“我活在地球下的深渊，每一刻，每一天”。

这是一位美国普通女性在网上写自己失业的真实感受。我从头看到尾，眼泪流了出来。决定翻译出来，给已经三年的，还没有扭出低谷的美国经济危机留一份写照。

她的文笔简单质朴，并不难懂。但如果我翻译的不好，不是我的英文不好，而是我还没有失业，还没有切骨之痛。原谅我，失业的美国人。

标题：趴在低层还是爬不上来：“我并不是笨蛋，可确实被感觉是一个笨蛋。

我的故事和那些登在你网络的故事没有什么不同，还好，我觉得不孤独了。无法睡觉，不敢出门，没钱吃饭。。。每一个人写的那些恐怖感觉都是我的真正生活。

我有一个教育学学位，在德州和佛州的公立学校教了 15 年书。2008年，与佛州学校一年的合同到期时，被通知我的位置取消了。我申请了失业救济金，可是又一想，最好还是赶紧找工作。找到一份临时工，自然也没有了失业救济金。才一个月，临时工作也没有了，我再也不合格申请失业救济金。

我发现自己真正找到了工作，一个很不寻常的工作：被迫卖自己的房子。当我没有钱的时候，无法给汽车加油的时候，没有工作的时候，我的水电被掐断的时候，我真想自杀。大概出於天性，我还活下来。被迫卖房子和无限爱心的妈妈使我无尽头的活下来，但生命没有了价值。我活在地球下的深渊，每一刻，每一天。

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原文：

Down But Not Out: ‘I’m not stupid but I sure have been made to feel that way.’

My story won't be any different from the article and stories I read on your website but it is good to know I am not alone. Everything people wrote about feeling horrible about themselves and not sleeping, not going out, not having money for food is true of me! I have a BS in Education and taught in the public school systems in Texas and Florida for over 15 years. I was on an annual contract in '08 in Florida when I was told my position was eliminated. I did apply for unemployment but thought that the proper thing to do was get another job immediately. I found a temp job and lost my unemployment. I also lost that job after working one month. Of course, I was no longer eligible for unemployment.

I found other odd jobs but was forced to sale my house on a short-sale. I attempted suicide when I had no money, no gas for my car, no job, no food, and my electric and water had been shut off. Only by some fluke of nature or whatever you want to call it did I survive. But survive is all I have been doing ever since. Odd jobs and graciousness from my mom keep me going but I have no quality of life. I live in hell on earth each and everyday.