经济学人:低利率意味着不公平
Finance and Economics Free exchange
Finance and Economics财经Free exchange自由交流
Negative justice,Sub-zero interest rates areneither
unfair nor unnatural.
负公平,负利率既非不公平也非不自然。
interest rates ：利率
neither...nor...：表示"既不……也不……".其含义是否定的,可连接任意两个并列的成份
DENMARK'S Maritime Museum in Elsinoreincludes one particularly unappetizingexhibit: the world's oldest ship's biscuit, from a voyage in 1852.
丹麦的埃尔西诺航海博物馆藏有一件特别让人没有胃口的展品：世上最古老的船员干粮，来自1852年的一次海上航行。
Unappetizing ：倒胃口的
Known as hardtack, such biscuits were prizedfor their long shelf lives, making them avital source of sustenance for sailors far from shore.
这种以硬面包闻名的干粮，因它们长久的保存期限而备受重视的，这使得它们成为了远洋航行的船员的一个至关重要的给养来源。
shelf lives ：保存限期
They were also appreciated by a greateconomist, Irving Fisher, as a useful economic metaphor.
它们还被一位伟大的经济学家——欧文·费雪推崇为一个有用的经济隐喻。
Metaphor ：象征；隐喻；暗喻
Imagine, Fisher wrote in "The Theoryof Interest" in 1930, a group ofsailors ship wrecked on a barren island withonly their stores of hardtack to sustain them.
假设，费雪在1930年的《利息理论》中写道，一群船员在一次船只失事中落难到了一座贫瘠的岛屿上，只有储备的硬面包来维持生计。
a group of ：一群
Wreck ：使遇难；使失事
On what terms would sailors borrow and lendbiscuits among themselves?
船员相互间会以何种条件借入和出借干粮呢?
In this forlorneconomy, what rate of interest would prevail?
在这个孤立无助的经济体中，何种利率会占上风呢?
Forlorn ：渺茫的;绝望的;凄凉的;被弃置的
Prevail ：获胜，占优势;说服;流行，盛行;
One might think the answer depends on thecharacter of the unfortunate sailors.
人们或许会认为，答案取决于不幸的船员的人品。
Interest, in many people's minds, is areward for deferring gratification.
在许多人的头脑中，利息是对推迟满足感的奖赏。
That is one reason why low interestrates are widely perceived as unjust.
这是为什么低利率被广泛地认为是不公平的一个原因。
Why引导定语从句
perceived as：被视为
If an abstemioussailor were prepared to lend a biscuit to his crewmate ratherthan eating it immediately himself, he would deserve more than onebiscuitin repayment.
如果某位省吃俭用的船员准备把一份干粮借给他的同伴，而不是立即自己吃掉，他会理应得到多于一份干粮的偿还。
Abstemious ：adj.节俭的;适中的; adv.适中地，有节制地；n.适中，有节制
rather than ：而不是
The rate of interest should be positive andthe sharper the hunger of the sailors, the more positive it would be.
利率应当是正的，而且船员的饥饿感越强烈，它会正的越多。
the sharper...…the more...… ： the+比较级,the+比较级,表示“越……越……”
In tact, Fisher pointedout, the interest rate on his imagined island could only be zero.
实际上，费雪指出，在这个他所设想的岛屿上，利率可能仅为0。
pointed out ：指出
If it were positive, any sailor who borrowed an extra biscuit to eat would have to use more than one biscuit in thefuture to repay the loan.
如果它是正的，任何一位借了额外的干粮吃的船员，今后都不得不用多于一份的干粮来偿还这笔贷款。
此句为if引导的虚拟条件从句“主语+were”，主句为“主语+would+do”，表示与现在事实相反的假设
But no sailor would accept those termsbecause he could instead eat one more piece from his own supply, therebyreducing his future consumption by one, and only one, piece.
但是没有水手会接受这些条件，因为他可以从他自己的供应中再多吃一块，从而减少他未来的消费中的一份，并且仅仅是一份而已。
(A sailor who hadalready depleted his supplies, leaving himwith no additional hardtack of his own to eat today, would be in no position torepay borrowed biscuits either.)
(早已耗尽了自身供给，让自己今天没有额外的干粮吃的船员也不会有能力去偿还借来的干粮。)
“A sailor who…,leaving…”：此句中who引导定语从句，动词ing形式作后置定语修饰”a sailor”
That was bad news for thrifty seafarers.
对于勤俭的船员来说，这属于坏消息。
But worsescenarios were possible.
但是，更坏的情况是有可能的。
Scenarios ：情节;剧本;事态;
If the sailors had washed ashorewith perishable figs rather than imperishable hardtack, the rate of interest would have been steeply negative.
如果船员们是带着容易腐烂变质的无花果而不是不容易腐烂变质的硬面包被冲到岸上来的，利率会是陡峭的负的。
Perishable ：易腐烂的;易腐败的;易毁灭的;易消亡
Imperishable ：不灭的，不朽的，不会腐烂的
“if… had washed …would have been”：此句“if”引导的虚拟条件从句“主语+haddone”，主句“主语+would havedone”，表示与过去事实相反的假设
"There is no absolutely necessaryreason inherent in the nature of man or things whythe rate of interest in terms of anycommodity standard should be positive rather than negative," Fisherconcluded.
“在人或物的属性中，不存在为什么以任一商品标准来表示的利率应当是正的而不是负的的绝对必然的内在理由，”费雪总结道。
in terms of：根据;用…的话;就…而言;
此句中why引导定语从句修饰reason
Two years ago, when the Bank of Japan(BoJ)began charging financial institutions for adding to their reserves at thecentral bank,its negative-rate policy was harshly criticised for unsettlingthrifty households, jeopardising bankprofitability and killing growth with "monetary voodoo".
两年前，当日本银行开始对金融机构增加它们在央行的储备而收费时，
它的负利率政策受到了严厉地批评，被认为是搅乱了节俭的家庭，危及到了银行的盈利，而且还以“货币政策巫术”扼杀了增长。
jeopardise ：危及，损害
Behind this fear and criticism was perhapsagut conviction that negative rates upended the naturalorder of things.
在这种担忧和批评的背后，可能是一种本能的认识，即负利率颠覆了事物的自然秩序。
natural order ：自然秩序
Why should people pay to save money theyhad already earned?
为什么人们应当为存储早已挣到手的钱付费呢?
Earlier cuts below zero in Switzerland,Denmark, Sweden and the euro area were scarcely more popular.
瑞士、丹麦、瑞典和欧元区的早先低于0的减息几乎一点也不受欢迎。
But these monetary innovations would havestruck some earlier economic thinkers as entirely natural.
但是，这些货币政策方面的创新却会作为完全自然的创新而打动某些较早时候的经济学家。
Indeed, "The Natural EconomicOrder" was the title that Silvio Gesell gave to his 1916 treatise in favour of negative interest rates on money.
《自然的经济秩序》是西尔沃.格塞尔(SilvioGesell)给他1916年的一篇主张货币负利率的论文所起的题目。
in favour of ：赞成；支持
In it, he span his own shipwreck parable,in which a lone Robinson Crusoe tries to save three years' worth of provisionsto tide him over while he devotes his energiesto digging a canal.
在那篇论文中，他勾画了自己的海难寓言——独自一人的鲁滨逊试图节省三年的储备粮食来渡过难关，当他把精力都用在开凿一条水道上面时。
tide over ：渡过；克服
devote to ：献身于；致力于
此句中“while”引导时间状语从句，表“当......时”
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