塑造出來的」，說明階層先已成形，所以才會持續。它夾在主詞與謂語 persist 之間，閱讀時要先記住 strata 是主詞。

not because ... but because ... 與現在分詞構句：

先否定一般人的想法（法律禁止流動），再提出真正的原因（家庭傳遞優勢）。but because 之後，主詞 families 與謂語 pass 之間插入 knowing that schools reward ... early，這是現在分詞構句，表家庭「同時具備的認知」。其中 only when 子句說明：學校只獎勵孩子早年習得的氣質，所以出身好的孩子占先機。

so ... that 結果子句與 neither ... nor：

pass advantages along so reliably that neither talent nor effort closes the gap 以 so ... that 表結果，so 修飾副詞 reliably，說明傳遞穩定到什麼程度。neither ... nor 連接 talent 與 effort，動詞跟隨較近的 effort，用單數 closes。

even though 讓步子句與非限定 whom：

even though reformers ... keep demanding fairer chances 以 even though 引出轉折：階層雖然穩固，改革的呼聲仍不停止。whom no ruler can silence 是非限定關係子句，先行詞是 reformers，whom 在子句中作 silence 的受詞，所以後面不再接受詞。這個插入語在主詞 reformers 與謂語 keep 之間加進「壓不住」的語氣。

● 參考翻譯

正是在現代社會裡（這些社會的成員仍期望憑才能向上流動），社會階層（雖已由財富、教育與職業所塑造）依然持續存在；原因不在於法律禁止流動，而在於各家庭明白學校只有在孩子及早習得優雅舉止時才會給予獎勵，因此把優勢傳遞得如此可靠，以致無論才能或努力都無法縮小差距，儘管改革者（沒有任何統治者能使他們噤聲）仍不斷要求更公平的機會。

● 逆向工程

不要看原來的整個長句，只看分解出來的短句小句，試試倒頭回去寫出完整的長句。