每日一篇:《经济学人》读译参考 Day131

英语阅读能力依靠什么？必然是词汇的积累，但，仅仅是词汇的积累是不够了，更应该了解英语句式，不同句型所表达意义。如何培养自己的阅读语感呢？那么就跟着聚英考研信息网小编每天学一点英语，一起为考研筑起坚实的地基。阅读是需要积累的，就像我们需要经常和人沟通才会促进我们的表达能力一样~小伙伴跟着小编一起，每天坚持打卡，培养英语阅读能力及语感，了解文章一些经典词汇的用法。

经济学人:关于利息:低利率意味着不公平(1)

 

Finance and Economics

财经

 

Free exchange：Negative justice

自由交流：负公平

 

Sub-zero interest rates are neither unfair nor unnatural.

 

负利率既非不公平也非不自然。

 

DENMARK'S Maritime Museum in Elsinore includes one particularly unappetising exhibit: the world's oldest ship's biscuit, from a voyage in 1852.Known as hardtack, such biscuits were prized for their long shelf lives, making them a vital source of sustenance for sailors far from shore.

译文

丹麦的埃尔西诺航海博物馆藏有一件特别让人没有胃口的展品：世界上最古老的船员干粮，它出自1852的一次航行，这种以硬面包闻名的干粮，是因为它们长久的保存期限而备受重视的，使它们成为远离海岸的水手的重要给养来源。

 

They were also appreciated by a great economist, Irving Fisher, as a useful economic metaphor.Imagine, Fisher wrote in "The Theory of Interest" in 1930, a group of sailors ship wrecked on a barren island with only their stores of hardtack to sustain them.On what terms would sailors borrow and lend biscuits among themselves?In this forlorn economy, what rate of interest would prevail?

译文

同时，它们也被一位伟大的经济学家欧文·费雪所推崇，这是一个有用的经济隐喻。想象一下，费雪在1930的《利息论》中写道，一次船只失事中落难到了一座贫瘠的岛屿上，只有储备的硬面包来维持生计。船员相互间会以何种条件借入和出借干粮呢?在这个孤立无助的经济体中，何种利率会占上风呢?

 

One might think the answer depends on the character of the unfortunate sailors.Interest, in many people's minds, is a reward for deferring gratification.That is one reason why low interest rates are widely perceived as unjust.

译文

人们或许认为答案取决于不幸船员的人品。在许多人看来，利息是推迟满足感的一种回报。这就是为什么低利率被普遍认为是不公平的原因之一。

 

If an abstemious sailor were prepared to lend a biscuit to his crewmate rather than eating it immediately himself, he would deserve more than one biscuit in repayment.The rate of interest should be positive- and the sharper the hunger of the sailors, the more positive it would be.In tact, Fisher pointed out, the interest rate on his imagined island could only be zero.If it were positive, any sailor who borrowed an extra biscuit to eat would have to use more than one biscuit in the future to repay the loan.

译文

如果某位省吃俭用的船员准备把一份干粮借给他的同伴，而不是立即自己吃掉，他会理应得到多于一份干粮的偿还。利率应当是正的——而且船员的饥饿感越强烈，它会正的越多。如果一个节俭的船员准备把饼干借给他的船员同伴，而不是自己立即吃掉，他会得到多于一份的饼干的偿还。利率应是正的，而水手的饥饿越强烈，越是积极（利率正的越多）。费雪机智的指出，在这个他所设想的岛屿上，利率可能仅为0。如果它是正的，任何一位借了额外的干粮吃的船员，今后都不得不用多于一份的干粮来偿还这笔贷款。

 

注释

1.interest rates 利率

例句:Interest rates would come down as the recovery gathered pace.

随着经济复苏步伐的加快，利率将会下降。

 

2.pointed out 指出

例句:I nurtured those contacts, Mr Wallis pointed out.

沃利斯先生指出，我培养了这些联系人。

 

3.rather than 宁愿；而不是

例句:

We need to crack on rather than mope about.

我们需要努力而不是闷闷不乐

 

4.a group of 一群

例句:When they meet with a group of suspicious individuals?

他们遭遇到一群可疑的人

 

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