MBA英文：外刊Britain’s productive forces

The Guardian view on Britain’s productive forces:  they are not working

1

Productivity isn’t everything, observed the Nobel winner Paul Krugman, but in the long run it is almost everything. For Britons, the worrying news is that the growth in productivity – the amount of stuff we produce every hour – has slowed to a snail’s pace.

productivity   [‚pr?d?k't?v?ti]  n. 增長(zhǎng)率

at a snail’s pace  以蝸牛的速度，極慢地，慢吞吞地

譯：諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)得主保羅克魯格曼說，生產(chǎn)率并不是一切，但從長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)來看，它幾乎是一切。對(duì)英國(guó)人來說，令人擔(dān)憂的消息是：生產(chǎn)率的增長(zhǎng)—我們每小時(shí)生產(chǎn)的東西—已經(jīng)放緩到蝸牛般的速度。

2

The Office for Budget Responsibility, after maintaining a sunny disposition in the face of ever darkening clouds of data, now accepts that we are unlikely to return to pre-crash levels of productivity growth. Before the crash, we would have expected living standards to double every 40 years.

maintain  [me?n'te?n]  v. 保持，維持；維護(hù)保養(yǎng)；堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為

disposition  [‚d?sp?'z???n]  n. 性情，性格；傾向，意向；排列，布置

譯： 面對(duì)越來越黯淡的經(jīng)濟(jì)數(shù)據(jù)，（英國(guó)）預(yù)算責(zé)任辦公室曾一度保持樂觀，但如今不得不承認(rèn)：我們不太可能回到危機(jī)之前的生產(chǎn)率增長(zhǎng)水平。在經(jīng)濟(jì)崩潰之前，我們預(yù)計(jì)生活水平將每40年翻一番。

3

If we were to carry on in the current manner, it would take more than two centuries to do so. Unless something drastic happens we face not just losing a decade, but a future.

current   ['k?r?nt]  adj. 現(xiàn)時(shí)的，當(dāng)前的

drastic   ['dræst?k]  adj. 急劇的，猛烈的

decade  ['deke?d]   n. 十年

譯： 如果我們以現(xiàn)在的方式繼續(xù)下去，那將需要兩個(gè)多世紀(jì)的時(shí)間才能實(shí)現(xiàn)該目標(biāo)。除非發(fā)生某些劇烈的變化，否則我們失去的不僅是十年，而是整個(gè)未來。

4

While it is true that all western economies have failed to recover the kind of growth they experienced before the crash, rich world economies are picking up speed, while the UK splutters along.

splutter  ['spl?t?]  v. 結(jié)結(jié)巴巴地說話

譯：雖然所有的西方經(jīng)濟(jì)體都未能恢復(fù)到危機(jī)之前所經(jīng)歷的那種增長(zhǎng)，但是世界上的發(fā)達(dá)經(jīng)濟(jì)體正在提速，然而英國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)卻磕磕絆絆。

5

Our rivals are also more prosperous than we are: France and the US had an average productivity in 2015 of €55 per hour worked - 25% higher than the UK. Britain is becoming the sick man of the rich world.

rival  ['ra?v?l]   n. 對(duì)手，競(jìng)爭(zhēng)者  v. 與…相匹敵

prosperous  ['pr?sp?r?s]  adj. 繁榮的，興旺的

譯：我們的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手也比我們更加繁榮：法國(guó)和美國(guó)在2015年的平均生產(chǎn)率是每小時(shí)55歐元，比英國(guó)的高了25%。英國(guó)正成為發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家中的病夫。

6

Some of reasons for the malaise is historical: our educational system has woefully disregarded vocational training; after the last war we had less need for an industrial recovery and spent less on new equipment.

malaise  [mæ'le?z]  n. 痼疾；不安，不適

woeful   ['w??f?l]  adj. 悲傷的，糟糕透頂?shù)?br />
disregard  [‚d?sr?'ɡɑ?d]  v. 對(duì)…置之不理，忽視

vocation  [v??'ke???n]  n. 職業(yè)

recovery  [r?'k?v?ri]    n. 痊愈；復(fù)原，恢復(fù)

譯：有一些歷史原因造成了該痼疾：我們的教育制度不幸地忽視了職業(yè)培訓(xùn)；在上一次戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)之后，我們對(duì)工業(yè)復(fù)蘇的需求減少了，對(duì)購買新設(shè)備的投入也減少了。

7

However, that meant the others played catch up – and now it is a case of Britain lagging behind our rivals. It takes a German worker four days to produce what an employee here makes in five. Too many British workers work longer hours for lower pay than their rich-world counterparts.

lag   [læɡ]  （behind sb/sth）v. 緩慢移動(dòng)；滯后，落后于

counterpart  ['ka?nt?pɑ?t]   n. 職務(wù)相當(dāng)?shù)娜?；作用相?dāng)?shù)氖挛?br />
譯：然而，那意味著其他國(guó)家追趕上來了?，F(xiàn)在的情況則是英國(guó)落后于其競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手。一名德國(guó)工人只需4天就能生產(chǎn)出一名英國(guó)工人需要5天才能生產(chǎn)出的相同產(chǎn)品。

8

The reason is that our economy seems to be particularly bad at allocating labour: in the last year the less productive service sector has gone on a hiring spree, while higher value manufacturing has shrunk.

allocate  [?æl?ke?t]  v. 分配，配給

spree   [spri?]   n. 作樂，放縱〔尤指花錢或喝酒〕

shrink   [?r??k]  v. (使)縮小，（使）收縮   (過去式shrank, 過去分詞shrunk)

譯：原因是英國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)在勞動(dòng)力分配方面似乎特別糟糕：去年，生產(chǎn)率較低服務(wù)行業(yè)大舉招聘，然而高附加值的制造業(yè)在萎縮。

9

The market, which so many rightwingers think needs unchaining, is operating a sort of reverse creative destruction where the strong are weakened so that the weak can be strengthened.

reverse  [r?'v??s]  adj.相反的，反面的   v.顛倒,使反轉(zhuǎn)   n.相反;背面

destruction  [d?'str?k??n]  n. 摧毀，破壞

strengthen  ['stre?θ?n]   v. 加強(qiáng)，鞏固

譯：諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)得主保羅克魯格曼說，生產(chǎn)率并不是一切，但從長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)來看，它幾乎是一切。對(duì)英國(guó)人來說，令人擔(dān)憂的消息是：生產(chǎn)率的增長(zhǎng)—我們每小時(shí)生產(chǎn)的東西—已經(jīng)放緩到蝸牛般的速度。