passage two
In 1950, a young man would have found it much easier than it is today to get and keep a job in the auto industry.
would have done---虚拟语气，表示对过去事情的假设,意思是“本来会做”find – found - found
第一 it 指后面整句话，第二个 it 指 today to get and keep a job in the auto industry
auto industry这里的auto不翻译做自动，而翻译成汽车，后面是行业
在1950年，一个年轻人本应该比今天更容易获得和保留一份汽车行业的工作。
And in that year the average autoworker could meet monthly mortgage(抵押贷款) payments on an average home with just 13.4 percent of his take-home pay.
meet 可以翻译为支付，动词
在那一年，平均的汽车工人支付每月的抵押贷款只占他们实际工资的13.4%。
Today a similar mortgage would claim more than twice that share of his monthly earnings.
claim 声称，这里翻译成需要
今天相同的贷款需要超过之前每月的工资占有比例的两倍。
Other members of the autoworker’s family, however, might be less inclined to trade the present for the past.
might be less 翻译为不愿意，原来的意思为，很少有可能，几乎不可能。
inclined to 向某事倾斜，直译为去做就行
trade the present for the past 这句话翻译比较难，trade原意为贸易，the present for the past过去的百分比。
有更少可能去做贸易（动词）过去的百分比。简单的说就是不想用现在去交易过去的生活。
然而，汽车工人家庭的其他成员，也不愿意用现在的生活交换过去的生活。
His retired parents would certainly have had less economic security back then.
parents 父母
economic security 字面意思为经济安全，这里翻译为经济保障
他退休的父母那时的经济保障一定比现在更少。
Throughout much of the 1960s, more than a quarter of men and women age 65 and older lived below the poverty level, compared to less than 10 percent in2010.
poverty 贫穷
compared to less than 10 percent in2010.这句话意思不是比2010年少了10%，A compared to B，A和B指的是过去的生活生活水平比例，和现在的生活水平比例相比来说，less than 10 percent in2010其中2010年这一比例少于10%
在20世纪60年代大部分的时间里，超过四分之一的65岁及以上的男人和女人生活在贫穷的水平以下，相比来说，2010年这一比例少于10%。