TED演讲 你存钱的能力跟你用的语言有关?(1)

 　　The global economic financial crisis has reignited public interest 全球金融危机让人们对早在亚当·斯密时代

　　in something that's actually one of the oldest questions in economics, dating back to at least before Adam Smith. 就被提出的一个古老的经济学问题重新产生了兴趣：

　　And that is, why is it that countries with seemingly similar economies and institutions can display radically¹ different savings² behavior? “为什么经济规模和政治体制看起来相似的国家之间，国民的储蓄习惯差别如此之大？”

　　Now, many brilliant economists³ have spent their entire lives working on this question, 已经有很多经济学大师花毕生精力研究了这个问题，

　　and as a field we've made a tremendous amount of headway and we understand a lot about this. 取得了很大的进展，我们对这个问题也有了很深的认识。

　　What I'm here to talk with you about today is an intriguing⁴ new hypothesis 我今天要跟大家分享的是一个很有意思的假说，

　　and some surprisingly powerful new findings that I've been working on 我研究了人们说的语言的（语法）结构

　　about the link between the structure of the language you speak and how you find yourself with the propensity⁵ to save. 和他们的存钱习惯之间的关系，并得到了一些意外的新发现。

　　Let me tell you a little bit about savings rates, a little bit about language, and then I'll draw that connection. 我们先介绍国民储蓄比率，再介绍语言差别，然后我们把这两者联系起来。

　　Let's start by thinking about the member countries of the OECD, or the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. 我们从OECD国家开始考虑，OECD即“经济合作与发展组织”。

　　OECD countries, by and large, you should think about these as the richest, most industrialized countries in the world. 基本上OECD包含的都是世界上最富有的工业化国家。

　　And by joining the OECD, they were affirming a common commitment to democracy, open markets and free trade. 而且加入OECD组织的国家都需要符合民主政府、开放市场和自由贸易等要求。

　　Despite all of these similarities, we see huge differences in savings behavior. 虽然这些国家都是很相似的，但是他们的存储行为差别很大。

　　So all the way over on the left of this graph, 看这张图的左边，

　　what you see is many OECD countries saving over a quarter of their GDP every year, 你会看到多数OECD成员国年储蓄率超过GDP的1/4，

　　and some OECD countries saving over a third of their GDP per year. 而部分成员国的年储蓄率达到了GDP的1/3。

1 radically   

ad.根本地，本质地

参考例句：

• I think we may have to rethink our policies fairly radically. 我认为我们可能要对我们的政策进行根本的反思。
• The health service must be radically reformed. 公共医疗卫生服务必须进行彻底改革。

2 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

3 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 propensity   

n.倾向；习性

参考例句：

• He has a propensity for drinking too much alcohol.他有酗酒的倾向。
• She hasn't reckoned on his propensity for violence.她不曾料到他有暴力倾向。