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   [‚prɒdʌk'tɪvɪti]  n. 增长率

at a snail’s pace  以蜗牛的速度，极慢地，慢吞吞地

译：诺贝尔奖得主保罗克鲁格曼说，生产率并不是一切，但从长远来看，它几乎是一切。对英国人来说，令人担忧的消息是：生产率的增长—我们每小时生产的东西—已经放缓到蜗牛般的速度。

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  [meɪn'teɪn]  v. 保持，维持；维护保养；坚持认为

disposition  [‚dɪspə'zɪʃən]  n. 性情，性格；倾向，意向；排列，布置

译： 面对越来越黯淡的经济数据，（英国）预算责任办公室曾一度保持乐观，但如今不得不承认：我们不太可能回到危机之前的生产率增长水平。在经济崩溃之前，我们预计生活水平将每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   ['kʌrənt]  adj. 现时的，当前的

drastic   ['dræstɪk]  adj. 急剧的，猛烈的

decade  ['dekeɪd]   n. 十年

译： 如果我们以现在的方式继续下去，那将需要两个多世纪的时间才能实现该目标。除非发生某些剧烈的变化，否则我们失去的不仅是十年，而是整个未来。

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  ['splʌtə]  v. 结结巴巴地说话

译：虽然所有的西方经济体都未能恢复到危机之前所经历的那种增长，但是世界上的发达经济体正在提速，然而英国经济增长却磕磕绊绊。

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  ['raɪvəl]   n. 对手，竞争者  v. 与…相匹敌

prosperous  ['prɒspərəs]  adj. 繁荣的，兴旺的

译：我们的竞争对手也比我们更加繁荣：法国和美国在2015年的平均生产率是每小时55欧元，比英国的高了25%。英国正成为发达国家中的病夫。

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'leɪz]  n. 痼疾；不安，不适

woeful   ['wəʊfəl]  adj. 悲伤的，糟糕透顶的

disregard  [‚dɪsrɪ'ɡɑːd]  v. 对…置之不理，忽视

vocation  [vəʊ'keɪʃən]  n. 职业

recovery  [rɪ'kʌvəri]    n. 痊愈；复原，恢复

译：有一些历史原因造成了该痼疾：我们的教育制度不幸地忽视了职业培训；在上一次战争之后，我们对工业复苏的需求减少了，对购买新设备的投入也减少了。

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. 缓慢移动；滞后，落后于

counterpart  ['kaʊntəpɑːt]   n. 职务相当的人；作用相当的事物

译：然而，那意味着其他国家追赶上来了。现在的情况则是英国落后于其竞争对手。一名德国工人只需4天就能生产出一名英国工人需要5天才能生产出的相同产品。

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  [ˈæləkeɪt]  v. 分配，配给

spree   [spriː]   n. 作乐，放纵〔尤指花钱或喝酒〕

shrink   [ʃrɪŋk]  v. (使)缩小，（使）收缩   (过去式shrank, 过去分词shrunk)

译：原因是英国经济在劳动力分配方面似乎特别糟糕：去年，生产率较低服务行业大举招聘，然而高附加值的制造业在萎缩。

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  [rɪ'vɜːs]  adj.相反的，反面的   v.颠倒,使反转   n.相反;背面

destruction  [dɪ'strʌkʃən]  n. 摧毁，破坏

strengthen  ['streŋθən]   v. 加强，巩固

译：诺贝尔奖得主保罗克鲁格曼说，生产率并不是一切，但从长远来看，它几乎是一切。对英国人来说，令人担忧的消息是：生产率的增长—我们每小时生产的东西—已经放缓到蜗牛般的速度。