失业救济金让失业者更加理智

    To most thoughtful people, unemployment benefit embodies¹ a painful trade-off. It's the mark of a civilised society, clubbing together to provide assistance to those in need. It is also, regrettably, an incentive² to remain unemployed³. At its worst, unemployment benefit pays people to watch daytime television; it is particularly pernicious if the skills of the jobless decay, and unemployment becomes unemployability. Yet, at its best, it is a life-saver.
    对多数有识之士而言，失业救济体现了一种痛苦的权衡。它是文明社会的标志，大家携起手来为那些需要的人提供帮助。但令人遗憾的是，它也刺激了人们保持失业状态。在最坏的情况下，失业救济为那些大白天看电视的人提供了酬劳，尤其危险的是，如果失业者的技能退化，失业就变成了无就业能力。不过，在最好的情况下，它能够挽救失业者的生活。
    In balancing these two effects, it's hardly surprising that different societies have adopted very different systems. According to the Organisation⁴ for Economic Co-operation and Development, member governments spent an average of 0.75 per cent of gross domestic product on unemployment benefits in 2006. France spent nearly twice this sum, and Germany almost three times as much, while the US spent a third of the average, and the UK just over a quarter. Germany spent more than 10 times as much as the UK, relative to GDP.
    在平衡这两种效应时，不同的社会采取了截然不同的做法，这几乎不令人惊讶。根据经济合作与发展组织(OECD)的数据，2006年，各成员国政府用在失业 救济上的平均花费占国内生产总值(GDP)的0.75%。法国的比例几乎是这个数字的两倍，德国将近三倍，而美国是平均数字的三分之一，英国仅四分之一。德国失业救济金占GDP的比例，是英国的10倍以上。

1 embodies   

v.表现( embody的第三人称单数 )；象征；包括；包含

参考例句：

• The new treaty embodies the aspirations of most nonaligned countries. 新条约体现了大多数不结盟国家的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This document embodies the concern of the government for the deformity. 这个文件体现了政府对残疾人的关怀。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

3 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

4 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。