老鱼父元老您好,先谢过您的热心指点,不过恕我冒犯,就"heads i win and tails you lose" 而言,在我查的资料及根据此表达在我所看到的文章中的意思,"heads i win and tails you lose" 都没有“泛指争辩的双方没有绝对的对错”的意思,是否您把这句话看成"heads i win and tails you win"了? (参见附注一)
不过还有一种理解:
这是个基金的market comment嘛,把“the conclusions from many seem to” 中的“many”理解为基金公司或交易员,意即由于基金公司拿投资者的钱去投资,所以对他们来说这是一个类似"heads-I-win-and-tails-you-lose"的情况(赚了基金公司拿管理费,赔了投资者的倒霉),这样一来,许多基金公司或交易员都轻率的认为两种主义都会让商品市场表现良好(这样理解是有根据的,下面有economist网站的参考,见附二),这其实是在和这家基金公司自己做比较,见下文的“A pause is warranted here. A groundswell of opinion that says markets will go up come what may, should be cause for concern. At this point, we have no highly held conviction about the exact detail of what may occur during the next several years, ”,即强调自己并不对未来轻率下结论,认为“markets will go up come what may, should be cause for concern”体现该基金比较谨慎负责。
附一
Heads or Tails
An expression used when tossing a coin to decide between two alternatives, as in Let's just flip a coin to decide who pays--do you want heads or tails? Each person involved chooses a different side of the coin, either "heads" or "tails," and whichever side lands facing up is considered the winner. This usage, dating from the late 1600s, is sometimes turned into Heads I win, tails you lose, meaning "I win no matter what," which probably originated in an attempt to deceive someone. [Mid-1800s](http://www.answers.com/topic/heads-or-tails)
附二
economist网站上的一段话:
The two great cheatsThe first charge is that the rich created a new form of heads-I-win-tails-you-lose capitalism. Traders and fund managers got huge rewards for speculating with other people’s money, but when they failed the parent company, the client and ultimately the taxpayer had to pay the bill. Monetary policy contributed to this asymmetry of risk: when markets faltered central banks usually rescued them by cutting interest rates.(http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13405314)
(网上的参考译文:富人们之所以富,是因为他们创造了一套 heads I win, tails you lose 的资本制度。交易员与基金管理者用别人的钱来投资,从而为自己攫取巨大的报酬。而当他们投资失败时,就要母公司或客户,最终直至纳税人来买单。货币政策进一步助长了这种不对称的危险:当市场需求疲软时央行就会减息来拯救它们)
1.个人感觉用哪个介词是表明的是variation后面的词组的搭配关系,意思上不会有什么改变,而且我觉得一个单词的意思不单要从语法来看,还要从上下文来看。还有不知您有未看到,variation有个意思是Something slightly different from another of the same type,若是此意思,那就是说虽然不完全一样,有些变化,但本质是一样的,换汤不换药,是变相的XXX。
Jennyyuejin学友您好,感谢您的持续关注——I would have to say ,in a nutshell, that knowledge is boundless while life is short。
也谢谢vcvcvc的关注。
附一
We have read with enormous interest (and it must be said, no small amount of amusement) the recent intellectual battle between Keynesians and monetarists which has taken place on the pages of the Financial Times, and on internet blogs. Paul Krugman, Martin Wolf, Niall Ferguson, and John Taylor have conducted what has appeared to be a heated debate centring on the longer-term effects of current policy initiatives, specifically fiscal stimulus. A thorough discussion of both sides goes well beyond the remit of our commentary, but the argument might be summed up with the two questions: "Given current plans for fiscal stimulus, how will debt service payments be managed in the future?" and "How might the current behaviour of the bond market be explained?"
Answers to both are many and varied. One school of thought is that, in the longer-term, the debt service resulting from the current fiscal stimulus can be managed only by monetisation, resulting in unexpectedly high levels of inflation and a bond market rout – something which is now beginning to be priced into yields. In addition, the dollar would be abandoned as the reserve currency of choice. Another is that there is no viable alternative to the current Keynesian stimulus plans, as evidenced by ample historical precedent from the New Deal and the Great Depression. Policy makers will eventually reverse course and tighten policy, but not yet - the recent moves in treasury yields are indicative of a return to more benign economic conditions after the deflation scare of late 2008.………