A survey ranking journalist as the fifth-worst job to have in 2012 has been getting a lot of attention for the last few days, in case you haven’t noticed. The report, by CareerCast, says being a reporter at a newspaper, magazine or TV show is worse than waiting tables and only a tiny bit less lousy than working on an oil rig. Blame the combination of high stress and scarce career opportunities。

　　近些天來，不知你是否注意到，調查顯示記者是2012年度五個最差職業之一，人們對這一調查結果給予了很多的關注。職業排名報道顯示，報紙、雜志或電視節目的記者還不如前臺接待員，比挖油工人只好一點點。該職位承受的過高壓力與渺茫的職業機會成為大家吐槽的原因。

　　2012美國最差職業榜：媒體工作者相當悲催

　　None of that changes the core fact here. For those who are cut out for it — and that’s definitely not everyone — journalism is a uniquely rewarding, wonderful career. Here are just a few of the reasons why。

　　這些都不能改變一個核心的事實。對于那些真正適合這一職位的人(當然不是每個人)來說，記者是一個有著獨一無二價值的工作。以下是幾點原因。

　　You’re always learning. Remember how great college was? Every semester brought new topics, new professors, new ideas. Your brain got a workout. You could feel yourself getting smarter. Journalism is like that. You’re always building new mental muscles. You start out on a new beat or a new story as ignorant as a child, and within a few weeks or months you’re an expert. Wait, you didn’t like college? Don’t be a journalist. Problem solved。

　　你一直在學習。還記得大學有多好嗎？每個學期都有新的課題、新的教授和新的想法。你的大腦一直在運轉。你可以感到自己變得更加的聰明。記者也是這樣，你總是在鍛煉自己的思維能力。你像一個孩子一樣開始一個新的調查或者故事追蹤，幾周或者幾個月之內便成為了這方面的專家。等等，你不喜歡大學？那就別當記者了，問題解決。

　　You get paid to read a ton. Pretty much every journalist I know starts his day the same way: with a big cup of coffee and the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and a dozen or so blogs, either directly or filtered through Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. I’m sure a lot of people with real jobs start their days the same way, but most of them have to do it before they get to work. Suckers。

　　早起看報喝咖啡還有工資拿。大部分我認識的記者都是這樣開始他們的一天的：一大杯咖啡，《紐約時報》《華爾街日報》《紐約郵報》以及一大堆博客，從各種網站上直接或間接獲得信息。我相信大部分做其他工作的人也是這樣開始他們的一天的，不過他們得在工作開始前就看完這些，太掃興了。

　　You get paid to meet interesting people. Here are a few things I’ve done at FORBES in the name of journalism: gotten a lesson in Texas Hold ‘Em from a former pro poker player; watched a cartoonist for The New Yorker sketch comic ideas; gone jogging on the turf at Lambeau Field with the president of the Green Bay Packers; started a boycott against Mario Batali; got the creators of Words With Friends to explain why their game is so annoying. I’m sure waiters meet a lot of interesting people, too, but if they ask a lot of obnoxious questions they risk getting stiffed on the tip. I get a raise。

　　你會遇見各種有意思的人，還有錢賺。下面是我以《福布斯》記者的名義做過的一些事情：在德克薩斯州專業撲克手那學習知識；看一個卡通漫畫家為《紐約客》進行喜劇構思；和綠灣包裝工隊的老總在Lambeau草坪上慢跑；抗議馬里奧巴塔利；聽填字游戲的創始人解釋為什么他們的游戲如此煩人。我相信服務員也能碰見很多有趣的人們，但如果他們問一些令人討厭的問題，可就要擔心他們的小費問題了。我卻能加薪。

　　You get to meet celebrities. Note that I did not include this under “interesting people。” Sometimes they are and sometimes they aren’t, and often the interaction is too stage-managed and shallow to be able to tell. Sometimes they are big fat jerks who think you must care about meeting them more than you actually do. In any case, it’s nice for your mom to have something to brag about to her friends, since she probably won’t be bragging about how much money you make。

　　你能遇見名人。注意我并沒有把這一項包含在“有趣的人物”里。有時候他們很有趣，有時卻不，通常我們的互動都是精心安排好的，沒什么好說的。有時他們是個自負的混蛋，認為你必須把能和他們見面看成是多么榮耀的事情。但無論如何，你的母親和朋友之間多了一些談資(因為她不會多說你究竟賺了多少錢)。

　　Maybe you even get to enjoy a little celebrity. Like meeting celebrities, going on TV can be fun and exciting, or it can be excruciating. We journalists aren’t all straight-up attention whores, but I have yet to meet one who doesn’t like having his or her work recognized. Hearing someone say, “Hey, I saw that thing you wrote quoted in the Times!” never, ever gets old。

　　也許你也會小有名氣。就像遇見名人，上電視也是很有趣和令人興奮的。記者并不是注意力的直接聚集處，但我也遇到過一些人不喜歡自己的工作被人所知道，就像他們到老都不會希望聽別人說：“嗨，我在時報上看到了你的名字。”

　　All that “stress”？ It’s called excitement. Well, not all of it. But tracking down a scoop on deadline, when the newsroom is buzzing with dozens of people doing the same — it’s an adrenaline rush. Plenty of jobs in this world offer the prospect of unrelieved boredom. I’d rather have one that gets my heart pumping。

　　所有所謂的“壓力”都是浮云，我們把它們當做動力。當然也不全是。但臨近截稿日，整個新聞室的人都在奮筆疾書——這是腎上腺素的爆發。這個世界上有很多工作都給人帶來了難以釋放的無聊。我寧愿有一個能讓我心跳加速的職業。

　　Journalists get around. I’m not even talking about traveling, although most journalists get to do that every once in a while. I’m not a big racker-up of frequent flier miles, but I’ve been to conferences in Puerto Rico and Austin, two places I wouldn’t have made it to otherwise. On a day-to-day level, what matters more is that reporting is rife with chances to get up from your desk, get out of the office and stretch your legs. Don’t like staring at a glowing screen all day? Meet a few sources for coffee, do some man-on-the-street interviews or go cover a trade show. It’s often when you’re playing semi-hooky from the office that you’ll get your best stuff。

　　記者走遍天下。這里我指的并不是旅游，不過大部分的記者都會時不時地出去逛逛。我并不是一個經常出差的記者，但我曾經去過波多黎各和奧斯丁參加會議，如果不是做記者我可能這輩子都不會涉足的兩個地方。在一天天的工作中，更重要的是報道讓你遠離自己的辦公桌，走出辦公室來施展手腳。不喜歡一整天都盯著屏幕看？喝點咖啡，在街上做一些隨機的采訪或者參加一個貿易展。當你遠離辦公室的時候，才能得到最好的東西。

　　Have I convinced you that journalism is the only real career choice for curious, restless semi-narcissists like me? I hope not. There are enough of us already trying to do it. Go be a meter-reader。

　　寫到這里，我有沒有讓你相信，對我這種好奇心重、不安分的半自我陶醉者來說，記者是唯一真正的職業選擇嗎？我希望沒有。我們這個群體里想做好記者的人已經夠多了，你們還是去當抄表員吧。