Wealthy parents pass on three quarters of their fortunes to their children meaning it will take 300 years for the offspring of today's super-rich to have average incomes, a survey has revealed.

研究顯示，富有的父母們會把四分之三的財產留給子女們，這就意味著現今富豪的后代三百年后才會與普通人收入持平。

The sons and daughters of prestigious families are also likely to live longer than average, more likely to attend Oxbridge, live in expensive houses, and go on to become doctors or lawyers.

出身望族的子女們也會比普通人長壽，更可能進牛津劍橋，住豪宅，成為醫生或律師。

There is also little difference in wealth or social standing when the richest families of the Victoria era are compared to their descendants today, according to the study.

研究發現，維多利亞時期的豪門與他們今天的后代相比，其財富和地位也只有微小的變化。

Publishing their findings in the Economic Journal, Professor Gregory Clark and Dr Neil Cummins said: 'What your great-great-grandfather was doing is still predictive of what you are doing now.'

《經濟學雜志》發表了該項研究。格雷戈里·克拉克教授和尼爾·卡明斯博士說：“你的高曾祖父的階層預示了你的階層。”

The pair examined the records of 19,000 people, including more than 600 rare family names such as Bazalgette, the Pepys, and Bigge.

該項研究共調查了19000個人的檔案，其中包括了600多個罕見姓氏如巴扎蓋特、佩皮斯、比格等等。

Joseph Bazalgette was responsible for building the world's first sewer system in London in the 19th century, the Pepys family tree contains noted diarist Samuel Pepys, and John Bigge was a judge and royal commissioner.

19世紀，巴扎蓋特家族中的約瑟夫·巴扎蓋特曾負責過在倫敦建設世界第一套下水管道系統，佩皮斯家族的家譜系中曾出現過著名的日記作家塞繆爾·佩皮斯，而約翰·比格是一名法官和王族理事。

They found that, compared to their relatives in 1850, those living with that surname today are almost certain to have amassed fortunes well beyond the reach of the average Briton.

他們發現，與1850年的先祖們相比，冠有這些姓氏的后人們所積累的財富幾乎全部都在英國人平均水準之上。

For example Sir Peter Bazalgette, the great-great-grandson of Sir Joseph, is the founder of Endemol television production company which created Big Brother and Deal or No Deal.

例如約瑟夫·巴扎蓋特先生的玄孫彼得·巴扎蓋特先生創建了安迪摩爾傳媒集團，沒錯，就是“老大哥（Big Brother）”和“一擲千金（Deal or No Deal）”節目的創立公司。

The company was floated on the Dutch stock exchange in 2005. It trebled in value and was sold for ￡2.5billion in 2007.

2005年，這家公司在荷蘭股票交易所上市，2007年，市值已增漲三倍，賣到了25億英鎊。

The findings of Dr Clark and Dr Cummins, reported by The Guardian, suggest that the passing down of wealth has a far bigger impact on society than previously thought.

《衛報》報道了克拉克博士和卡明斯博士的這項發現，表明了與之前人們的認識相比，財富的傳承對社會具有更加深遠的影響。

Vocabulary

offspring: 后代

prestigious: 有名望的

predictive: 預言性的

surname: 姓氏

commissioner: 理事

treble: 三倍的

（譯者：無事此靜坐 編輯：王偉）