A survey ranking journalist as the fifth-worst job to have in 2012 has been getting a lot of attention for the last few days, in case you haven’t noticed. The report, by CareerCast, says being a reporter at a newspaper, magazine or TV show is worse than waiting tables and only a tiny bit less lousy than working on an oil rig. Blame the combination of high stress and scarce career opportunities.
近些天来，不知你是否注意到，调查显示记者是2012年度五个最差职业之一，人们对这一调查结果给予了很多的关注。职业排名报道显示，报纸、杂志或电视节目的记者还不如前台接待员，比挖油工人只好一点点。该职位承受的过高压力与渺茫的职业机会成为大家吐槽的原因。

None of that changes the core fact here. For those who are cut out for it — and that’s definitely not everyone — journalism is a uniquely rewarding, wonderful career. Here are just a few of the reasons why.
这些都不能改变一个核心的事实。对于那些真正适合这一职位的人（当然不是每个人）来说，记者是一个有着独一无二价值的工作。以下是几点原因。

You’re always learning. Remember how great college was? Every semester brought new topics, new professors, new ideas. Your brain got a workout. You could feel yourself getting smarter. Journalism is like that. You’re always building new mental muscles. You start out on a new beat or a new story as ignorant as a child, and within a few weeks or months you’re an expert. Wait, you didn’t like college? Don’t be a journalist. Problem solved.
你一直在学习。还记得大学有多好吗？每个学期都有新的课题、新的教授和新的想法。你的大脑一直在运转。你可以感到自己变得更加的聪明。记者也是这样，你总是在锻炼自己的思维能力。你像一个孩子一样开始一个新的调查或者故事追踪，几周或者几个月之内便成为了这方面的专家。等等，你不喜欢大学？那就别当记者了，问题解决。

You get paid to read a ton. Pretty much every journalist I know starts his day the same way: with a big cup of coffee and the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and a dozen or so blogs, either directly or filtered through Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. I’m sure a lot of people with real jobs start their days the same way, but most of them have to do it before they get to work. Suckers.

早起看报喝咖啡还有工资拿。大部分我认识的记者都是这样开始他们的一天的：一大杯咖啡，《纽约时报》《华尔街日报》《纽约邮报》以及一大堆博客，从各种网站上直接或间接获得信息。我相信大部分做其他工作的人也是这样开始他们的一天的，不过他们得在工作开始前就看完这些，太扫兴了。

You get paid to meet interesting people. Here are a few things I’ve done at FORBES in the name of journalism: gotten a lesson in Texas Hold ‘Em from a former pro poker player; watched a cartoonist for The New Yorker sketch comic ideas; gone jogging on the turf at Lambeau Field with the president of the Green Bay Packers; started a boycott against Mario Batali; got the creators of Words With Friends to explain why their game is so annoying. I’m sure waiters meet a lot of interesting people, too, but if they ask a lot of obnoxious questions they risk getting stiffed on the tip. I get a raise.
你会遇见各种有意思的人，还有钱赚。下面是我以《福布斯》记者的名义做过的一些事情：在德克萨斯州专业扑克手那学习知识；看一个卡通漫画家为《纽约客》进行喜剧构思；和绿湾包装工队的老总在Lambeau草坪上慢跑；抗议马里奥巴塔利；听填字游戏的创始人解释为什么他们的游戏如此烦人。我相信服务员也能碰见很多有趣的人们，但如果他们问一些令人讨厌的问题，可就要担心他们的小费问题了。我却能加薪。

You get to meet celebrities. Note that I did not include this under “interesting people.” Sometimes they are and sometimes they aren’t, and often the interaction is too stage-managed and shallow to be able to tell. Sometimes they are big fat jerks who think you must care about meeting them more than you actually do. In any case, it’s nice for your mom to have something to brag about to her friends, since she probably won’t be bragging about how much money you make.
你能遇见名人。注意我并没有把这一项包含在“有趣的人物”里。有时候他们很有趣，有时却不，通常我们的互动都是精心安排好的，没什么好说的。有时他们是个自负的混蛋，认为你必须把能和他们见面看成是多么荣耀的事情。但无论如何，你的母亲和朋友之间多了一些谈资（因为她不会多说你究竟赚了多少钱）。

Maybe you even get to enjoy a little celebrity. Like meeting celebrities, going on TV can be fun and exciting, or it can be excruciating. We journalists aren’t all straight-up attention whores, but I have yet to meet one who doesn’t like having his or her work recognized. Hearing someone say, “Hey, I saw that thing you wrote quoted in the Times!” never, ever gets old.
也许你也会小有名气。就像遇见名人，上电视也是很有趣和令人兴奋的。记者并不是注意力的直接聚集处，但我也遇到过一些人不喜欢自己的工作被人所知道，就像他们到老都不会希望听别人说：“嗨，我在时报上看到了你的名字。”

All that “stress”? It’s called excitement. Well, not all of it. But tracking down a scoop on deadline, when the newsroom is buzzing with dozens of people doing the same — it’s an adrenaline rush. Plenty of jobs in this world offer the prospect of unrelieved boredom. I’d rather have one that gets my heart pumping.
所有所谓的“压力”都是浮云，我们把它们当做动力。当然也不全是。但临近截稿日，整个新闻室的人都在奋笔疾书——这是肾上腺素的爆发。这个世界上有很多工作都给人带来了难以释放的无聊。我宁愿有一个能让我心跳加速的职业。

Journalists get around. I’m not even talking about traveling, although most journalists get to do that every once in a while. I’m not a big racker-up of frequent flier miles, but I’ve been to conferences in Puerto Rico and Austin, two places I wouldn’t have made it to otherwise. On a day-to-day level, what matters more is that reporting is rife with chances to get up from your desk, get out of the office and stretch your legs. Don’t like staring at a glowing screen all day? Meet a few sources for coffee, do some man-on-the-street interviews or go cover a trade show. It’s often when you’re playing semi-hooky from the office that you’ll get your best stuff.
记者走遍天下。这里我指的并不是旅游，不过大部分的记者都会时不时地出去逛逛。我并不是一个经常出差的记者，但我曾经去过波多黎各和奥斯丁参加会议，如果不是做记者我可能这辈子都不会涉足的两个地方。在一天天的工作中，更重要的是报道让你远离自己的办公桌，走出办公室来施展手脚。不喜欢一整天都盯着屏幕看？喝点咖啡，在街上做一些随机的采访或者参加一个贸易展。当你远离办公室的时候，才能得到最好的东西。

Have I convinced you that journalism is the only real career choice for curious, restless semi-narcissists like me? I hope not. There are enough of us already trying to do it. Go be a meter-reader.
写到这里，我有没有让你相信，对我这种好奇心重、不安分的半自我陶醉者来说，记者是唯一真正的职业选择吗？我希望没有。我们这个群体里想做好记者的人已经够多了，你们还是去当抄表员吧。