A Country's Standard of Living

 

国家的生活标准

The standard of living of any country means the average person's share of the goods and services which the country produces.

任何国家的生活标准意味着人均占有这个国家生产的商品和服务的价值。

A country's standard of living,therefore,depends first and foremost on its capacity to produce wealth.

因此一个国家的生活标准，首要依赖它创造财富的能力。

Wealth in this sense is not money,for we do not live on money but on things that money can buy:

这个意义上的财富并不是钱，因为我们生活并不是依赖钱，而是依赖于钱能买到的东西:

goods such as food and clothing,and services such as transport and entertainment.

商品，如食物和衣服，以及服务，如交通和娱乐。

A country's capacity to produce wealth depends upon many factors,most of which have an effect on one another.

一个国家创造财富的能力取决于许多因素，大多数因素互相影响。

Wealth depends to a great extent upon a country's natural resources,such as coal, gold, and other minerals,water supply and so on.

财富很大程度上依赖与国家的自然资源，如煤炭，金以及其他矿产，水资源等等。

Some regions of the world are well supplied with coal and minerals,and have a fertile soil and a favourable climate;other regions possess none of them.

世界上的一些地区蕴藏着丰富的煤炭和矿产，拥有肥沃的土地以及宜人的天气；另一些地区则什么都没有。

Next to natural resources comes the ability to turn them to use.

仅次于自然资源的是利用它们的能力，

Some countries are perhaps well off in natural resources,but suffered for many years from civil and external wars,and for this and other reasons have been unable to develop their resources.

一些国家富有自然资源，但是遭受连年的内战或外部战争，因为这个原因或其他原因无法开发他们的资源。

Sound and stable political conditions,and freedom from foreign invasion,enable a country to develop its natural resources peacefully and steadily,and to produce more wealth than another country equally well served by nature but less well ordered.

完善和稳定的政治环境，免受外国的侵略，可以使国家和平稳定地开放好自然资源，并比拥有同样自然环境但政治环境不那么安定的国家创造出更多的财富。

Another important factor is the technical efficiency of a country's people.

另一个重要的因素是这个国家人民的技术效率。

Industrialized countries that have trained numerous skilled workers and technicians are better placed to produce wealth than countries whose workers are largely unskilled.

已经培训大量熟练工人和技术人员的工业化国家比拥有大量不熟练工人的国家能创造出更多的财富。

A country's standard of living does not only depend upon the wealth that is produced and consumed within its own borders,but also upon what is indirectly produced through international trade.

一个国家的生活标准并不仅仅依赖于国内生产和消费的财富，还依赖于通过国际贸易间接产生的财富，

For example, Britain's wealth in foodstuffs and other agricultural products would be much less if she had to depend only on those grown at home.

比方说，如果仅依赖国内种植，英国的视频和其他农产品的财富就很少。

Trade makes it possible for her surplus manufactured goods to be traded abroad for the agricultural products that would otherwise be lacking.

贸易能将这个国家的剩余加工产品卖到国外而换回否则会缺少的农产品。

A country's wealth is, therefore,much influenced by its manufacturing capacity,provided that other countries can be found ready to accept its manufactures.

因此，加入其他国家乐意接受一个国家的产品，那么这个国家的财富就很受制造能力的影响。