轻松背单词新浪微博 轻松背单词腾讯微博
轻松背单词微信服务号
当前位置:首页 -> 11级英语阅读 - > 世行首席经济学家的伪经济论
世行首席经济学家的伪经济论
添加时间:2017-06-11 21:38:34 浏览次数: 作者:未知
Tip:点击数字可快速查看单词解释  
  • The story was one of the saddest I have read in ages. The World Bank’s chief economist1 ordered his staff to write more clearly, shut them up whenever they banged on interminably in presentations, and insisted all reports were short and lucid2. Instead of being lauded3 for his bravery Paul Romer was punished like a heretic, and his management duties were taken from him. His story reads like a corporate4 take on the martyrdom of Joan of Arc.

    这是我许久以来读过的最悲伤的故事了。世界银行(World Bank)首席经济学家保罗?罗默(Paul Romer)命令手下以后写报告要更加清楚明了,作报告时一旦开始啰嗦就立刻让他们闭嘴,还坚持所有报告都必须简明易懂。但罗默先生非但没有因为自己的勇敢赢得称赞,反而像异端分子一样受到了惩罚:被剥夺了管理职责。他的故事听起来简直就像公司版的“圣女贞德(Joan of Arc)的殉难”。

    There is only one quarrel I have with Mr Romer. Among his edicts was to impose a quota5 on the word “and”, ruling that an official report should contain no more than 2.6 per cent of them. It is a bit odd to persecute6 the common conjunction, which has the advantages of being useful, clear and short, when there are all those words out there — leverage7, deliver, journey, dialogue, platform, learnings or robust8 and a thousand others — that are none of these things.

    我只在一个问题上不满罗默先生。他的那些命令中,有一条是对“and”这个单词的使用实行配额限制:官方报告里,“and”出现的次数不得超过总字数的2.6%。如此压迫一个常用连词,委实有些奇怪。“and”可是兼有“有用”、“明确”、“简短”这几项优势,况且还有无数个单词——leverage、deliver、journey、dialogue、platform、learnings、robust,等等等等——与这几项优势毫不沾边。

    Yet when the Stanford Literary Lab published a paper in 2015 analysing World Bank reports, “and” came in for a hiding. The authors noted9 its use had almost doubled in the previous 70 years and mockingly quoted passages in which ugly, unrelated nouns were slung10 together with chains of conjunctions.

    不过,斯坦福大学文学研究室(Stanford Literary Lab)在2015年发表的一篇论文对世界银行的报告进行了分析,发现“and”的确没起到好作用。作者们注意到,过去70年,“and”的使用几乎翻了一番。他们还嘲弄般地引用了一些段落,里面大量别扭、无关的名词用一串串的连词绑到了一起。

    But is this little word really to blame? Over the past week I have immersed myself in assorted11 texts, starting with the work of Martin Wolf, who writes at least as clearly as any economist I have come across. Sure enough, in his last column my computer counted an admirably modest 2.5 per cent of ands. Next I studied a column by Janan Ganesh, a man whose prose is widely admired. He did even better, with only 2 per cent.

    但真的是这个小小的单词的责任吗?过去一周,我埋头研究了形形色色的文本。首先从马丁?沃尔夫(Martin Wolf)的文章下手——其行文清楚程度不亚于我读过的任何一位经济学家。果然,据我的电脑统计,他的最新一篇专栏里,“and”的使用频率仅为2.5%,令人佩服。下一个,我研究了散文广受推崇的嘉南?加内什(Janan Ganesh)的一篇专栏。他的成绩比沃尔夫还要好,使用频率仅为2%。

    After that, I widened my net and downloaded King Lear in its entirety, to find the Bard12 used a mere13 19 ands per 1,000. When you consider most of these are stage directions — “Enter Kent and Gloucester” — the true score is lower still.

    之后,我扩大了研究范围,下载了《李尔王》(King Lear)全集,结果发现莎士比亚每1000个单词里只用了19个“and”。考虑到其中大部分都是舞台指示,例如“肯特和葛罗斯特上(Enter Kent and Gloucester)”,实际使用次数要更少。

    I was about to conclude that Mr Romer was on to something, but then turned to my own writing and found that in last week’s column I used a shaming 30 ands per 1,000 words. Mr Romer would have despaired.

