新概念美音版第四冊 Lesson 36 The cost of government 政府的開支

 

Lesson 36 The cost of government 政府的開支  
 
First listen and then answer the following question.

聽錄音，然後回答以下問題。

What is the most important factor, both in government or business, for keeping running costs low?

    If a nation is essentially disunited, it is left to the government to hold it together. This increases the expense of government, and reduces correspondingly the amount of economic resources that could be used for developing the country. And it should not be forgotten how small those resources are in a poor and backward country. Where the cost of government is high, resources for development are correspondingly low.

    This may be illustrated by comparing the position of a nation with that of a private business enterprise. An enterprise has to incur certain costs and expenses in order to stay in business. For our purposes, we are concerned only with one kind of cost -- the cost of managing and administering the business. Such administrative overheads in a business are analogous to the cost of government in a nation. The administrative overheads of a business are low to the extent that everyone working in the business can be trusted to behave in a way that best promotes the interests of the firm. If they can each be trusted to take such responsibilities. And to exercise such initiative as falls within their sphere, then administrative overheads will be low. It will be low because it will be necessary to have only one man looking after each job, then the business will require armies of administrators, checkers, and foremen and administrative overheads will rise correspondingly. As administrative overheads rise, so the earnings of the business after meeting he expense of administration, will fall; and the business will have less money to distribute as dividends or invest directly in its future progress and development.

    It is precisely the same with a nation. To the extent that the people can be relied upon to behave in a loyal and responsible manner, the government does not require armies of police and civil servants to keep them in order. But if a nation is disunited, the government cannot be sure that the actions of the people will be in the interests of the nation; and it will have to watch, check, and control the people accordingly. A disunited nation therefore has to incur unduly high costs of government.

            RAYMOND FROST The Backward Society

New words and expressions 生詞和短語

    disunited
adj. 分裂的
    correspondingly
adv. 相應地
    backward
adj. 落後的
    incur
v.  承擔
    administer
v.  管理
    adminstrative
adj. 行政管理的
    analogous
adj. 類似的
    overheads
n.  一般費用
    initiative
n.  主動，積極性
    checker
n.  檢查人員
    foreman
n.  監工
    dividend
n.  紅利
    unduly
adv. 過度地  

參考譯文

    如果一個國家實際上處於分裂狀態，使之聯合起來就是政府的事了。這樣的一來就增加了政府的開支，從而相應地減少了可以用來了展國家的那部分經濟資源。不應忘記，在一個貧窮落後的國家裏，那部分財力是很有限的。凡是政府管理費用高的地方，用於發展國家經濟的資金就會相應地減少。

    把國家的狀況同私人企業的狀況加以比較，就可以看清這個問題。一個企業為了繼續經營，不得不支出一定的費用和開銷。就我們的目的而言，我們隻關心一種費用 -- 企業行政管理費。一家企業的行政管理開支類似於一個國家的政府管理所用的開支。如果企業中的每個人都在真誠地為提高企業利潤而工作，那麽企業的管理費用就會降低到相應的程度。如果企業的每個人都信得過，人人都認真負責，在各自的工作範圍內發揮主動性，行政管理費用就會降低。行政管理費用的降低的原因是：每項工作隻需要一個人去完成，用不著另外再有一個人檢查工作。督促他遵守章程，或向有關人士匯報他的工作。但是，如果企業中誰也不可信賴會對工作盡忠守職，那公企業就會需大批的管理人員、檢查人員和帶班人員，管理費用就會相應在增加。管理費用增加了，那麽在扣除管理費用後，企業的收入就降低了。因此用於分紅的金額就用於將來開拓和發展的投資就相應地減少了。

    一個國家的情況也完全相同。如果人民忠於職守，舉止規矩，能受到政府的信賴，那麽政府就不需要大批的警察和文職人員運去促使人民遵紀守法。但是，如果一個國家處於分裂狀態，政府不能相信人民的行動有利於國家，那麽政府就不得不對人民進行監督、檢查和控製。因此，一個處於分裂的國家必須要支付過高的行政管理費用。