《中英對照讀新聞》Private education expenditure soars amid low consumer spending 南韓消費者支出低迷，私人教育開銷卻暴增

◎茅毅

South Korean households’ private education spending is growing much faster than their disposable income, statistics showed Thursday, posing a key challenge to the country’s efforts to revive the economy through domestic consumption.

週四發布的統計資料顯示，南韓家庭的私人教育支出增幅，遠比其可支配所得的增幅更快，這對致力藉國內消費復甦經濟的南韓造成一大挑戰。

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According to a recent survey published by Statistics Korea, the average monthly spending on private education by city-dwelling families of two or more people stood at 226,575 won in the third quarter of last year, a 6 percent increase compared to 2015.

根據南韓統計廳發布的一項新近研究，去年第3季，由兩人或以上組成的城市家庭，平均每月用在私人教育的花費為22萬6575韓元，較2015年增加6%。

For families with income over 4 million won, private education spending amounted to 618,000 won, compared to families earning between 1 million to 2 million won per month who spend around 45,000 won per month on their children’s education, the data showed.

該數據顯示，月收入逾400萬韓元的家庭，私人教育支出總計61萬8000韓元，反觀家庭月收入在100萬至200萬韓元間的家庭，每月用在其子女教育上的花費將近4萬5000韓元。

To meet the increased expenditure on private education, the surveyed households reduced their budgets for food and drinks to 4 percent of their income, health services to 8 percent, communication device bills to 3 percent and entertainment to 1 percent, the data showed.

該資料顯示，為支付在私人教育上增加的費用，接受調查的家庭撙節其飲食預算，降至其所得的4%；醫療開支降至其所得的8%；通訊裝置帳單降至其所得的3%；娛樂費用降至其所得的1%。

新聞辭典

expenditure：名詞，支出、費用。Unnecessary expenditures include those luxury items.（不必要的花費包括那些奢侈品。）

disposable：形容詞，一次性的（用完即扔的）、可任意使用的。Every disposable man was sent.（可動用的人手全派出去了。）

dwell：動詞，居住、生活。I dwell in happiness.（我活得快樂。）