    我正准备得出罗默有一定道理的结论,但又数了数我自己的文章,发现我在上周的专栏里丢人地用了3%的“and”。罗默先生看了会感到绝望的。

     11级    英语新闻 
     单词标签: economist  lucid  lauded  corporate  quota  persecute  leverage  robust  noted  slung  assorted  bard  mere 


    点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

    1 economist [ɪˈkɒnəmɪst] AuhzVs   第8级
    n.经济学家,经济专家,节俭的人
    参考例句:
    • He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem. 他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
    • He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers. 他是个经济学家,自以为什么都懂。
    2 lucid [ˈlu:sɪd] B8Zz8   第8级
    adj.明白易懂的,清晰的,头脑清楚的
    参考例句:
    • His explanation was lucid and to the point. 他的解释扼要易懂。
    • He wasn't very lucid, he didn't quite know where he was. 他神志不是很清醒,不太知道自己在哪里。
    3 lauded [lɔ:did] b67508c0ca90664fe666700495cd0226   第11级
    v.称赞,赞美( laud的过去式和过去分词 )
    参考例句:
    • They lauded the former president as a hero. 他们颂扬前总统为英雄。 来自辞典例句
    • The nervy feats of the mountaineers were lauded. 登山者有勇气的壮举受到赞美。 来自辞典例句
    4 corporate [ˈkɔ:pərət] 7olzl   第7级
    adj.共同的,全体的;公司的,企业的
    参考例句:
    • This is our corporate responsibility. 这是我们共同的责任。
    • His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail. 他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。
    5 quota [ˈkwəʊtə] vSKxV   第8级
    n.(生产、进出口等的)配额,(移民的)限额
    参考例句:
    • A restricted import quota was set for meat products. 肉类产品设定了进口配额。
    • He overfulfilled his production quota for two months running. 他一连两个月超额完成生产指标。
    6 persecute [ˈpɜ:sɪkju:t] gAwyA   第7级
    vt.迫害,虐待;纠缠,骚扰
    参考例句:
    • They persecute those who do not conform to their ideas. 他们迫害那些不信奉他们思想的人。
    • Hitler's undisguised effort to persecute the Jews met with worldwide condemnation. 希特勒对犹太人的露骨迫害行为遭到世界人民的谴责。
    7 leverage [ˈli:vərɪdʒ] 03gyC   第9级
    n.力量,影响;杠杆作用,杠杆的力量
    参考例句:
    • We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock. 我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
    • He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力,他的计划失败了。
    8 robust [rəʊˈbʌst] FXvx7   第7级
    adj.强壮的,强健的,粗野的,需要体力的,浓的
    参考例句:
    • She is too tall and robust. 她个子太高,身体太壮。
    • China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses, AP commented. 美联社评论道,中国希望保持经济强势增长,以减少贫困和失业状况。
    9 noted [ˈnəʊtɪd] 5n4zXc   第8级
    adj.著名的,知名的
    参考例句:
    • The local hotel is noted for its good table. 当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
    • Jim is noted for arriving late for work. 吉姆上班迟到出了名。
    10 slung [slʌŋ] slung   第10级
    抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 ); 吊挂; 遣送; 押往
    参考例句:
    • He slung the bag over his shoulder. 他把包一甩,挎在肩上。
    • He stood up and slung his gun over his shoulder. 他站起来把枪往肩上一背。
    11 assorted [əˈsɔ:tɪd] TyGzop   第8级
    adj.各种各样的,各色俱备的
    参考例句:
    • There's a bag of assorted sweets on the table. 桌子上有一袋什锦糖果。
    • He has always assorted with men of his age. 他总是与和他年令相仿的人交往。
    12 bard [bɑ:d] QPCyM   第12级
    n.吟游诗人
    参考例句:
    • I'll use my bard song to help you concentrate! 我会用我的吟游诗人歌曲帮你集中精神!
    • I find him, the wandering grey bard. 我发现了正在徘徊的衰老游唱诗人。
    13 mere [mɪə(r)] rC1xE   第7级
    adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过
    参考例句:
    • That is a mere repetition of what you said before. 那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
    • It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer. 再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

    文章评论 共有评论 0查看全部

      会员登陆
      热门单词标签
    我的单词印象
    我的理解: