economist(经济学人)精品文章中英对照

Whopper to go

至尊汉堡，打包带走

Will Burger King be gobbled up by private equity?

汉堡王是否会被私人股本吞并？

Sep 2nd 2010 | NEW YORK

SHARES in Burger King (BK) soared on September 1st on reports that the fast-food company was talking to several private-equity firms interested in buying it. How much beef was behind these stories was unclear. But lately the company famous for the slogan “Have It Your Way” has certainly not been having it its own way. There may be arguments about whether BK or McDonald’s serves the best fries, but there is no doubt which is more popular with stockmarket investors: the maker of the Big Mac has supersized its lead in the past two years.

有报道披露，快餐企业汉堡王（BK）正在与数个有收购意向的私人股本接洽，9月1日，汉堡王的股值随之飙升。这些报道究竟有多少真材实料不得而知。汉堡王的著名口号是“我选我味”，但如今显然它身不由己，心中五味杂陈。汉堡王和麦当劳哪家薯条最好吃，食客们一直争论不休，但股票投资人更喜欢哪家股票，却一目了然：过去两年里，巨无霸麦当劳一直在扩大自己的优势。

Recession has favoured McDonald’s over BK, whose share price has fallen by half since the economy was flame-grilled in the summer of 2008. Shares in McDonald’s have risen, reaching an all-time high in August. Same-store sales at BK have fallen for five successive quarters.

金融危机却更青睐汉堡王，自2008年经济低迷以来，其股票价格跌至原来的一半。而麦当劳的股票不跌反涨，在8月又创下了历史新高。汉堡王的同店销售额连续五个季度下跌。

Why has McDonald’s been eating BK’s lunch? Among other things, BK has always had a higher proportion of sales to young men, who have been hit especially hard by the recession. McDonald’s, by contrast, has for several years wooed women and older people with relatively healthy salads and drinkable coffee. BK has struggled to follow suit. At the same time, it has had to contend with angry shareholders, as the rising cost of beef and other ingredients has clobbered its profits. BK may also have cannibalised its existing sales by offering value meals that were a bit too irresistible.

为何麦当劳在与汉堡王的竞争中占得先机？别的不谈，汉堡王的顾客更多的是年轻人，而年轻人受金融危机打击尤其严重。相对地，麦当劳近年来一直以相对健康的沙拉和可口的咖啡，吸引女性和中老年人。汉堡王一直难以模仿。与此同时，随着牛肉等原材料的成本上涨，利润一跌再跌，汉堡王又不得不去对付那些愤怒的股东。汉堡王的套餐太过诱人，可能也影响了其他产品的销量。

BK is used to changes in ownership. It went from being part of Pillsbury, a food company, to Grand Metropolitan, a British conglomerate, then to Diageo, a drinks giant. In 2002 it was sold to a group of private-equity investors: TPG, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs. They did a fair job, improving sales with better marketing. They also helped turn around the most troubled of the franchisees who operate most BK restaurants. In 2006 BK floated its shares again. Its bosses may hope that going private once more will protect them from short-term stockmarket pressures while they ponder how to beat McDonald’s.

汉堡王此前多次易主，已经习以为常了。它曾是皮尔斯百利食品公司的一部分，后转入英国大都会集团，继而转投饮品巨头帝亚吉欧。2002年又被转手卖给一批私人股本投资者：德克萨斯太平洋集团（TPG），贝恩资本和高盛。他们经营良好，利用优秀市场策略增加了销售。大部分汉堡王餐厅的运营商当时经营不善，他们还助其扭亏为盈。2006年汉堡王再度上市。其老板可能希望再度私有化以规避短期股市压力，为其争取时间定策击败麦当劳。

If BK does go private, it may be part of a trend in the private-equity industry —now that some of the bigger firms have rediscovered their appetite for deals—of gobbling up the companies they had taken public during the bubble years but which are now trading cheaply. TPG, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs still own a sizeable stake in BK, despite listing it on the New York Stock Exchange in 2006. However, it seems that other private-equity firms are interested in buying it. If that happens, no doubt BK servers will appreciate the irony: the act of passing a company from one private-equity firm to another is known in the business as “flipping”.

私人股本行业——如今一些大公司重新对收购有了兴趣——吞并那些他们在经济泡沫时代卖掉，现在十分廉价的公司，俨然已成一股大潮，如果汉堡王真的私有化，就将融入这股大潮之中。德克萨斯太平洋集团（TPG），贝恩资本和高盛虽然2006年在纽约证券交易所已经兜售了汉堡王，但他们仍握有可观的股份。然而，其他私人股本公司似乎也有意收购。要是真被他们收购，无疑汉堡王的服务生都能领会其中的讽刺：在私人股本公司中被倒卖，在做汉堡这行叫“翻面”。

本主题由 shiyi18 于 2010-11-12 13:16 移动

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Down the slipway下水

“Quantitative easing” is unloved and unappreciated—but it is working

“量化宽松”不受待见，但是有效

Nov 4th 2010 | Washington, dc

EVEN before the Federal Reserve unveiled its second round of quantitative easing (QE) on November 3rd, critics had already denounced it as ineffectual or an invitation to inflation. It cannot be both and it may not be either.

美联储的第二轮量化宽松政策在11月3日公布之前便已受到了各方抨击，有人说它不会起效，也有人说这样会导致通胀。这两者根本不可能同时发生，甚至一个都不会发生。

The announcement of “QE2” was hardly breathtaking. The Fed said it will buy $600 billion of Treasuries between now and next June, at about $75 billion a month, although it also said it could adjust the amount and timing if need be. That was about what markets expected but far less than the $1.75 trillion of debt it bought between early 2009 and early 2010 in its first round of QE. Yet QE2 seems already to have exceeded the low expectations it has aroused. Since Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Fed, hinted at it at Jackson Hole on August 27th, markets have all done exactly what they should (see chart).

第二轮量化宽松并没有惊人之处。美联储称，从现在起到明年6月，它将购买6 000亿美元美国国债，相当于每月购买750亿美元，但具体数字可能随情况进行调整。这一规模与市场预期相当，远低于2009年初至2010年初第一轮量化宽松（总共购买债务1.75万亿美元）。但第二轮量化宽松似乎已经超过了它所引起的低预期。自美联储主席本?伯南克于8月27日在杰克森霍尔（Jackson Hole）暗示这一计划以来，市场对此已有了充分的反映（见图）。

Under QE the Fed buys long-term bonds with newly created money. This lowers long-term yields and chases investors into riskier, alternative investments. The real yield on ten-year, inflation-indexed Treasury bonds has fallen from 1.05% to 0.5%, a result of relatively flat nominal yields and a rise in expected inflation. The yield on their five-year cousins is negative (see Buttonwood). Share prices are up by 14% in the same period. Lower yields make the dollar less appealing: it has duly fallen by 5% against the Japanese yen, by 9% against the euro and by 5% on a trade-weighted basis. “You can declare QE to be a success already,” says one hedge-fund economist. “Whether this translates into real activity remains a question-mark. But the question of whether the mechanism would work has been answered.”

在量化宽松计划中，美联储将通过发行新钞买入长期债券。这压低了后者的收益率，使投资者转向风险更高的替代投资品。在名义收益率相对较平和预期通胀的双重作用下，10年期通胀指数化美国国债真实收益率从 1.05%下降至0.5%。五年期品种则已呈现负利率（见本期Bottonwood）。同期，股票市场上涨了14%。收益率的下降使美元失去了吸引力：美元对日元下跌了5%，对欧元下跌了9%，从贸易加权角度看，则下跌了5%。一位对冲基金经济学家说：“可以说，量化宽松已经获得了成功。它能不能转化为实际行动还不好说。但其机制是否起作用已经毋庸置疑了。”

With a bit of a lag, these easier financial conditions are supposed to boost growth through three channels. First, lower real yields spur borrowing and investment. This channel is bunged up: many households cannot borrow because their homes have fallen in value and because banks are less willing to lend. But the remaining two channels remain open. Higher share prices have raised household wealth by some $1.4 trillion, which will spur some spending. And the lower dollar should help trade. American factory purchasing managers reported a sharp jump in export orders in October and

a drop in imports.

一般认为，宽松的金融环境将通过三个渠道提振经济增长（可能存在时滞）。第一，真实收益率下降能够刺激借贷与投资。这一渠道目前已经失去了作用：许多家庭因为房价下跌和银行不愿意借贷而无法得到贷款。但剩下的两个渠道仍然畅通。股价上涨已使家庭财富增加了1.4万亿美元，这将刺激支出。美元下跌则应该有利于贸易。美国工厂采购经理报告显示，10月份出口订单出现了大幅增长，进口则有所下降。

Macroeconomic Advisers, a consulting firm, reckons that the Fed will eventually buy $1.5 trillion of debt under QE2, and that this will raise growth next year to 3.6% from 3.3% without QE. That’s not exactly overwhelming: the firm thinks the Fed would have to buy $5.25 trillion of bonds to achieve the equivalent of a –4% federal-funds rate, which is what the economy needs. The Fed will not do that for fear of unknown consequences, among them the response of Congress’s newly empowered Republicans. In a Bloomberg poll, 60% of self-identified tea-party supporters favoured overhauling or abolishing the Fed.

咨询公司Macroeconomic Advisers认为，美联储在第二轮量化宽松中将总共购买1.5万亿美元债务，使明年的经济增长率从3.3%（如果不实行量化宽松的话）提高到3.6%。这还不是最令人震惊的：该公司还认为，美国经济需要联邦基金利率下降到-4%的水平，要达到这一效果，美联储必须购买5.25万亿美元债券才行。要美联储抛出如此大手笔是不可能的，因为它害怕因此导致不可预料的后果，比如引起最近在国会中重掌大权的共和党人的激烈反应。彭博社（Bloomberg）的调查显示，60%自称茶党支持者的人赞成改组甚至取消美联储。

Could QE work too well and drive inflation expectations to dangerous levels? “The odds aren’t zero,” says Don Kohn, a former Fed vice-chairman, but they’re small. There’s more risk that expectations could rise once credit loosens up and spending accelerates. That, however, would be a signal that the Fed has succeeded; it can then tighten policy.

量化宽松会过犹不及、将通胀预期推高到危险水平吗？“并非不可能。”前美联储副主席邓?考恩（Don Kohn）说，但可能性很小。更大的风险是通胀预期在信贷放松和支出增速之后抬头。但这正是美联储成功的信号，届时它已经可以采取紧缩措施了。

Other countries complain that QE is merely bringing them overvalued currencies and bubbly asset markets by pushing investors to seek higher returns elsewhere. But that may be unavoidable given their divergent growth paths. Both India and Australia raised interest rates this week despite rising currencies.

其他国家抱怨量化宽松的唯一作用是，将美国投资者驱向其他国家寻找高收益，是当地货币升值并产生资产泡沫。但这是无论如何都不能避免的事情，因为各个国家的增长路径各不同。印度和澳大利亚本周均在本国货币升值的情况下提高了利率。

A damaging round of beggar-thy-neighbour currency interventions cannot be ruled out. But the Bank of Japan, after intervening directly to weaken the yen in September, has struck upon a more benign response. It had been scheduled to release details of

its own QE at a regular policy meeting in mid-November but moved the date forward to this week. Analysts suspect this was to counteract upward pressure on the yen because of the Fed’s move. If central banks all print money in unison, and don’t mop up excess liquidity, then the result could be a worldwide monetary fillip. QE’s benefits should not be over-egged. Nor should they be dismissed.

不能排除发生一种危险情况，那就是各国竞相采取以邻为壑的货币市场干预手段。日本银行在9月就曾经直接干预外汇市场使日元贬值，但这一回，日本银行的反应较为温和。原定11月中旬政策例会上宣布的日本量化宽松计划将提前至本周。分析师认为日本央行此举是为了缓和美联储动作给日元带来的升值压力。如果各国央行一起开动印钞机，而不顾流动性过剩的后果，那么结果将是全球货币刺激。没有必要过分强调量化宽松的好处，但也不应该刻意贬低。

Opening stand 登场

Luck may play a big role in launching successful careers

上佳的运气是成功职业开端的一半

Nov 18th 2010

IN CRICKET batsmen often need a slice of luck to build a decent innings. Might that be true of cricketers’ careers in general, and even of other jobs? In an IMF working paper Shekhar Aiyar and Rodney Ramcharan suggest that it is lucky for international cricketers to play their debut Test (international) match at home.

在板球比赛中，击球手通常需要点运气才能打出不错的击球局。所有板球选手都是这样吗？其他职业也是如此吗？在一篇IMF工作论文中，Shekhar Aiyar和Rodney Ramcharan提出，就（国际）对抗赛（Test）而言，能在主场上演职业生涯首秀对于板球选手来说是件幸事。

Playing at home means familiar pitches and climatic conditions, and a more supportive crowd (just ask the English cricketers whose series against Australia starts in Brisbane on November 25th). Sifting through the data on 790 cricketers who made their Test debuts between 1950 and 1985, the authors find that playing at home rather than away raises the average number of runs scored in their first series by 33% and reduces the runs that a bowler concedes by 18%.

