河海大学研究生英语翻译Unit 5

Unit 5 Take a Lesson from the Economists Economics is the dismal science: so say the large number of people who heap sc orn on the intellectural merits of the discipline. Much of the criticism comes from "pu re" or "proper" scientist —— physicists, chemists and biologists. Now, economics cer tainly has its failings. But the general way in which economists approach and describe the world, and how they convey their message about it to others , carries lessons whic h pure scientists should learn from.经济学是沉闷的科学:所以说,大量的人嗤之以鼻的方式的优点的纪律。

大部分的批评来自于“纯”或“适当的”科学家——物理学家、化学家和生物学家。

现在,经济学当然有其缺点。

但是一般的方式方法和描述这个世界的经济学家,以及他们如何传达他们的消息对其他人,上了一课,纯科学家应该学习。

Economics has inexactitudes and vagueness built into it. The general lack of rel iable data about past events makes virtually impossible the accurate measurement of e ven the most basic economic variables, such as the total volume of output in a country , or the path of consumer spending, or inflation.经济学是由不精确性和模糊性建成的。

普遍缺乏对过去事件的可靠的数据使得几乎不可能有准确的测量,即使是最基本的经济变量,如一个国家的输出总量,或者消费支出的路径,或通货膨胀。

If economists are hazy about what is going right now, they are even less sure ab out the future. Due to the general measurement difficulties, as well as unforeseen even ts such as wars or natural disasters, economic forecasts are almost always wrong, som etimes by wide margins. As for economic theories, they change almost according to fa shion, with economists allowed to move effortlessly between them, sometimes holdin g several contrasting points of view at the same time.如果经济学家朦胧的关于什么将会发生,现在他们更不确定的未来。

由于通用测量困难,以及不可预见的事件,如战争或自然灾害,经济预测几乎总是错的,有时是由宽的利润率。

至于经济理论,他们改变几乎根据时尚,经济学家可以毫不费力地移动它们之间,有时在同一时间持有多种截然相反的观点。

The contrast with scientists could not be starker. The tools of an economist's tra de are muddy data, loose theorising and a shambling approach to causality which says . that a set of interactions between A, B and C MIGHT lead to a conclusion Z (and on ly via a roundabout route which takes in P, Q and R as well) . Scientists have a harder-edged way of looking at the world, requiring a set of rigid theories and data based on painstaking experimental observation.相比之下,科学家们有着天壤之别。

经济学家的贸易工具是泥泞的数据,松散理论和呆滞的因果性说。

这一组之间的交互,B和C可能导致结论Z(和只能通过一个迂回路线,需要在P,Q,R)。

科学家们有一个硬朗的看待世界的方式,需要一套严格的理论和基于细心的实验观察的数据。

But the economists have been able to use the vagueness with which their subje ct is afflicted to their advantage. By concentrating on broad conclusions to problems a nd communicating these in terms that can be understood by the special interest groups they are dealing with, economists have had a generally good record in "assimilating t hemselves into positions of influence. Scientists have done rather less well by concentrating on the nature of problems rather than on the conclusions or policy prescripitons.但是，经济学家们已经能够使用的模糊性，其主题是困扰自己的优势。

通过专注于广泛的问题结论和交流这些条款,可以理解他们正在处理的特殊利益集团,,经济学家有一个普遍的良好记录在“同化成具有影响力的位置上。

科学家们已经做得相当不那么专注于问题的本质,而是结论或政策规定。

All this explains why, in British at least, economists as a body of people have had muchmore success in purely professional terms over the past 20 years than scienti -sts.所有这些都解释了为什么至少在英国,在过去20年经济学家作为一个群体比科学家有更多的成功在纯粹的专业术语方面。

Take the posts in the Britain government of chief scientific adviser and chief ec onomist. In the first position, Bill Stewart has a thin power base, playing a marginal ro le in providing scientific advice to dozens of government departments. The second job takes the "incumbent to the centre of the government's decision-making machinery in the Treasury, and into involvement with many of the most important decisions minist ers make about how Britain should operate.以作为英国政府的首席科学顾问和首席经济学家的职位。

在第一个位置,比尔·斯图尔特有一层稀薄的权力基础,扮演一个次要角色为数十政府部门提供科学建议。

第二个工作需要，在财政部的政府决策机制的中心，到参与的最重要的决定部长，英国应该如何操作进行。

In industry, top scientists working for big firms such as ICI or IBM certainly are in strong positions. But the ability of such people to influence events is put into the sh ade by the power of economists working for the big international banks and investme nt houses in the City of London. The broad judgments of these people about global ec onomic patterns, transmitted by numerous direct and indirect ways, form a key compo nent of thousands of decisions made at company level at the grass roots of industry.在工业领域，顶尖的科学家工作在大公司如ICI或IBM肯定是在强有力的位置。

但是这样的人影响事件的能力是通过经济学家在伦敦对国际大银行和投资公司工作来实现的。

这些人对全球经济模式的大致的判断,通过大量的直接和间接的方式,形成在公司层面基层产业的重要组成部分。

How did economists get to be in this position - and what can scientists learn fro m them? Despite the difficulty in arriving at hard answers to many of the problems in economics, people in the discipline have shown an ability to skim over the inexactitud es, to come up with a general view of the world in terms that are relevant and make s ense to those outside the profession.经济学家如何会在这个位置,科学家可以从他们那儿学到了什么?尽管经济中存在的许多问题很难回答，本学科的人们表现出掠过不确切性问题的能力，要明确拿出一个通用的世界观，并对行业以外的有意义。