-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Finance and Economics 财经
Free exchange 自由交流
Negative justice 负公平
Denmark's Maritime2 Museum in Elsinore includes one particularly unappetising exhibit: the world's oldest ship's biscuit, from a voyage in 1852. 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:世上最古老的船员干粮,它出自1852年的一次海上航行。
Known as hardtack, such biscuits were prized for their long shelf lives, making them a vital source of sustenance3 for sailors far from shore. 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,这使得它们成为了远洋航行的船员的一个关键的给养来源。
They were also appreciated by a great economist4, Irving Fisher, as a useful economic metaphor5. 同时,它们还被一位伟大的经济学家——欧文·费雪推崇为一个有用的经济学比喻。
Imagine, Fisher wrote in "The Theory of Interest" in 1930, a group of sailors ship wrecked6 on a barren island with only their stores of hardtack to sustain them. 假设,费雪在1930年的《利息理论》中写道,一群船员在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。
On what terms would sailors borrow and lend biscuits among themselves? 船员相互间会以何种条件借入和出借干粮呢?
In this for lorn economy, what rate of interest would prevail? 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. 人们或许会认为,答案取决于不幸的船员的人品。
Interest, in many people's minds, is a reward for deferring7 gratification. 在许多人的头脑中,利息是对推迟满足感的一-种奖赏。
That is one reason why low interest rates are widely perceived as unjust. 这是为什么低利率被广泛地认为是不公平的一个原因。
If an abstemious8 sailor were prepared tolend a biscuit to his crewmate rather than eating it immediately himself, he would deserve more than one biscuit in repayment9. 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。
The rate of interest should be positive- and the sharper the hunger of the sailors, the more positive it would be. 利率应当是正的——而且船员的饥饿感越强烈,它会正的越多。
In tact10, Fisher pointed11 out, the interest rate on his imagined island could only be zero. 实际上,费雪指出,在这个他所设想的岛屿上,利率可能仅为0。
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. 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。
点击收听单词发音
1 unnatural | |
adj.不自然的;反常的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 maritime | |
adj.海的,海事的,航海的,近海的,沿海的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 sustenance | |
n.食物,粮食;生活资料;生计 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 economist | |
n.经济学家,经济专家,节俭的人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 metaphor | |
n.隐喻,暗喻 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 wrecked | |
adj.失事的,遇难的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 deferring | |
v.拖延,延缓,推迟( defer的现在分词 );服从某人的意愿,遵从 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 abstemious | |
adj.有节制的,节俭的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 repayment | |
n.偿还,偿还款;报酬 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 tact | |
n.机敏,圆滑,得体 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 thereby | |
adv.因此,从而 | |
参考例句: |
|
|