主场作战意为着更熟悉的场地和天气状况，以及更高的观众支持率（关于这一点，11月25日做客布里斯班与澳大利亚进行系列赛的英格兰板球队队员将有切身体会）。通过分析1950至1985年间790位板球手在对抗赛处子秀上的表现，两位作者发现，主场作战平均能将处子系列赛得分“跑”次数较客场提高33%，将被对方投手封杀的“跑”的次数降低18%。

This would not be luck, of course, if team selectors deliberately give home debuts to better players. But first starts are often the result of random events such as the injury or poor performance of existing team members. By using age as a proxy for ability (assuming that younger players who force their way into international sides tend to be more talented), the authors find that the distribution of cricketers’

ages is almost identical for home and away debuts.

当然，如果各队有意将主场处子秀的机会留给较为优秀的选手的话，那么出现上述结果就并非运气了。但处子秀本身是由一系列随机事件决定的：比如队友受伤或是状态低迷等。两位作者将年龄作为能力的一个代表因素（假设选手成功登上国际赛场的年龄越低，则其水平就越优秀），结果发现，板球选手主场处子秀年龄分布和客场没有区别。

A strong debut seems to lead to a shinier career. Every additional ten runs scored in a debut series adds an extra five runs to a player’s career average. The effects of initial success are similar for bowlers. One possibility is that a good start builds confidence and experience that boosts future performance. A bad start, in contrast, is not easily forgiven: selectors appear to discard potentially high-ability players who had the misfortune to debut abroad.

强势处子秀似乎意味着辉煌的职业生涯。系列赛处子秀上得分跑次数每增加10次，选手职业生涯平均得分跑次数就能增加5次。开门红效应对投手也适用。原因可能是成功的开端所带来的信心和经验能够刺激选手的未来表现。反之，如果处子秀演砸了，就可能留下持久的阴影：首秀是在客场，又没能出彩，那么即使你很有潜质，在后来的比赛中也可能得不到出场机会。

A good start may have a persistent, positive impact in other fields, too. That’s especially likely if employers take things at face value and fail to discount the impact of other factors that might enable good performance—a boom in financial markets for a trader, let’s imagine.

良好的开端在其他领域也可能有持久的正面效应。特别是，当雇主只看表面结果而忽略其他可能带来良好表现的因素时，开门红效应就尤为显著。大牛市对于交易员的影响就是其中之一。

A rock, not a hard place 选石的，不选硬的

Boom time for miners in a resource-hungry region

资源饥渴地区的矿业繁荣

Nov 11th 2010 | Hong Kong

IT CAN sometimes feel as if bankers in Asia are shifting their focus backwards along the economic food chain. First they moved from manufacturing to property. Now it’s the turn of rocks.

有时候，银行家在亚洲的一举一动让人感到他们是在逆经济食物链而动。他们先是将注意力从制造业转向房地产。现在则轮到了矿石。

In Hong Kong alone seven mining and natural-resources firms have gone public this year, raising HK$36 billion ($4.6 billion) in the process. Another 13 listed in 2009, raising HK$58 billion, up from not very much the year before. A further 10-15 firms are due to list over the next year and the sums raised will almost certainly be bigger

than before, thanks to Asia’s appetite for raw materials and inexorably rising commodities prices.

光是在香港，今年以来便已有7家矿产和自然资源公司上市，总融资额高达360亿港币。2009年全年共有13家矿产类公司在香港上市，融资580亿港币，较清淡的2008年有所增长。明年还有10~15家公司等着上市。由于亚洲对原材料的巨大需求和不断上涨的商品价格，总融资额达到空前高度已是板上钉钉。

One of the more meteoric ascents has been that of Sino Prosper State Gold Resources Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed company which a year ago was barely more than a shell company. It had an agreement to buy what was thought to be a small mine in Inner Mongolia, along with five undeveloped tracts of land in a remote area of Heilongjiang, in China’s north-eastern tip. The firm was valued on the Hong Kong stock exchange at HK$400m. Since then the price of gold has spiked, and the mine has been bought and turned out to be not so very small after all. Sino Prosper’s valuation is currently HK$3.5 billion and it has become a beacon for other minerals firms.

矿产类股票中火速蹿升，其中中盈国金控股有限公司的表现尤其耀眼。这家香港上司公司一年前还是个皮包公司，手里握有一张协议，内容据说是关于收购内蒙古一家小型金矿和黑龙江省边远地区五块未开发地皮的，去年的市值为4亿港币。从那儿以后，金价开始飙涨，于是小金矿摇身一变成了大宝库，中盈国金的市值目前已高达35亿港币，成了矿业股中的明星。

Hong Kong’s Canadian Chamber of Commerce this week held an invitation-only conference on mining. It was packed with Canadian companies in search of capital either through a direct listing (difficult, given profitability requirements at the Hong Kong stock exchange) or a partial investment by a cash-laden, resource-hungry Chinese firm. Investors seemed less concerned by the risks of digging up minerals, more by potential political obstacles in the wake of the Canadian government’s intervention to block BHP Billiton’s hostile takeover of Potash Corporation.

上周，众多加拿大公司出席了一个由香港加拿大商会（Canadian Chamber of Commerce）举办的凭柬入场矿业会议，或是争取直接上市（这比较困难，因为香港股票交易所对上市公司盈利能力要求较高），或是寻求手握重金又急切需要资源的中国企业作为部分投资人，以获得资本。投资者们似乎不太担心挖矿风险，而是更加顾忌潜在的政治障碍——加拿大政府干预叫停了必和必拓（BHP Billiton）对Potash公司的敌意收购。

Enthusiasm for minerals firms is not found just in Hong Kong. There are stirrings in less likely places, too. The Mongolian stock exchange, located in a lovely old cinema in Ulan Bator, has been transformed into a meeting place for international bankers. Locally listed miners are booming. A tie-up between the Mongolian bourse and the London Stock Exchange is expected to be announced by the end of the month. 并非只有香港出现了矿业公司狂热。在某些意想不到的地方，矿业股也是热火朝天。位于乌兰巴托一座漂亮的老剧院内蒙古证券交易所最近成了国际银行家的聚会之地。本地的上市矿业公司非常火爆。蒙古证券交易所与伦敦证券交易所（London Stock Exchange）的合作预计将于本月末公布。

