编者按：读者Charles在阅读了10月29日出版的第161期《星星生活报》上刊载的文章《一位白领嫁到加拿大后的烦恼生活》后给编辑部来电，他在电邮中提出自己的观点，他认为，“白领”和“蓝领”这些正被西方社会撇弃的词语，目前在中国正大行其道。Charles指出，该文中“她”目前的生活方式并不代表加拿大人的平均水平。信中认为，博士学位并不能保证高收入，而财富更与个人的才干、语言、领导能力等有关。

下面是来信全文：

I read with great interest an article on the last issue of “New Star Times” (Oct. 29). This is about the experiences of a “White Collar” woman who is married to a student in Canada. I apologize that, due to technical difficulty, I can only write this in English. I would be grateful if you could make this e-mail available for her.

I have made home in Canada since I left Shanghai 16 years ago. I love this country immensely primarily because of its fundamental respect for the human lives and rights. The humanitarian-based social systems, although still flawed, have, for the last decade, made Canada one of the top 5 best countries in the world to live in. An new immigrant from mainland China won’t fully appreciate how lucky the Canadians are until he/she has lived in this country long enough. Interestingly, while the words “white collars” and “blue collars” originating in the very old days from the Western countries have been largely abandoned by the civilized world, these obsolete, discriminating words are becoming more and more popular in today’s China, a country that labels itself as being modern and socialist.

That is quite ironic.

Understandably, she leads a meager life as the wife a student. Let her know that her current lifestyle is by no means representative of that of the average Canadians. Citizens from the upper-middle or upper class do not frequent shopping at the Yonge Street or the Wall-Mart. Many people choose to swim in their backyard pools rather than in the community centres. In Greater Toronto Area, there are numerous private, exclusive golf clubs, tennis clubs, spas, etc., all of which open doors to the wealthy. In Canada as in any other capitalist country, whoever make more money lives a better life.

However, a doctorate degree does not guarantee a good salary. The wealth has more to do with one’s overall talents. language and social skills, and the leadership capability, as well as with how much he/she has adopted and participated in the mainstream culture. Over the last decade, we have seen many outstanding businessmen, physicians, and engineers emerging from the Chinese immigrants living in GTA. While this “White Collar” lady listed several people from mainland China who, in their forties, can barely make $40,000/year, I can easily give her a list of individuals who earn an
annual personal income between $100K and $300K. These people, all in their forties, immigrated to Canada from mainland China in late 1980’s and early 1990’s. They worked extremely hard, physically and intellectually. They are our pride. Nowadays too many new immigrants complain about the society’s neglect, but too few of them ask themselves “Am I working hard enough?”.

Charles

（注：原文可浏览 http://www.newstarnet.com/phpcode/web/view_detail.php?news_art_id=49448）