找出最饿的那个人的双语新闻

2024-07-22 好文

　　THE HUNGRY MAN

　　Dear Economist,

　　I have a question for you. You have a piece of bread and you are full enough to give it to someone else. In front of you, 10 guys are waiting for your charity. You can say only one sentence to them.

　　But with only this one sentence, you need to find out who is the most hungry guy. What are you going to say?

　　Myeong Hyeon, via e-mail

　　Dear Myeong Hyeon,

　　This is an interesting poser, although in fact I would run a mile if confronted by 10 hungry guys clamouring for my focaccia. That is, perhaps, quibbling, but my main complaint about your question is more serious.

　　Perhaps you believe that there is little difference between economics and the parlour games of logicians, but in this particular case there is all the difference in the world.

　　A basic proposition of economics is that talk is cheap. Nothing these worthy fellows could say conveys any information to me. A crook can tell the same sob story as the most desperate beggar.

　　One possibility, then, is that I could carry out intrusive background checks on these characters. However, that is expensive and tiresome for all concerned - and since the largest providers of pieces of bread are governments, there are concerns over abuses of information, too.

　　Alternatively, and more elegantly, I could hand over bread only to those people who give me a signal that a well-fed con man would not be willing to give. For example, I could demand that the recipient of the bread first wallow in a muddy puddle. But this, like many signals, is wasteful. Better if the signal was also socially productive, so that I could hand out bread in exchange for useful work. We call this arrangement “getting a job”.

　　找出最饿的那个人

　　亲爱的经济学家，

　　我有一个问题问你。你有一片面包，但你已经吃饱了，于是决定把它送给别人。在你面前，有10个人等着你的施舍。你只能对他们说一句话。

　　但要通过一句话，你必须找出谁是最饿的那个人。你会说什么呢?

　　Myeong Hyeon，通过电子邮件

　　亲爱的Myeong Hyeon，

　　这是一个有趣的难题，但事实上，如果我碰到10个饥饿的人嚷着要我的面包，我可能早就跑到一英里以外去了。这可能是在诡辩，但对于你的问题，我的主要不满则更为严肃。

　　可能你相信，经济学和逻辑学家的室内游戏几乎没有区别，但在这个特殊的案例中，则存在天壤之别。

　　经济学的一个基本命题是，言语是廉价的。这些需要面包的人无论说什么都不能向我传递任何信息。一个骗子讲述的故事可以和最绝望的乞丐一样催人泪下的故事。

　　那么，一个可能性就是，我可以对这些人的背景进行深入调查。然而，调查费用巨大，而且令所有各方都感到疲惫——由于面包的最大提供者是政府，因此这里还存在信息滥用的问题。

　　换种做法(这种做法也更绅士一些)，如果有人会向我发出衣食无忧的骗子不愿发出的信号，我可以把面包只交给这些人。例如，我可以要求面包接受者先在泥塘里打滚。但和许多其它信号一样，这也是种浪费。更好的办法是让发出的信号还能带来社会生产力，这样我就可以拿面包交换有用的劳动。我们将这种安排称作“得到工作”。

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