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一个出版社说如果让我翻译他们的经济金融畅销书的话，他们要我先试翻译一段，我知道翻译的习惯一般都是只要翻译300字左右就可以！他们硬是让我翻译了1200字！大家看我翻译的东西能过关吗？
What happens when economics is shifted outside the boardroom and into the bedroom; when it is used to examine criminals rather than companies? What transpires when its tools are transplanted to studying everything from the black market to family life? So powerful and universal are the tools of economic theory - from supply and demand to game theory - that they can be used to shed light on all sorts of apparently unconnected issues.
当经济学从厅堂转入卧房时，当经济学不是被用于对企业的考察而是援引在刑事审查中，情况会是如何？当经济学的工具被移植到研究任何事情，包括从黑市到家庭生活等各方面，又会揭示出什么？从供给，需求到博弈论的经济理论方法甚至能被用于阐述各类明显不相干的问题，这也彰显了经济学的超拔力量和具有普适性。
Consider the parable of the bagel seller - one of many examples set out by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner in their 2005 book Freakonomics (based on economics professor Levitt's research). It goes something like this: an entrepreneur who delivers bagels to companies decides that, rather than hanging around and waiting for each customer to pay him in turn, he will simply leave behind a cash box and a note asking them to pay what they owe. Reassuringly, he does pretty well out of this honor system. And, more interestingly, his accounts unearth some fascinating trends: for instance, people are more honest when they work in smaller offices, when the weather is good, and when a holiday is round the corner.
由史蒂芬莱维特和斯蒂芬迪布在2005年出版的《魔鬼经济学》（基于经济学教授莱维特的研究）中有许多例证,其中之一是关于面包圈卖者的寓言。事情是这样的：一位发送面包圈给诸多公司的企业家决定不再滞货而待售，只是留下一个钱箱与说明，要求顾客银货两讫。令人欣慰的是，在一个超脱信用的制度下，他这样的做法居然非常有成效。而更有意思的是，从企业家的账目中也能发现一些引人注意的动向：举例来说，当工作的空间相对较小，气候较好以及假期临近时，顾客将会更加的诚实。
The book comes up with unconventional conclusions about some of modern society's most contentious issues - abortion and race for instance. Among other things, it reveals surprising links between the Ku Klux Klan and estate agents, as well as uncovering the cheating habits of Chicago school teachers and sumo wrestlers.
在事关现代社会最有争议的问题，例如堕胎和种族，这本书提出了一些非传统的结论。除此之外，它还揭示了3K党与地产代理商之间的惊人联系，也发现了芝加哥的学校老师和相扑选手的欺骗习性。
The point, however, is that even in the most offbeat, non-market-related environments, the fundamental rules of economics can apply - whether this means supply and demand, the invisible hand, human incentives or any other parts of the pantheon of economic rules. After all, economics is the study of human decision-making, which does not necessarily need a money-oriented backdrop against which to function.
不管怎样，至为关键的一点是，在经济学规则的圣殿中，无论是表征为供给与需求，看不见的手，人性激励还是其他原理，都能在这个最不寻常和非市场相关的环境下应用自如。毕竟，经济学是研究人们决疑定计的，而人们在做出决定时也不是必然的需要一个以金钱为导向的运行背景。
However, Levitt and Dubner's book, which was highly successful and spawned a number of imitators in the following years, did not represent the first time a trained economist applied these rules to normal everyday life. The real pioneer of such an approach was Gary Becker, an economist at the University of Chicago. Becker, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1992, showed that everyone - from criminals to racists to families to drug addicts - is in some way influenced by economic forces such as rational decision-making and incentives.
莱维特和迪布这本书取得了巨大的成功，并在随后的年月里催生了大量的模仿者，然而，这并不代表
一个训练有素的经济学家首次把这些规则应用在日常生活中。这种做法的真正先驱是一位芝加哥大学的经济学家加里贝克尔。贝克尔在1992年荣膺诺贝尔奖。他表示，每个人，从罪犯到种族主义者，从家庭成员到吸毒者，在某种程度上都受到例如理性抉择与刺激的经济力量影响。
At the heart of Becker's theories and arguments is the idea that there is almost always a cost attached to something - even if it is a social or emotional cost as opposed to an explicit sum of money. For instance, one of his ideas is that those who discriminate against minorities will often mentally increase the cost of a transaction if it involves interacting with them.
贝克尔理论的核心思想和论点是，在某件事情上几乎总是附加着一种成本，即便不是明确的金钱数目，也会是社会抑或情感上的损失。例如，他的观点之一是，在与少数民族人群相互交流中，那些对他们心存歧见的人时常会在沟通上增加精神的负载。
Gary Becker's Eureka moment came when he found himself having to decide between parking in an illegal spot or driving to a designated car park a few blocks away at the cost of his extra time and effort. He opted for the illegal spot, judging that the risk of being caught and punished did not outweigh the extra effort of having to drive the car to the further spot and walk all the way back again. Similar judgments, he concluded, were taken by criminals in deciding whether to break the law.
当贝克尔发现自己不得不决定究竟是在一个非法地点泊车还是以额外时间与精力为代价驱车到一个远在几个街区之外的指定地点时，他的尤里卡时刻如影随形。他选择了非法的位置，他掂量因此而被捕和惩罚的风险不足以超过驾车舍近求远并还要沿路返回所造成的额外精力。他认定，罪犯在企图以身试法的时候也有着同样的判断。
The conclusion has important implications for how politicians run their justice systems, since it supports the idea that fines and penalties should be more severe. The tougher the penalty, the greater the cost of getting caught and the greater the deterrent. It was this insight which helped Becker towards his Nobel Prize.
由于这个结论支撑了政治家的一个重要理念，即罚款与惩罚应该变得更加的严厉。这对于究竟该怎样运转司法系统有着重要的含义。罚款与惩罚越严厉，被抓获所付出的代价越大，威慑力也越强。正是这种洞察力帮助贝克尔问鼎他的诺贝尔奖。
The theory was proven some years later by Levitt, who compared juvenile crime rates in various US states and compared them with the crime rates for adults. He found that as soon as these criminals became old enough to face the far harsher sentences meted out to adults their criminal activity tended to become less frequent.
一些年以后，该理论被莱维特所应验，他对比美国各州的少年犯罪率，并把它比照成年犯罪率。他发现，一旦这些罪犯的年龄逐渐增大，以致于将面对远比成年人还更加严厉的判决时，他们的犯罪活动将不再经常发生。
Indeed, Tim Harford, the author of The Undercover Economist, saw this firsthand when he was driven by Becker to a restaurant, where the Nobel Prize-winner parked in a bay with a 30-minute time limit, which he far exceeded. Since the bays were not checked too often, he judged the risk of being caught worth taking, given the convenience of the location. He did it all the time, he said, and while he occasionally got fined it was never so frequent as to deter him from parking there. He was merely behaveing rationally.
其实，蒂姆哈福德，《卧底经济学家》的作者，当贝克尔驱车带他到一个餐馆，他亲眼目睹这位诺贝尔奖得主在一个分隔车位停车超过了30分钟的时限。由于这个分隔区域不太经常被检查，因此贝克尔在考虑到泊车便捷时心存侥幸。他说他一向如此，但不常被阻止停车，也少有被处罚。他仅仅是理性的应变。
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