Only two large mines are currently being developed—gold and copper in Oyu Tolgoi, coal in Tavan Tolgoi—but there are numerous smaller mines throughout the country and 15 major deposits that are the source of serious discussions between global mining giants and the government, says Ganhuyag Chuluun Hutagt of TenGer, a bank holding company. Financiers are on the hunt for investment opportunities in other businesses, too. Mr Hutagt calls Mongolia a wolf economy, hungry and eager. Just like the bankers. 目前蒙古只有两个较大的矿处于开发中——Oyu Tolgoi的金铜伴生矿和Tavan Tolgoi的煤矿。但是，TenGer银行控股公司的Ganhuyag Chuluun Hutagt透露，有传言说蒙古政府正在就全国众多小型矿和15个主要大矿与全球矿业巨头进行重要谈判。除了矿产企业之外，金融家也在蒙古寻求着其他业务机会。Hutagt用“狼”来形容蒙古经济，认为它又饥饿又迫切。这倒是与银行家颇为相似。

America's budget deficit

美国的预算赤字

Speak softly and carry a big chainsaw

轻声细语的德州电锯

Sorting out America’s fiscal mess is relatively simple. What’s needed is political courage

欲解美国财政乱局何其简单，政治勇气足以

Nov 18th 2010

LAST week Asia, this week Europe: no wonder Barack Obama has been to so many foreign summits since his party took a pounding in the mid-term elections. With the prospect of gridlock at home, a president naturally turns abroad. Yet Mr Obama badly needs to show that he can still lead on domestic policy. He should start by cajoling Congress into an agreement to tackle America’s ominous fiscal arithmetic.

自从奥巴马领军的民主党在中期选举中身受重创后，他两周内接连出访欧亚两洲；因此频繁出席境外峰会也就不稀奇了。既然国内前景仍是一片僵局，那么总统先生转战国外也算是自然而然的事情。然而奥巴马目前急需证明自己仍有能力引领国内政局；鉴于目前美国的“预算数学题”非常难解，他不妨从这里开始，但需要拉拢国会以便达成共识。

Conventional wisdom says such an agreement is impossible: the problem is too big, the politics too difficult. But it is wrong to suppose that the deficit is unfixable, as two proposals for fixing it have shown this month (see article). And even the politics may not be totally intractable.

公众的态度是这种共识无法形成：问题太严重，政见太复杂。不过认为赤字问题无药可救也是片面的，因为仅本月就已经出现了两个应对提案。甚至掌控政治问题也非难事。

A trillion-dollar trove

上万亿的聚宝盆

The scale of America’s fiscal problem depends on how far ahead you look. Today’s deficit, running at 9% of GDP, is huge. Federal debt held by the public has shot up to 62% of GDP, the highest it has been in over 50 years. But that is largely thanks to the economy’s woes. If growth recovers, the hole left by years of serial tax-cutting and overspending can be plugged: you need to find spending cuts or tax increases equal only to 2% of GDP to stabilise federal debt by 2015. But look farther ahead and a much bigger gap appears, as an ageing population needs ever more pensions and health care. Such “entitlements” will double the federal debt by 2027; and the number keeps on rising after then. The figures for state and local debt are scary too.

美国财政问题的严重程度取决于预期时间的长短。目前巨额的赤字水平已经达到了GDP的9%。拜美国的苦难经济所赐，社会需求造成的联邦债务对GDP比例达到了62%，这是过去50多年来从未出现过的。如果经济恢复增长，那么连续数年减税政策和过度消费导致的缺口就有可能得到弥补：如果希望在2015年使联邦债务达到稳定水平，仅需相当于GDP2%的支出削减或者税收增加就可以实现。但如果预测更长远的未来，那么人口老龄化会增高的养老金和健康保障计划的需求，缺口就将变的更大。类似的“社保支出”将会迫使联邦债务在2027年翻倍；而且会越来越高。州债务和地方债务看起来同样可怕。

The solution should start with an agreement between Mr Obama and Congress on a target for a manageable level of publicly held federal debt: say, 60% of GDP by 2020. They should also agree on the broad balance between lower spending and higher taxes to achieve this. This newspaper believes that the lion’s share of the adjustment should come on the spending side. Entitlements are at the root of the problem and need to be trimmed, and research has shown that although spending cuts weigh on growth in the short run, they hurt less than higher taxes. And in the long run later retirement and other reforms will expand the labour force and thus potential output, whereas higher taxes dull incentives to work and invest.

解决问题的前提是奥巴马必须同国会达成共识，目标是将社会需求造成的美国政府债保持在可控的水平内；比如2020年达到GDP的60%。同时还要在减少支出和增加税收上形成一致意见，以便寻求二者之间的大体平衡。本刊认为调整的重头戏是在支出方面。社保支出是问题的根源，需要进行削减；尽管研究表明削减支出在短期内会影响到经济增长，但对经济造成的伤害却远不及税收增加。从长期来看，延长退休年龄及其他改革举措必将扩张劳动力大军，进而增加潜在产出；但高税收弱化了工作的激励机制，同时使投资热情也大大衰退。

Yet even to believers in small government, like this newspaper, there are good reasons for letting taxes take at least some of the strain. Politically, this will surely be the price of any bipartisan agreement. Economically, there is sensible room for manoeuvre without damaging growth. American taxes are relatively low after the reductions of recent years. In an ideal world the tax burden would be gradually shifted from income to consumption (including a carbon tax). But that is politically hard —and there is a much easier target for reform.

本刊属于笃信小政府的人，甚至对于所有这样的人来说，都有充足的理由认为税收应该分担

部分压力。从政治角度上来说，两党取得的任何共识都要付出一定的代价；从经济角度上看，在不伤害经济增长的情况下还有一定的调整空间。经过近些年的连续削减，美国的税率水平已经达到了相当低的程度。在完美状态下，税收负担应该逐渐从收入领域转移到消费领域（包括烟尘排放税）。不过这对政治是一个巨大的挑战，毕竟还有很多容易解决的改革目标。

America’s tax system is riddled with exemptions, deductions and credits that feed an industry of advisers but sap economic energy. Simply scrapping these distortions —in other words, broadening the base of taxation without any new taxes—could bring in some $1 trillion a year. Even though some of this would have to go in lowering marginal rates, it is a little like finding money behind the sofa cushions. The tax system would be simpler, fairer and more efficient. All this means that America can sensibly aim for a balance between spending cuts and higher taxes similar to the benchmark set by Britain’s coalition government. A ratio of 75:25 is about right. 美国的税收体系给税收豁免、税收扣减和信贷留了许多开口，这不仅养活了整个顾问行业，还消耗了经济的整体能量。每年仅仅为了冲抵这些差异（换而言之，没有新税种增加的情况下增加税收基础）就要耗费一万亿美元。为了实现这个目的不得不降低边际税率，但多少有点儿像在沙发垫子后面寻找钱财。税收体系将会更加简单、公平和高效。所有这些意味着美国可以理智的在职出削减和提高税收之间找到平衡，类似于英国联合政府设定的基准。75:25差不多就是正确的比例了。

There is legitimate concern that, done hastily, austerity could derail a weak recovery. But this strengthens the case for a credible deficit-reduction plan. By reassuring markets that America will control its debt, the government will have more scope to boost the economy in the short term if need be—for instance by temporarily extending the Bush tax cuts.

