文章原文：
Thesedays, people who do manual work often receive far more money than people whowork in offices. People who work in offices are frequently referred to as"white-collar workers' for the simple reason that they usually wear acollar and tie to go to work. Such is human nature, that a great many peopleare often willing to sacrifice higher pay for the privilege of becomingwhite-collar workers. This can give rise to curious situations, as it did inthe case of Alfred Bloggs who worked as a dustman for the EllesmereCorporation.
Whenhe got married, Alf was too embarrassed to say anything to his wife about hisjob. He simply told her that he worked for the Corporation. Every morning, heleft home dressed in a smart black suit. He then changed into overalls andspent the next eight hours as a dustman. Before returning home at night. Hetook a shower and changed back into his suit. Alf did this for over two yearsand his fellow dustmen kept his secret Alf's wife has never discovered that shemarried a dustman and she never will, for Alf has just found another job. Hewill soon be working in an office. He will be earning only half as much as heused to, but he feels that his rise in status is well worth the loss of money.From now on, he will wear a suit all day and others will call him 'Mr. Bloggs',not 'Alf'.
精读笔记：
1.The doublelife of Alfred Bloggs.
double:twiceas large, heavy, strong, etc.; twofold in size, amount, number, extent, etc.
2.These days, people who do manual work often receive far more money than people who work in offices.
(1)manualwork: manual labour (in British English, manual labor in American English) ormanual work is physical work done by humans, in contrast to labour by machinesand working animals.
(2)far more than:
far通常用于表示距离（at or to a
considerable distance in space），但是在此处的含义是very much, or to a great degree，短语more than本来就是比较级，在前面加上far来进行修饰，起到加强程度或者语气的作用。
例句：The new systemis far better than the old one.
3.People who work in offices are frequently referred to as ‘white-collar workers' for the simple reason that they usually wear a collar and tie to go to work.
(1)frequently:veryoften or many times.
例句：He wasfrequently drunk.
FAQ:abbreviationforfrequently asked question, aquestion in a list of questions and answers intended to help people understanda particular subject.
(2)refer to:totalk about or write about (someone or something) especially briefly; to mention(someone or something) in speech or in writing.
(3)white-collar worker:relatingto people who work in offices, doing work that needs mental rather thanphysical effort.
4.Such is human nature, that a great many people are often willing to sacrifice higher pay for the privilege of becoming white-collar workers.
(1)such: such用于句首起到强调作用，句子是倒装语序.
(2)sacrifice(someone or something) for (someone or something else):To give up, relinquish,or surrender someone or something in order to obtain someone or something,benefit someone or something, or achieve some purpose.
例句：He sacrificeda lot of opportunities for you, and this is how you repay him?
(3)privilege:anadvantage that only one person or group of people has, usually because of theirposition or because they are rich:
例句：Healthcareshould be a right, not a privilege.
5.This can give rise to curious situations, as it did in the case of Alfred Bloggs who worked as a dustman for the Ellesmere Corporation.
(1)give rise to：to be the reason why something happens,especially something bad or unpleasant.
例句：His speech gaverise to a bitter argument.
(2)curious:通常的含义是interested in learning about people orthings around you.
例句：Babies arecurious about everything around them.
但是在这个句子里的意思是strange andunusual.
例句：A curiousthing happened to me yesterday.
6.When he got married, Alf was too embarrassed to say anything to his wife about his job.
(1)embarrassed：feeling ashamed or shy.
例句：She feltembarrassed about undressing in front of the doctor.
(2)too…to:Thewords too…to have a negative meaning. It means ‘more than is necessary ordesirable’.
在英语写作时可以将简单句通过这个句型修改，丰富句型结构：
修改前：He was verynervous. He could not perform well on the stage.
修改后：He was toonervous to perform well on the stage.
7.Every morning, he left home dressed in a smart black suit.
smart：通常的含义是having or showing a high degree of mental
ability，但是此处的含义是having aclean, neat, stylish appearance.
例句：She wore smartdresses and dashing hats.
8.He will be earning only half as much as he used to, but he feels that his rise in status is well worth the loss of money.
well:a lot, orto a great degree.
例句：The village iswell below sea level.