Some famous athletes and entertainers earn millions of dollars every year. Do you think these people deserve such high salaries? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.
Some athletes and entertainers earn millions of dollars annually. In contrast, an elementary school teacher, on average, probably makes less than $35,000 a year. I think the fact that this difference is commonplaces is a sign of our society's misplaced values. It shows that we put more importance on entertaining our children than on educating them. It seems that the careers that are the least values in our society often are those that are the most important.
一些运动员和艺人每年挣数百万美元。相比之下，一名小学教师平均每年的收入可能不到3.5万美元。我认为这种差异是司空见惯的，这是我们社会价值观错位的表现。这表明我们更重视娱乐孩子，而不是教育他们。似乎在我们的社会中，最没有价值的职业往往是最重要的职业。
Why is this so? The market determines who gets paid what. Teachers are paid by tax dollars. Sports teams make hundreds of millions of dollars every year. These teams earn fabulous profits from radio and television rights, as well as everything sold at the concessions stands. The same is true of movies. They are produced by studios that make huge profits annually. These enterprises can afford to pay their entertainers and sports figures huge salaries, because those athletes and film stars draw people to the entertainment.
为什么会这样？市场决定谁得到什么。教师的工资是用税金支付的。运动队每年赚数亿美元。这些球队从广播和电视转播权，以及在特许权展台出售的所有东西中获得了惊人的利润。电影也是如此。它们是由每年都能赚大钱的工作室制作的。这些企业支付得起艺人和体育界人士的巨额工资，因为那些运动员和电影明星吸引人们去娱乐。
Why are we willing to pay so much to see a ball game or a movie, but not for a good teacher? Maybe it's because we want distraction; we want to be entertained. Maybe it's because we think of education as a right, which entertainment seems like a luxury. We expect to pay for our luxuries.
为什么我们愿意花这么多钱去看球赛或电影，却不愿意去看一个好老师？也许是因为我们想要分心，我们想要娱乐。也许这是因为我们认为教育是一种权利，而娱乐似乎是一种奢侈品。我们希望为我们的奢侈品买单。
It's not that I begrudge the players and entertainers their huge salaries. Most of them have very short careers. Athletes may be too old in their early 30s. Many of them gamble early in their lives on making it big in the sports or entertainment world, and deny themselves a good education. They have little chance of a stable career, so they need to earn enough money to support them for a long time. On the other hand, most of us aren't going to earn $10 million in a lifetime of work. So it's hard to sympathize with people who do.
这并不是说我嫉妒球员和艺人的巨额薪水。他们大多数人的职业生涯很短。运动员在30出头的时候可能太老了，他们中的许多人早年就把赌注押在体育或娱乐界，并拒绝接受良好的教育。他们几乎没有稳定的职业机会，所以他们需要挣足够的钱来长期支持他们。另一方面，我们大多数人一辈子工作赚不到1000万美元。所以，很难同情那些有同情心的人。
We have to ask ourselves: who really give the most value to society?
我们必须扪心自问：谁真正为社会付出了最大的价值？