这其中还有一些合理的担忧：如果操之过急，限制消费必将颠覆原本就很羸弱的经济复苏。这种忧虑让人们主张削减赤字方案必须值得信赖。如果美国政府可以向市场证明自己仍然可以控制债务，那么在需要的时候仍有更大的余地去推动经济发展，比如继续延长布什政府时期的税务削减政策。

Mr Obama and the Republicans are brimming with ideas for freezing discretionary spending, which covers most government operations from defence to national parks. They have found common cause in attacking “earmarks”, the pet projects that lawmakers insert into bills. But discretionary outlays, including defence, are less than 40% of the total budget. Entitlements, in particular Social Security (pensions) and Medicare and Medicaid (health care for the elderly and the poor), represent the bulk of spending and even more of spending growth.

奥巴马和共和党人都热衷于冻结机动支出的理念，这涵盖了从国防到国家公园的大部分政府部门。他们已经将声讨“特定用途之处”作为共同事业，这正是法律制定者们梦寐以求的计划。问题在于包括国防在内的机动支出仅占总预算的40%。社保支在支出中的权重很高，增长幅度也比较大；特别是社会保障（养老金）、医疗保险和医疗补助制度（针对老年人和贫困人群的健康保障计划）。

On pensions, the solution is clear if unpopular: people will need to work longer.

America should index the retirement age to longevity and make the benefit formula for upper-income workers less generous. The ceiling on the related payroll tax should be increased to cover 90% of earnings, from 86% now.

养老金方面的应对举措可能不太受欢迎，但是却非常明了：延长人们的工作年限。美国应该根据寿命调整退休年龄系数，同时应该调低高收入工人的福利。目前相关的工资税应税上限是收入的86%，这个比例应该增加到90%。

Health-care spending is a much tougher issue, because it is being fed by both the ageing of the population and rising per-person demand for services. Richer beneficiaries should pay more of their share of Medicare, while the generosity of the system should be kept in check by the independent panel set up under Mr Obama’s health reform to monitor services and payments. The simplest way for the federal government to restrain Medicaid would be to end the current system of matching state spending and replace this with block grants, which would give the states an incentive to focus on cost-control.

健康保障支出方面的问题要麻烦得多，因为人口老龄化现象和增高的人均服务需求共同促进了这项支出的增长。富裕的受益者应该为他们的医疗保险付出更多，同时保障体系的恩惠必须长期受都独立委员会的监察，该组织成立于奥巴马的健康改革过程中，指责是对服务和各项支付进行监督。联邦政府也有简单易行的方法来限制医疗补助制度的开销：取消各州相同的现行体系，代之以分类财政补贴，此举可以激励各州政府关注与支出控制。

Chainsaw you can believe in

电锯绝对值得信赖

Devising a plan that reduces the deficit, and eventually the debt, to a manageable size is relatively easy. Getting politicians to agree to it is a different thing. The bitter divide between the parties means that politicians pay a high price for consorting with the enemy. So Democrats cling to entitlements, and Republicans live in fear of losing their next party nomination to a tea-party activist if they bend on taxes. Even the president’s own bipartisan commission can’t agree on what to do.

设计方案来压缩目前的赤字、并最终缩减债务，使其达到可控的水平是非常容易的。困难的事让政客们同意这个方案。两党分歧之痛意味着政敌间的结交需要高昂的代价。因此民主党人紧抓社保支出；如果共和党人专注于税收变革，就会终日担心在下次党内选举中败给茶党。即使总统的两党工作组也无法决定下一步的举措。

But true leaders turn the hard into the possible. Two things should prompt Mr Obama. First, the politics of fiscal truth may be less awful than he imagines. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both won second terms after trimming entitlements or raising taxes. Polls in other countries suggest that nowadays tough love can sell. Second, in the long term economics will tell: unless it changes course, America is heading for a bust. If Mr Obama lacks the guts even to start tackling the problem, then ever more Americans, this paper and even those foreign summiteers will get ever more frustrated with him.

但真正的领袖可以胜任人所不能。奥巴马面前有两个提示：第一，财政真相政治后果应该没有他想象的那么恐怖，里根和克林顿就在削减社保计划或提高税收后谋得连任。其他国家的选举也表明今时今日专制的爱同样有市场。第二，从长远来看，除非美国可以改变发展方向，否则必然走向衰败。如果奥巴马连着手应对问题的勇气都没有，那么更多的美国民众、本刊和那些峰会的参与者对他将更加泄气。

Divided we fall

不合则亡

Britain and France need each other to continue as great(ish) powers

英国和法国要想继续保持其全球大国（或准大国）的地位，两国就必须牢牢捆在一起

Nov 4th 2010

2010年11月4日

表1:防务能力的混合与重组

英国

法国

2009年国防预算

583亿美元

639亿美元

武装部队总人数

17.8万人

25万人

航空母舰

2艘

1艘

驱逐舰

6艘

11艘

护卫舰

17艘

20艘

攻击型潜艇

7艘

6艘

作战飞机

300架

360架

武装直升机

233架

246架

战略导弹核潜艇

4艘

4艘

数据来源: ⅡSS；DASA/MOD：经济学人杂志社

THEY may not always see eye to eye, but when it comes to defence, the interests of France and Britain converge. The two countries are respectively the third and fourth biggest military spenders in the world. Both see themselves as global players, ready and willing to project expeditionary force. But fiscal austerity has threatened the ability of both to live up to those grandiose ambitions. Only by working much more closely together, they have concluded, can two medium-sized European countries hope to stay in the great-power game. Hence the 50-year defence and security co-operation treaty signed this week in London by David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy.

法国和英国偶尔可能也会出现一些纷争，但涉及到国防，他们的利益就无甚差别了。这两国的军事开支分别居世界第三和第四位。两国都认为自己是全球事务参与者，具有远距投送军事力量的能力与意愿。但紧缩的财政已经威胁到两国实现上述宏大目标的能力。这两个欧洲大国已经得出结论，要想继续参与全球大国的博弈，他们只有进行更加紧密地合作。正是有鉴于此，卡梅伦与萨科齐本周在伦敦签订了这项为期50年的防务与安全合作条约。

The main items in the pact are a combined joint expeditionary force and an agreement to operate aircraft-carrier strike groups using aircraft and escort vessels contributed by both countries. But much of the treaty deals with less glamorous equipment and capabilities. Training and maintenance for the new A400M transport aircraft that the two nations are buying will be pooled. Britain is keen to share its new A300-based aerial tankers, if a financial deal to do so can be reached.

