Wage slaves have jobs where they can go and spend their most productive hours writing high-powered memos so they can be more productive,while other people spend their time ignoring memos so they can be more productive too.

工资奴隶们的工作就是用他们最有生产力的时间去写高功率（？）的备忘录，这样他们就能更有生产力，而其他人则用他们的时间去忽略备忘录，这样他们也能更有生产力。

This is how it goes.

In fact, one of the great inventions of the 20th century, the personal computer, has made it possible to write even more memos and notices.

事实上，20 世纪最伟大的发明之一--个人电脑--使得人们有可能写更多的备忘录和通知。

This is great because it allows people to do their job while looking busier than ever.

这很好，因为它让人们在完成工作的同时，看起来比以往任何时候都忙碌。

Looking busy is important because in this culture business is a virtue, just as being in debt is a virtue, and the most virtuous are those with the highest credit scores.

看起来很忙很重要，因为在这种文化中，做生意是一种美德，就像欠债是一种美德一样，而最有美德的人就是那些信用分数最高的人。

They're better at being in debt compared to other people.

与其他人相比，他们更善于负债。

This endless working and paying is called "making a living," yet people are so busy "making a living" that they have no time for living.

这种无休止的工作和付出被称为 “谋生”，然而人们却忙于 “谋生”，无暇顾及生活。

A wage slave is a person who is not only economically bound by mortgages, loans, and other obligations, but also mentally bound by an inability to perceive that there are other options available, like the prisoners in Plato's Cave.

工资奴隶不仅在经济上被抵押、贷款和其他义务所束缚，而且在精神上也被束缚，因为他们无法意识到还有其他选择，就像柏拉图洞穴中的囚犯一样。

Their chains are not physical like those of 150 years ago (though they still are in some parts of the world); the chains are mental, which in some sense makes them worse, because it turns the prisoners into their own prison wardens.

Like the slaves in Plato's Cave, the only commonly accepted way for one of them to leave is to win the "prison game," which means accumulating at least a million to retire.

就像柏拉图《洞穴》中的奴隶一样，他们中唯一被普遍接受的离开方式就是赢得 “监狱游戏”，这意味着积累至少一百万来退休。