Last week I was talking to a group of twenty-something women lawyers who had just started work in the City of London. One told me she was fed up with being asked how old she was by middle-aged colleagues and clients. The others agreed: they got asked their age all the time and they hated it. They saw it as a way of undermining their authority and putting them in their place.

不久前，我和一群剛剛開始倫敦金融城從業(yè)生涯的20多歲的女律師聊過天。其中一人告訴我，她對(duì)年屆中年的同事和客戶問她年齡感到不勝其煩。其他人也表示贊同：老是有人問到她們的年齡，她們覺得煩透了。在她們看來，問這種問題不過是為了削弱她們的威信，把她們“打回原形”。

When I got into the office the next day I did a survey of the youngest people I could find and asked if the same thing happened to them. Almost all said yes – not just the women, but the men, too.

第二天，到辦公室后，我對(duì)我能找到的辦公室里最年輕的人士做了一項(xiàng)調(diào)查，問他們是否也有同樣的遭遇。幾乎所有人都做出了肯定答復(fù)——不僅是女士，男士亦然。

How grim, I thought. Here is another indignity borne by the crunch generation – they are locked out of the housing market, saddled with student debt, struggling to find a decent job, and when they finally land one, they get punished for being young.

我心想，真慘啊。對(duì)于“緊縮世代”(crunch generation，指一畢業(yè)就趕上經(jīng)濟(jì)緊縮的一代——譯者注)而言，這是另一項(xiàng)恥辱——他們買不起房，背負(fù)著學(xué)生貸款，千辛萬苦也難以找到一份體面的工作，而當(dāng)他們終于找到了一份不錯(cuò)的工作，又因?yàn)槟昙o(jì)較輕而受到“敲打”。

Yet on closer inspection it is more complicated than that. My sample suggests there is a difference between how the sexes take the question.

然而，經(jīng)過更仔細(xì)的審視會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，情況比上面所說的更復(fù)雜。從我選取的樣本中可以看出，男女對(duì)這個(gè)問題的感受不一樣。

To the women, it feels like sexism and ageism in a single shot. But to some of the pushier young men, the question is an opportunity to show off. To be able to say: I’m 23 – and look how much I’ve achieved already – is deeply gratifying.

在女士們看來，這個(gè)問題同時(shí)具有性別歧視和年齡歧視的意味。而對(duì)于一些進(jìn)取心較強(qiáng)的年輕男士而言，這個(gè)問題則提供了一次炫耀的機(jī)會(huì)。能夠回答“我23歲”(潛臺(tái)詞：看看我已經(jīng)取得了多么了不起的成就)，是一件很能帶來滿足感的事。

Yet for both men and women, at some point in their late twenties and just before the appearance of the first wrinkle, the questions cease. By some unspoken agreement, everyone stops asking.

然而不論男士還是女士，從奔三的某個(gè)時(shí)候開始、在第一條皺紋出現(xiàn)前不久，這樣的問題就消失了。大家似乎達(dá)成了某種默契，所有人都不再問這個(gè)問題了。

The only people in their thirties who still get asked have either been wildly successful (I know someone of 32 with a board position who gets asked her age a lot) or pregnant women, who are asked by other women anxious about their own dwindling fertility.

年過三十而依然會(huì)被問到年齡問題的只有兩種人：一種是極為成功的人士(我認(rèn)識(shí)一位剛剛32歲、已成為董事的女士，就經(jīng)常會(huì)被問到年齡)，另一種是孕婦——問她年齡的往往是其他對(duì)自己生育能力日漸衰減感到焦慮的女士。

What is wrong – and most peculiar – about all this is not that we ask the youngest workers how old they are. It is that we don’t ask anyone else.

所有這一切的問題(同時(shí)也是最蹊蹺之處)，不在于我們問年輕人的年齡，而在于我們從不向任何其他人問這個(gè)問題。

With children, age is the first thing we want to know. Even the shyest child will always be ready to lisp out “I’m three-and-a-half”. Colleagues routinely ask the ages of my children – as well as the age of my elderly father. But they never ask how old I am.

對(duì)于孩子，我們首先想知道的就是年齡。即便最害羞的孩子也始終有這樣的準(zhǔn)備，一旦有人問“你幾歲了?”，就會(huì)咬著舌頭說一句“我三歲半了”。同事們時(shí)不時(shí)問我孩子的年齡，以及我老父親的年齡，但他們從來不會(huì)問我的年齡。

In the years between about 28 and 65 – for the bulk of our life that we dedicate to work – it is considered too rude to ask. On LinkedIn people post all sorts of irrelevant information about themselves – including whether they possesses a “skill” called “cross-functional team leadership” – but they never state their age. Anyone wanting to know (and surely everyone does) has to work backwards from the date they left school or university.