该条约的主要条款包括组建一支联合远征部队和一个联合航母作战群，舰载机与护航舰只由两个国家分摊。但条约的大量条款涉及的都是不那么引人注目的装备与能力。这两个国家都正在购买A400M型军用运输机，这种新机型的培训与维护将联合进行。如果能够达成资金分摊的协议，英国是急切地想要两国共享其新购进的A300改型空中加油机。

The two countries will jointly develop nuclear-submarine technologies, satellite communications and maritime-mine countermeasures. The big defence industries of both will be encouraged to co-operate on the next generation of surveillance drones and assorted new missiles, with the aim of forging a single prime European contractor for “complex weapons”.

两国将联合研发核潜艇技术，联合发展卫星通信和反水雷战的能力。将鼓励两国的大型国防工业企业合作研发新一代的无人侦察机和各种新型导弹，目标是要打造单一的“复杂武器系统”欧洲总承包商。

Most dramatically, a separate treaty has been signed on nuclear co-operation. This is remarkable, given the different approaches that France and Britain have taken towards their nuclear deterrents (Britain depends heavily on American kit, while France’s force de frappe is a supreme symbol of national sovereignty). With the blessing of the United States, Britain’s Aldermaston research establishment will concentrate on developing technology, while its French counterpart at Valduc will carry out simulated warhead testing.

最有戏剧性的是，两国还签订了一个单独的核合作条约。考虑到英法两国在构建核威慑力量上的不同做法，这一点颇为引人注目。（英国的核武系统严重依赖美国提供的装备，而法国的核攻击力则是其国家主权的最高象征）。由于有美国盟友的帮助，英国的奥尔德玛斯顿研究机构可以专注于研发技术，而法国位于瓦尔杜克（Valduc）的核研究机构就必须进行核弹头的模拟试验。

Predictably, there was much harrumphing in Britain’s jingoistic popular press. A few retired politicians were dragged out to reminisce about slights suffered at the hands of the perfidious Frogs. The reaction in France was more muted, perhaps because the agreement carefully avoids any of the visionary language about European architectures that excites French imaginations, but which many British Conservatives, such as the defence secretary, Liam Fox, viscerally loathe.

可以预见，在支持强硬外交政策的英国大众媒体上会出现一片不满和反对之声。还会拖出几个退休赋闲的政客来追忆背信弃义的法国佬在过去给英国带来的小小不快。法国的反应则要温和的多，原因也许是该协议小心翼翼地回避了对欧洲架构的预见性表述。只要提起欧洲架构就会激起法国人的想象力，但许多英国保守党人，如国防部长利亚姆?福克斯（Liam Fox）之流，就发自内心地厌恶之。

In fact, most of the objections raised seem either ignorant or anachronistic. Even before France rejoined NATO’s integrated military structure last year, British and French forces had frequently worked and fought together under the command of one or other country. With the exception of the Iraq controversy, the two have rarely found themselves on opposite sides during recent international crises. For example, Britain’s defence secretary during the Falklands war, John Nott, revealed in his

memoirs that France had been Britain’s staunchest ally, providing information that helped to render the Exocet anti-ship missiles used by Argentina ineffective, and supplying Mirage and Super-Etendard fighters for British Harrier pilots to pit themselves against in training.

事实上，大多数持反对观点的人似乎要么是无知，要么就是落伍于时代。甚至在法国去年重返北约军事一体化架构之前，英法两国的军队就已经频繁地在对方指挥下共同工作和作战。除了伊拉克战争的论战之外，两国在最近出现的国际危机中很少出现对立。例如，英国在马岛战争期间的国防部长约翰?诺特（John Nott）就在他的回忆录中透露，法国在这场冲突中是英国最坚定的盟友，法国提供的情报使阿根廷的飞鱼反舰导弹收效甚微，法国还提供“幻影”和“超军旗”式战斗机供英国的鹞式战斗机飞行员进行对抗训练。

Difficulties could arise, however, over shared use of the two countries’ aircraft carriers, if national priorities and policies do not coincide during future conflicts. One solution would be for Britain not to sell the second carrier it is currently building, which at present seems its likely fate, but to operate it on a timeshare basis with the French. That way it could be made available without caveats to whichever country needed it when its main ship was in refit (a three-year job required every seven years or so). Just don’t call it Trafalgar.

然而共用两国的航母的话，在未来可能爆发的冲突中如果出现国家利益优先和对外政策不相一致的情况，就可能会出现困难。一个解决办法就是英国不卖第二艘在建的航母（目前看来它可能面临胎死腹中的命运），而是与法国分时共享这艘航母。这样一来就可以在其航母整修期间（大约每航行七年左右要有三年时间进行整修），哪个国家需要它都可以不受限制的进行使用。但绝对不要把它命名为“特拉法尔加”号。

The liquefaction of hardware

硬件熔解

The rise of the virtual computer

虚拟计算机兴起

Nov 18th 2010

IMAGINE a personal computer that has two souls. One moment it is your work machine, complete with a set of corporate applications and tight security settings. Then it becomes an entertainment centre, allowing you to watch any video and download any program.

想象一下，一台个人电脑有两个化身，一会是你的工作机器，配有一套企业应用软件和严密的安全设置，一会又变成了一个娱乐中心，准许你随心所欲看视频，下程序。

Thanks to a process called “virtualisation”, such computers are now being created. Ever more processing power and clever software are allowing devices of all kinds to separate from their hardware vessels and move to new homes. If this process continues as some expect, it will change computing radically. And more than one IT company will have to rethink how it does business.

多亏一种称为“虚拟化”的技术，这种电脑正被制造出来。处理能力日益强大，聪明软件越来越多，正让各种设备从所在的硬件容器中剥离出来，迁入新居。如若虚拟化进程，像某些人所料那般持续下去，就将从根本上改变计算机运作。而多家IT公司将不得不重新考虑，如何运用该技术做生意。

Virtualisation dates back to the age of mainframe computers. To make better use of them they were sometimes split into smaller “virtual machines”, each of which could run its own operating system and application. But the approach took off only in recent years, when VMWare, a software firm, applied it to servers, the powerful computers that populate today’s corporate data centres. VMWare and its main rivals, Citrix and Microsoft, have since developed all kinds of software tools to manage virtual machines—moving them between data centres, for example.

虚拟化始于大型机时代。为优化利用，大型机有时被分割成一些小型“虚拟机”，每个虚拟机都能运行自己的操作系统及应用软件。但此法近几年突然风行，当时，一家软件公司VMWare 将其运用到服务器上，正是这些功能强大的服务器，构成了今天的企业数据中心。VMWare及其主要对手Citrix和Microsoft，那时起就开发了各种虚拟机管理软件工具，比如让虚拟机在数据中心间迁移的软件。

The success of server virtualisation has inspired IT firms and their customers to do the same thing with other types of hardware, such as devices to store data. Software now pools their capacity and allocates “virtual disks” as needed. Going further, Dropbox, an online storage service, saves identical files only once. Even large files can take only seconds to upload if they already exist somewhere on one of these firms’disks.

