middle class/ median

middle class group noun [S] (ALSO the middle classes)
a social group that consists of well-educated people, such as doctors, lawyers, and teachers, who have good jobs and are neither very rich nor very poor:
The upper middle class tend to go into business or the professions, becoming, for example, lawyers, doctors or accountants.
Compare lower class; upper class; working class.

middle-class Show phonetics
adjective
a middle-class suburb of New York

(from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)


美國國會圖書館2007年３月公布的一份研究報告就叫《誰是中產階級？》。報告認為如果只從收入多少來屆定中產階級是得不出精確答案的，因為美國人從年收入不到 ２萬美元到２５萬美元的都認為自己是中產階級。美國人口統計局公布的最寬泛的中產階級定義是稅前家庭年收入1.9萬到9.2萬美元，最狹義的中產階級定義 是家庭年收入3.6萬至5.8萬美元。２００５年到２００６年，美國中間家庭稅前年收入（即一半家庭收入在這個水平以上，一半在以下。此數據並非家庭稅前 收入平均數。）為4.8萬美元。

國會圖書館研究報告的結論是是否中產階級或多或少地取決於個人對自己在收入分配鏈中的定位。也就是與周圍的人相比，你對自己收入水平的評價。


median Show phonetics
adjective SPECIALIZED
describes the value which is the middle one in a set of values arranged in order of size:
Median household income fell last year.

median Show phonetics
noun [C] SPECIALIZED 中位數

central reservation UK noun [C usually singular] (US AND AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH median strip)
the narrow piece of land between the two halves of a large road

━━ a. 中間に位置する; 【数】中線の; 【統計】中央値の.
━━ n. 【解】正中動［静］脈; 【数】中数; 中点［線］; 【統計】中央値.
median eye　【生物】中央眼.
median lethal dose　【生化】＝lethal dose 50.
median price share issue　【株】中間発行.
median strip　〔米〕 中央分離帯.