2018年经济学人 过剩学问:产能过剩和产能不足(2)

 

In Britain the Luddites broke stocking frames to stop machines taking their jobs.

在英国，卢德派分子已经开始破坏织袜机，以阻止机器抢了他们的饭碗。

On the other hand, global demand was damaged by failed ventures in South America and debilitated¹ by the eventual² downfall of Napoleon.

另一方面，全球需求因为在南美洲的失败投机而元气大伤，因为拿破仑的最终倒台而一蹶不振。

In Britain government spending was cut by 40% after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

在英国，1815年的滑铁卢战役后，政府开支被砍掉了40%。

Some 300,000 discharged soldiers and sailors were forced to seek alternative employment.

大约30000名解甲归田的士兵和水手被迫另谋生路。

The result was a tide of overcapacity, what Say's contemporaries called a “general glut³”.

其结果是一波产能过剩，即萨伊的同辈人所说的“总体性供过于求”（general glut）。

Britain was accused of inundating⁴ foreign markets, from Italy to Brazil, much as China is blamed for dumping products today.

就像当今的中国一样，当时的英国被指向从意大利到巴西的外国市场倾销商品。

In 1818 a visitor to America found “not a city, nor a town, in which the quantity of goods offered for sale is not infinitely⁵ greater than the means of the buyers”.

1818年，一位前往美国的游客发现“没有一座城市或者城镇，其被用于出售的商品数量不是无限地大于购买者能力”。

It was this “general overstock of all the markets of the universe” that came to preoccupy⁶ Say and his critics.

就是这种“世间所有市场的总体存货过剩”最终吸引了萨伊和他的评论。

In trying to explain it, Say at first denied that a “general” glut could exist.

在试图解释这种过剩时，萨伊一上来就否认，“总体性的”供过于求可能存在。

Some goods can be oversupplied⁷, he conceded.

他承认，有些商品可能是被过度供给了。

But goods in general cannot.

但是，商品总体是不可能的。

His reasoning became known as Say's law: “it is production which opens a demand for products”, or, in a later, snappier formulation: supply creates its own demand.

他的推理成为了著名的萨伊定律（Say's law）:“正是生产开启对产品的需求”，或者是用后来更时髦的公式来说，就是：供给创造自己的需求（supply creates its own demand）。

This proposition, he admitted, has a “paradoxical complexion⁸, which creates a prejudice against it”.

他承认，这种观点有一种“似是而非的情况，这造成了一种对它的偏见”。

To the modern ear, it sounds like the foolhardy belief that “if you build it, they will come”.

对于现代人来说，这听上去像是那种“只要建，就有人来”的愚蠢信条。

Rick Perry, America's energy secretary, was ridiculed⁹ after a recent visit to a West Virginia coal plant for saying, “You put the supply out there and the demand will follow.”

日前，美国能源部长里克·佩里在访问了西佛吉尼亚的一座煤矿后，曾因为“把供给摆在那里，需求就会随之而来”的言论遭到嘲笑。

1 debilitated   

adj.疲惫不堪的，操劳过度的v.使（人或人的身体）非常虚弱( debilitate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Prolonged strike action debilitated the industry. 长时间的罢工削弱了这个行业的活力。
• This is especially important when dealing with the geriatric or debilitated patient. 这对老年和虚弱病人尤其重要。 来自互联网

2 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。

3 glut   

n.存货过多，供过于求；v.狼吞虎咽

参考例句：

• The glut of coffee led to a sharp drop in prices.咖啡供过于求道致价格急剧下跌。
• There's a glut of agricultural products in Western Europe.西欧的农产品供过于求。

4 inundating   

v.淹没( inundate的现在分词 )；（洪水般地）涌来；充满；给予或交予（太多事物）使难以应付

参考例句：

• Floodwaters are inundating states up and down the Eastern Seaboard. 洪水淹没了东部沿海各州。 来自互联网
• Their invasion of the city effecttidal wave inundating first the immigrant colonies. 他们的涌入城市，象潮头一样首先淹没了移民地带。 来自互联网

5 infinitely   

adv.无限地，无穷地

参考例句：

• There is an infinitely bright future ahead of us.我们有无限光明的前途。
• The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。

6 preoccupy   

vt.使全神贯注，使入神

参考例句：

• But at the moment he had other things to preoccupy him.不过当时有另外的事情分了他的心。
• An intelligent man considers the prospect of failure,but he doesn't preoccupy himself with pointless worry.一个聪明的男人可以预见到失败，但他绝不会去无谓地担心。

7 oversupplied   

v.过度供给( oversupply的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Malnutrition includes undernutrition, in which nutrients are undersupplied, and overnutrition, in which nutrients are oversupplied. 营养不良包括营养低下，即营养素供给不足，和营养过剩，即营养素供给过度。 来自互联网

8 complexion   

n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格

参考例句：

• Red does not suit with her complexion.红色与她的肤色不协调。
• Her resignation puts a different complexion on things.她一辞职局面就全变了。

9 ridiculed   

v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Biosphere 2 was ultimately ridiculed as a research debade, as exfravagant pseudoscience. 生物圈2号最终被讥讽为科研上的大失败，代价是昂贵的伪科学。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She ridiculed his insatiable greed. 她嘲笑他的贪得无厌。 来自《简明英汉词典》