服务器虚拟化的成功，启发IT公司及其顾客在其他类型的硬件（如数据存储设备）上，做同样的事。现在，软件可共用这些设备的存储容量，并按需分配“虚拟磁盘”。进一步来说，一种网络存储服务Dropbox，同一份文件仅存一次。即便是大文件，只要已存在这些公司某个磁盘的某处，上传也只需数秒。

The virtualisation of PCs is now under way. Many company computers can already work with applications that run on a central server. But start-ups are pushing the concept further. Desktone offers virtual desktops as an online service. NComputing, a maker of computer terminals, virtualises PCs so they can be shared by up to 30 users. It has already sold more than 2.5m devices, mostly to developing countries and schools. And technology from MokaFive can send an entire virtual machine—complete with operating systems, applications and data—over the network and install it on any PC. Eventually people may no longer need to carry laptops at all. Virtual computers, including data and applications, will follow them everywhere.

个人电脑虚拟化正在进行。许多公司的电脑已能使用运行在一台中心服务器上的应用软件。不过，一些新兴企业正推动此概念进一步深化。Desktone公司提供虚拟桌面网络服务。而一家电脑终端制造商NComputing公司，则将个人电脑虚拟化，使之能为多达30个用户共享。该公司已售出了超过250万台设备，大部分销往了发展中国家与学校。MokaFive公司的技术则能将一整台虚拟机——包括操作系统、应用软件及数据——在网络上迅速迁移，并安装在任一台个人电脑上。最终，人们也许根本不再需要随身携带笔记本电脑。虚拟计算机，包括数据与应用软件，将如影随形。

In the long run, smartphones and other mobile devices may also become shells to be filled as needed. Open Kernel Labs, a start-up in which Citrix has a stake, already lets smartphones run applications, multimedia and radio functions on a single processor, cutting manufacturing costs. Software from Citrix turns the iPad, Apple’s tablet computer, into a terminal for applications that run in a corporate data centre.

终究，智能电话与其他设备也可能变成空壳，按需填充各种软件数据。一家Citrix持股的新兴企业Open Kernel Labs，已使智能电话在一个单处理机上运行应用软件、实现多媒体及收音机功能，削减了制造成本。Citrix的软件，把苹果的平板电脑iPad，变成了一个应用软件终端，而这些软件运行在一个企业数据中心内。

How quickly will virtualisation advance? Gartner, a market-research firm, predicts that the overall market for virtualisation software will grow from $2.7 billion this year to $6.3 billion in 2014. There is certainly no lack of demand. Virtualisation lowers costs by enabling firms to make better use of their servers and buy fewer new ones. The technology also allows PCs to be maintained remotely, which is much cheaper. But improved reliability and security are even more of an attraction. Users of MokaFive, for instance, can relaunch their virtual machine should a computer virus infect it. And it can be shut down if a laptop is lost or stolen.

虚拟化步伐将会多快？市场调查公司Gartner预计，虚拟软件整体市场将从今年的27亿美元，增至2014年的63亿美元。需求当然不缺。虚拟化让企业优化使用服务器，减少新服务器采购，从而降低了成本。该技术也允许远程维护个人电脑，这相当便宜。不过，可靠性及安全性改善，则更具吸引力。例如，MokaFive的用户，一旦电脑染毒，虚拟机就重启。而要是其笔记本电脑丢失或被偷，虚拟机就会完全关闭。

Yet the technology also has to overcome a few hurdles. The virtualisation of servers is well understood, but for PCs and mobile devices the technique has yet to mature. In the longer run institutional barriers will prove more of a problem, argues Simon Crosby, Citrix’s chief technology officer. Virtualising IT systems, he says, is only the first step to automating their management. This is seen as a threat to existing workers and makes many IT departments hesitant to embrace the technology.

然而，该技术还须攻克几个障碍。服务器虚拟化，大家都很清楚，但对个人电脑及移动设备而言，该技术尚未成熟。Citrix公司首席技术官Simon Crosby表示，从更长远来看，制度障碍也将证实是个问题。他称，IT系统虚拟化仅是其管理自动化的第一步。这被在职员工视为一个威胁，令许多IT部门接受这种技术犹豫不决。

Still, analysts believe virtualisation will win out. Its impact will be felt through the industry. The technology not only makes IT systems more flexible, but allows firms to switch vendors more easily—which will weigh on the vendors’ profits. Big software firms such as Microsoft and Oracle may be hit hardest. But many hardware-makers may suffer as well, since their wares will become even more of a commodity than they are today.

尽管如此，分析家认为虚拟化将最终胜出。整个IT业都将感受到其影响。该技术不仅使IT 系统更为灵活，也让企业更换销售商更为容易，这将给这些销售商盈利造成压力。诸如Microsoft及Oracle之类的软件巨头可能受打击最重。但许多硬件制造商，由于其产品将变成比现在更有价值的一种商品，也可能遭受重创。

What’s up, BYOC?（注1）

“自带电脑”如何？

Moreover, virtualisation makes it much easier to add new servers or storage devices. Alternatively, firms can simply rent extra capacity from operators of what are called “computing clouds”, such as Amazon Web Services. That outfit has built a network of data centres in which virtual machines and disks can be launched in seconds. As a result, IT systems will increasingly no longer be a capital expense（注2）, but an operational cost（注3）, like electricity.

此外，虚拟化使得增添新服务器或存储设备非常容易。如若不然，企业也能简单地从所谓的“计算云”运营商（如Amazon Web Services公司）那租用额外磁盘容量。这家厂商已建立了一个数据中心网络，其中的虚拟机及磁盘能在数秒内启动。结果，IT系统愈来愈不是一种资本支出，而是一种运营成本，跟电力一样。

Yet the most noticeable change for computer users will be that more employees will be allowed to bring their own PC or smartphone to work, says Brian Madden of TechTarget, a consultancy. Companies can install a secure virtual heart on private machines, doing away with the need for a separate corporate device. A “bring your own computer”or “BYOC” movement has already emerged in America. Companies such as Citrix and Kraft Foods pay their employees a stipend, which they can use to buy any PC they want —even an Apple Mac.