從28歲到65歲這段時(shí)間占人生的很大一部分，也是人生中用于努力工作的時(shí)間，但對(duì)大約處于這個(gè)年齡段的人，詢問年齡被認(rèn)為是不禮貌的。在LinkedIn網(wǎng)站上，人們會(huì)貼出各種關(guān)于自己的無關(guān)緊要的信息(包括他們是否擁有所謂的“跨部門團(tuán)隊(duì)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)能力”這種“技能”)，但他們從來不會(huì)提及自己的年齡。任何想知道他們年齡的人(當(dāng)然嘍，每個(gè)人都想知道)，都得從他們離開中學(xué)或大學(xué)的年份反推這個(gè)問題的答案。

Our coyness about age at work isn’t because we don’t think age is important. On the contrary: age continues to fascinate us. Whenever I interview anyone, I do not consider I’ve done the job properly unless I slip in how old they are. Someone’s age tells you something about their experience. It is a measuring stick to how well they are doing. There may be other, better, measuring sticks but the beauty of this one is that it is simple and can be applied to everyone. If nothing else, their age gives you a clue about their taste in pop music.

我們之所以在職場中對(duì)年齡問題扭扭捏捏，并不是因?yàn)槲覀冋J(rèn)為年齡不重要。相反，年齡是我們始終感興趣的問題。我每次面試(或采訪)別人的時(shí)候，如果我沒有假裝不小心地問一下他們的年齡，我就會(huì)覺得我的工作沒有圓滿完成。一個(gè)人的年齡會(huì)透露他們的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。年齡是衡量他們成就的一個(gè)標(biāo)尺。盡管可能存在其他更好的標(biāo)尺，但年齡這個(gè)標(biāo)尺勝在簡單，并且適用于每個(gè)人。就算不能提供其他信息，年齡也會(huì)為你猜測他們的流行音樂品味提供一條線索。

You could say that to be open about age would lead to more discrimination, though I can’t see how. As it is, it is not as if we are blind to age or treat older and younger workers the same. They look different; they are different. Refusing to reveal how old someone is makes discrimination worse as it means those who have invested in Botox or who have won the genetic lottery and are still trim and dark-haired do better than those who are grey and wrinkly.

你可能會(huì)說，在年齡問題上太過坦率可能會(huì)導(dǎo)致更多歧視現(xiàn)象，不過在我看來未必如此。事實(shí)上，年齡是可以看出來的，年長員工和年輕員工受到的待遇也是不一樣的。年長員工跟年輕員工的相貌不同，事實(shí)上也不同。拒絕透露年齡會(huì)造成更嚴(yán)重的歧視，因?yàn)檫@意味著，比起頭發(fā)灰白、臉上有皺紋的年長者，那些皮膚仍然光潔、頭發(fā)沒有變白的年長者更有優(yōu)勢，無論后者是因?yàn)榛ㄥX打了肉毒桿菌(Botox)除皺、還是幸運(yùn)地?fù)碛锌顾ダ系幕颉?/p>

Last week I told the young lawyers that in future when some older colleague asks them their age, they should smile and reply: “I’m 27. How old are you?”

當(dāng)時(shí)，我告訴那些年輕的女律師，以后有年紀(jì)較長的同事問到她們的年齡，她們應(yīng)該微笑著回答：“我27歲，您多大年紀(jì)?”

The last time I was asked such a direct question was nearly a decade ago. I was lying in an ambulance and a strange man was bending over me, telling me that I had had an accident on my bike.

我最后一次被直接問到這個(gè)問題是在將近10年前。當(dāng)時(shí)我躺在救護(hù)車?yán)?，一名陌生男子附身沖著我，對(duì)我說，我在騎自行車時(shí)出了事故。

What’s your name, he asked. Who is the prime minister?

當(dāng)時(shí)他問我，你叫什么名字?英國首相是誰?

I answered these without difficulty. But then he said: how old are you? I didn’t have the first idea. After a lot of racking my brains, I said as if unearthing a fact of considerable yet obscure interest: I think I’m in my forties.

我毫不費(fèi)勁地回答了這兩個(gè)問題。但他接著問道：你今年多少歲?我一時(shí)沒想起來。想了半天，我才答道：我應(yīng)該有40多歲了——這話說得，仿佛在披露一件人們有極大興趣(但原因令人費(fèi)解)的事實(shí)。

Now, bump on head long gone, I can say with confidence I am 54 and a half. It’s a perfectly good age to be. It isn’t how I feel inside (but that’s because age always feels contingent from within), but it does tell you something. At the very least, that I joined the workforce in easier times and I’m still here..

如今，我頭上碰出的包早已消失，我可以自信地說我今年54歲半。這是個(gè)十分完美的年齡。我內(nèi)心并不覺得自己已經(jīng)有這么大年紀(jì)了(但那是因?yàn)槿藗儍?nèi)心對(duì)自己的年齡永遠(yuǎn)感到意外)，不過年齡確實(shí)能透露一些信息。至少，我的年齡透露出，我是在容易就業(yè)的年代參加工作的，并且我現(xiàn)在仍在工作。