"I'M a little embarrassed," Liu Jing leaned in closer and lowered her voice,revealing for the first time a hint of discomfort since the topic of credit cards had been broached.
　　“我有點(diǎn)不好意思，”劉靜靠在柜臺(tái)上放低聲音說(shuō)，自信用卡問(wèn)題被提出以來(lái)第一次暗示不適。

　　Liu was born in Henan. After four years at the university she landed a position as a junior executive at a digital advertising firm.
　　劉出生在河南。經(jīng)過(guò)四年大學(xué)她謀得了數(shù)字廣告公司初級(jí)主管的一個(gè)職位。

　　As a junior executive, she netted 5,000 yuan (US$800) a month after taxes. From this, she paid 2,000 yuan per month in rent for a shared flat near Beijing's fourth ring road. This left her with 3,000 yuan a month in disposable income, or 100 yuan a day.
　　作為一個(gè)初級(jí)管理人員，她稅收后一個(gè)月賺5000元人民幣(合800美元)。從中她每月要為北京四環(huán)路附近合租的房子支付2000元的房租。這每個(gè)月給她留下3000元的可支配收入，或100元一天。

　　With this sum, she had to cover her remaining living expenses. She was hard-pressed to make ends meet.
　　這么一點(diǎn)兒錢，她必須兼顧到她剩下的生活開(kāi)支。她很難使得收支平衡。

　　At this moment, a friend recommended that Liu apply for a UnionPay credit card from one of China's large state-owned banks.
　　這時(shí)，一個(gè)朋友建議劉向中國(guó)的大型國(guó)有銀行申請(qǐng)銀聯(lián)信用卡。

　　At first, Liu used the card to make ends meet.
　　起初，劉使用這張信用卡還能使收支平衡。

　　But as time went on, the allure of this "extra" income and the social benefits it allowed compelled Liu to slowly increase her borrowing. She soon discovered that borrowing is a slippery slope.
　　但隨著時(shí)間的推移，這份“額外”收入的誘惑以及其允諾的社會(huì)福利迫使劉慢慢增加著她的借貸。她很快發(fā)現(xiàn)借款是一項(xiàng)滑坡謬誤。

　　After using the card for one year, she had accumulated debt of 15,000 yuan, or three times her previous monthly income. She had no plan for paying off the balance.
　　在使用信用卡一年之后，她已經(jīng)累積債務(wù)15000元，是她以前月收入的三倍。她沒(méi)有計(jì)劃償還借貸。

　　Since being introduced in 1985, the number of credit cards issued in China has grown at an astonishing rate, reaching 285 million in 2011, five times the number in 2006. Growth has remained consistently high and is expected to continue at 31 percent per year over the next five years.
　　自從在1985年被介紹進(jìn)來(lái)，信用卡在中國(guó)的發(fā)行數(shù)量以驚人的速度增長(zhǎng)，在2011年達(dá)到2.85億，這一數(shù)字是2006年的5倍。增速仍持續(xù)走高，預(yù)計(jì)在接下來(lái)的五年將繼續(xù)以每年31%的速度增長(zhǎng)。

　　According to the 2012 Chinese Credit Card Industry Bluebook, US$1.2 trillion of purchases were made with credit cards in China in 2011, a year-on-year increase of 48 percent.
　　根據(jù)2012年中國(guó)信用卡行業(yè)藍(lán)皮書，中國(guó)在2011年有1.2萬(wàn)億美元的購(gòu)買是通過(guò)信用卡支付的，比去年同期增長(zhǎng)48%。

　　Over the next decade, the country is expected to become the largest credit card market in the world by number of issued cards, overtaking the United States.
　　在接下來(lái)的十年，通過(guò)發(fā)行的信用卡數(shù)量中國(guó)預(yù)計(jì)將成為世界上最大的信用卡市場(chǎng)，超越美國(guó)。

　　Although the figure is high, it is worth noting that in China, credit cards are still used mostly for large-ticket items, while cash is still the predominant payment method for smaller purchases. Indeed, one study on credit card holders in Shanghai showed that 80 percent of purchases below 100 yuan are made with cash.
　　雖然這個(gè)數(shù)字很高，但值得注意的是，在中國(guó)信用卡仍主要用于大件商品，對(duì)于小型購(gòu)買現(xiàn)金仍然是主要的支付方式。事實(shí)上，一項(xiàng)對(duì)上海信用卡持有者的研究表明100元以下的購(gòu)買80%是使用現(xiàn)金。

　　Changing attitude
　　改變的觀念

　　Despite these optimistic growth projections, China's cash-centric consumer culture and traditional beliefs about personal finance have meant that consumers are resistant to change, thus slowing the adoption of electronic payment methods.
　　盡管有這些樂(lè)觀的增長(zhǎng)預(yù)期，中國(guó)以現(xiàn)金為中心的消費(fèi)文化和對(duì)個(gè)人理財(cái)?shù)膫鹘y(tǒng)信仰意味著消費(fèi)者抗拒變革，從而緩慢采用著電子支付方式。

　　Many of these cultural beliefs stem from Confucian values, which see borrowing as shameful because it means living beyond one's means.
　　這些文化信念很多是源于儒家價(jià)值觀，視借貸為可恥的，因?yàn)檫@意味著生活不自足。

　　However, Western consumption-driven lifestyles are finding their way into China, especially among the youth.
　　然而，西方消費(fèi)驅(qū)動(dòng)型的生活方式正在逐漸進(jìn)入中國(guó)，特別是青年之中。

　　This is demonstrated by the materialization of a new class of yue guang zu, those "with no savings at the end of the month." This group includes young urban students and professionals under 35, largely in first and second tier cities, who have begun to abandon some of the cultural taboos surrounding borrowing money in order to fund their modern, highly consumerist lifestyles, in some cases spending well beyond their means.
　　這由那些“月底沒(méi)有儲(chǔ)蓄”的新階層“月光族”的物質(zhì)化來(lái)證實(shí)。這一群體包括年輕的城市學(xué)生和35歲以下的專業(yè)人員，主要在一二線城市，他們已經(jīng)開(kāi)始放棄一些文化禁忌，通過(guò)借錢來(lái)支付他們現(xiàn)代高消費(fèi)主義的生活方式，某些情況下開(kāi)支遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超出他們的能力。

　　Many of these changes in the cultural attitude toward credit have been driven by aggressive marketing by banks issuing credit cards, which offer rewards, discounts and so on to encourage spending.
　　這些對(duì)信用卡的文化態(tài)度的變化很多是由積極的信貸市場(chǎng)所驅(qū)動(dòng)，通過(guò)銀行發(fā)行的信用卡、提供獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)、折扣等來(lái)鼓勵(lì)消費(fèi)。

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