然而，电脑用户感受到的最显著变化，则是更多雇员将获准携带自己的个人电脑或智能电话工作，一家咨询公司TechTarget的Brian Madden这样说。企业可在私人机器上安装一个可靠的虚拟心脏，这也摆脱了对企业设备的单独需求。一种“自带电脑”或“BYOC”运动已在美国出现。像Citrix和Kraft Foods这样的公司，付给雇员津贴，让他们用其购买想要的任何电脑，甚或苹果Mac电脑。

Such innovations may help to ease growing tensions between workers and IT departments. New privacy regulations and rampant cybercrime are pushing firms to tighten control of company PCs and smartphones. At the same time more and more “digital natives （注4）” enter the workforce. They have grown up with the freewheeling internet and do not suffer boring black corporate laptops gladly. Giving workers more freedom while helping firms keep control may prove to be the biggest benefit of virtualisation.

这类创新或许有助于缓解员工与IT部门间日益紧张的关系。新的隐私规则出台，网络犯罪猖獗，正推动企业加强对公司个人电脑与智能电话的管控。与此同时，越来越多的“数码原住民”步入职场。他们与无拘无束的互联网一起长大成人，很高兴不用忍受单调乏味的公司黑笔记本电脑。给予员工更多自由，同时协助企业管控，或许证明是虚拟化的最大收益。

注1：What’s up, BYOC?

小标题源自美国1972年出品的电影“What’s up, Doc?”，中文片名一般译为《爱的大追踪》，或“出什么事了，大夫？ / 疯狂飞车大闹唐人街 / 爱的大逃亡”。

注2：capital expense

Capital Spending/Capital Expenditures/Capital Expense 资本支出

某些支出—如购置厂房、机器、设备等—可以使以后多个会计年度受益而非当年消耗完毕，这种支出形成的企业的生产能力，称为资本支出(capital expenditures)。当一个企业花钱购买固定资产或给已有固定资产增加价值时，这就产生了资本支出。在会计中，把支出记作资产的办法，称为资本化。

由于税收的目的，资本支出不能在它们被支付或发生的年度扣除成本，并且必须被资本化。一般的规则是，如果收购的物业的使用年限超过纳税的年限，成本必须被资本化。资本开支成本会在以上资产的使用时期被分期偿还或贬值。如上所述，资本支出给资产或财产创造或增加了基准，而一旦资本支出调整，将决定出售或转让时的税务责任。

对任何公司的会计问题是，特定的支出是该被资本化还是被算作开销。某个月里被算作开销的支出会很简单的作为成本出现在当月的财务报表中。而资本化的开支，会很多年来分期偿还。资本化的开支会出现在资产负债表上。大多数普通的商业开支很明显的是资本化或是被算作开销，但是某些开支会因公司的偏好而被放在任何一类。

注3：operational cost

营业成本(Operating costs)，也称经营成本、运营成本，是指企业所销售商品或者提供劳务的成本。营业成本应当与所销售商品或者所提供劳务而取得的收入进行配比。营业成本是与营业收入直接相关的，已经确定了归属期和归属对象的各种直接费用。营业成本主要包括主营业务成本、其他业务成本。销售产品、商品和提供劳务的营业成本，是由生产经营成本形成的。工业企业产品生产成本（也称制造成本）的构成主要包括：

1.直接材料：包括企业生产经营过程中实际消耗的直接用于产品的生产，构成产品实体的原材料、辅助材料、备品备件、外购半成品、燃料、动力、包装物以及其他直接材料。

2.直接工资：包括企业直接从事产品生产人员的工资、奖金、津贴和补贴。

3.其他直接支出：包括直接从事产品生产人员的职工福利费等。

4.制造费用：企业可以根据自身需要，对成本构成项目进行适当调整。

注4：digital natives

从80年代就开始接触PC的人，现在通常都已过不惑之年。90年代中国PC进入普及阶段的用户，现在也都30出头。这些人经历了模拟时代(机械时代)的种种生活方式和工具，他们试着去转变自己的使用习惯和思维方式，这些人可称为“数字移民(Digital Immigrants)”。然而1985年之后出生的人，则大不相同：他们成长的年代，已经是数字化的年代。他们属于天生数字(Born Digital)，而且习惯且依赖连接世界(Live Connected)。这类人称为第一代“数字原住民(Digital Native)”。

A digital native is a person who was born after the general implementation of digital technology, and as a result, has had a familiarity with digital technologies such as computers, the Internet, mobile phones,and digital audio players over their entire lives. A digital immigrant is an individual who was born before the existence of digital technology and adopted it to some extent later. Alternatively, this term can describe people born in the latter 1970s or later, as the Digital Age began at that time; but in most cases the term focuses on people who grew up with 21st Century technology. This term has been used in several different contexts, such as education (Bennett, Maton & Kervin 2008) (in association with the term New Millennium Learners (OECD 2008)).

More complicated than you think

比你想象的复杂

A new, giant virus is confounding old certainties

新的、巨型病毒正在挑战人类的思维定势

Oct 28th 2010

BIODIVERSITY is not just a matter of tigers and whales, or butterflies and trees, or even coral reefs and tuna. It is also about myriad creatures too small to see that live in numbers too large to count in ways too numerous to imagine. It is easy to forget, especially at meetings like the one to discuss the Convention on Biological Diversity that has been taking place in Nagoya under the auspices of the United Nations, that most of biology is in fact microscopic. Indeed, the more microscopic biology gets, the more diverse it becomes.

生物多样性不仅仅是指老虎和鲸鱼、蝴蝶和森林，甚至也不仅仅是珊瑚礁和金枪鱼。它还指各种小得无法看见、多得无法计算、生存方式令人无法想象的生物。尤其是在联合国主持在名古屋（Nagoya）召开的生物多样性大会上，人们很容易忘记讨论生物学的绝大部分事实上是关于微生物的。实际上，生物越微观，多样性也越明显。

In that context, the discovery by Curtis Suttle of the University of British Columbia and his colleagues of a critter they propose to call Cafeteria roenbergensis virus, or CroV, should not be surprising. But for those brought up on a textbook definition of what a virus is, it is still a bit of a shock. For CroV is not a very viruslike virus. It has 544 genes, compared with the dozen or so that most viruses sport. And it may be able to make its own proteins—a task that viruses usually delegate to the molecular machinery of the cells they infect.

从这个意义上讲，英属哥伦比亚大学的Curtis Suttle和他的同事发现的一种新生物，不应该太出人意料。他们建议将其命名为Cafeteria roenbergensis病毒，或CroV。但是对于那些从小到大就熟悉课本对病毒的定义的人而言，这还是让人有点儿让他们震惊。因为CroV 是一种不太象病毒的病毒。它有544个基因，而大多数病毒只有十几个。此外，它还可能制造自己的蛋白质—而病毒通常将这一任务交给自己感染的细胞由其通过分子机械功能来完成。