rat-race

基本解释

Most people are sort of like all in a rat-race and scrabbling up together.
很多人都像是在一个你死我活的竞争中，拥挤在一起。
If we stay in the rat-race 24 hours, seven days a week, we are bound to pollute our inner space as well as the outer space.
如果我们保持每周七天二十四小时你死我活的竞争状态，我们必然会污染我们的内心世界，也会污染外部空间。
In our rat-race culture, we too often witness young men and women choosing career paths which yield external recognition over those which they find intrinsically interesting.
在当今竞争激烈的环境下，我们见证了太多的青年男女，他们选择的往往是能够赢得他人认可，而非自己发自内心感兴趣的职业。

If you are ready to chuck your rat-race career for something in the boondocks, take inspiration from Life 2.0, by FORBES Publisher Rich Karlgaard.
FORBES: The Spokane Arb Play
Like a rat-race commuter, you can get dressed, have breakfast, say goodbye to the goldfish, then march out the door ready to conquer the world.
FORBES: Why Your Home Office Should Be In The Backyard
When he tested the powder on mice they no longer ran up a steep incline to get a reward, nor tumbled down it in a stupor, but ran around, happy and alert, at the bottom, as if the rat-race did not exist.
ECONOMIST: Leo Sternbach

If you talk about getting out of the rat race, you mean leaving a job or way of life in which people compete aggressively with each other to be successful.