无奇不爱
However wealthy we may be, we can never find enough hours in the day to do everything we want. Economics deals with this problem through the concept of opportunity cost, which simply refers to whether someone’s time or money could be better spent on something else. 无论我们多么富有，我们都无法在一天中找到足够的时间来做我们想做的一切。经济学通过机会成本的概念来解释这个问题，机会成本简单来说就是指某人的时间或金钱是否可以更好地用于其他事情。 Every hour of our time has a value. For every hour we work at one job we could quite easily be doing another, or be sleeping or watching a film. Each of these options has a different opportunity cost - namely, what they cost us in missed opportunities. 我们每一个小时都有价值。我们用来工作的每一个小时都可以很容易地做另一份工作，或者睡觉、看电影。这些选项中的每一个都有不同的机会成本，即在错过的机会中给我们带来的成本。 Say you intend to watch a football match but the tickets are expensive and it will take you a couple of hours to get to and from the stadium. Why not, you might reason, watch the game from home and use the leftover money and time to have dinner with friends? This - the alternative use of your cash and time - is the opportunity cost. 假设你打算看一场足球比赛，但门票很贵，进出体育场需要几个小时。你可能会想，为什么不在家看比赛，用省下的钱和时间与朋友共进晚餐呢？这就是你的现金和时间的另一种用途，即机会成本。 For economists, every decision is made by knowledge of what one must forgo - in terms of money and enjoyment—in order to take it up. By knowing precisely what you are receiving and what you are missing out on, you ought to be able to make better-informed, more reasonable decisions. Consider that most famous economic rule of all: there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Even if someone offers to take you out to lunch for free, the time you will spend in the restaurant still costs you something in terms of forgone opportunities. 对于经济学家来说，每一项决定都是由一个人在金钱和享受方面必须放弃什么才能接受的知识决定的。通过准确地知道你正在接受什么和你错过了什么，你应该能够做出更明智、更合理的决定。想想最著名的经济法则：天下没有免费的午餐。即使有人主动提出免费带你出去吃午饭，你在餐厅花费的时间仍然会让你失去一些机会。 Some people find the idea of opportunity cost extremely discouraging: imagine spending your entire life calculating whether your time would be better spent elsewhere doing something more profitable or enjoyable. Yet, in a sense it’s human nature to do precisely that - we assess the advantages and disadvantages of decisions all the time. 有些人觉得机会成本的想法极为令人沮丧：想象一下，把你的一生都花在计算你的时间是否应该花在其他地方做一些更有利可图或更令人愉快的事情上。然而，从某种意义上说，我们总是准确地评估决策的利弊，这是人类的本性。 In the business world, a popular phrase is “value for money.” People want their cash to go as far as possible. However, another is fast obtaining an advantage: “value for time.” The biggest restriction on our resources is the number of hours we can devote to something, so we look to maximize the return we get on our investment of time. By reading this passage you are giving over a bit of your time which could be spent doing other activities, such as sleeping and eating. In return, however, this passage will help you to think like an economist, closely considering the opportunity cost of each of your decisions. 在商界，一个流行的说法是“物有所值”，人们希望他们的现金尽可能有用。然而，另一个是快速获得优势：“时间价值”。对我们资源的最大限制是我们可以花在某件事情上的小时数，因此我们希望最大限度地提高我们在时间投资上的回报。通过阅读这篇文章，你可以把一点时间花在其他活动上，比如睡觉和吃饭。然而，作为回报，这篇文章将帮助你像经济学家一样思考，仔细考虑你每个决策的机会成本。
mutouchoupihai
The Brown Bear 棕熊 My wife Laura and I were on the beach, with three of our children, taking pictures of shore birds near our home in Alaska when we spotted a bear. The bear was thin and small, moving aimlessly. 我和妻子劳拉，带着三个孩子，在阿拉斯加州的家附近海滩拍岸鸟时，发现了一只熊。熊又瘦又小，漫无目的地走动。 Just a few minutes later, I heard my daughter shouting, “Dad! The bear is right behind us!” An agressive bear will usually rush forward to frighten away its enemy but would suddenly stop at the last minute. This one was silent and its ears pinned back— the sign of an animal that is going in for the kill. And it was a cold April day. The bear behaved abnormally, probably because of hunger. 几分钟后，我听到女儿喊道：“爸爸！熊就在我们后面！”一只进攻性的熊通常会冲上前去吓跑它的敌人，但会在最后一刻突然停下来。这只熊一声不响，耳朵向后别着——这是动物准备进行杀戮的迹象。四月，天气寒冷。大概是因为饥饿，这只熊表现反常。 I held my camera tripod in both hands to form a barrier as the bear rushed into me. Its huge head was level with my chest and shoulders, and the tripod stuck across its mouth. It bit down and I found myself supporting its weight. I knew I would not be able to hold it for long. 当熊冲向我时，我两手拿着相机三脚架，形成了一道屏障。它巨大的头与我的胸和肩膀齐平，三脚架卡在它的嘴上。它咬了下去，我用力支撑着它的重量，我知道我撑不了多久。 Even so, this was a fight I had to win: I was all that stood between the bear and my family, who would stand little chance of running faster than a brown bear. 即便如此，这也是我必须赢得的一场战斗：我是这只熊和我家人之间的唯一屏障，他们几乎不可能比棕熊跑得更快。 The bear hit at the camera, cutting it off the tripod. I raised my left arm to protect my face; the beast held tightly on the tripod and pressed it into my side. My arm could not move, and I sensed that my bones were going to break. 熊猛击摄像机，把它从三脚架上折断了。我举起左臂保护我的脸；熊紧紧抓住三脚架，把它压在我的身上。我的胳膊动不了，我感觉到我的骨头要断了。 Drawing back my free hand, I struck the bear as hard as I could for five to six times. The bear opened its mouth and I grasped its fur, trying to push it away. I was actually wrestling with the bear at this point. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the fight ended. The bear moved back toward the forest, before returning for another attack — The first time I felf panic. 我收回空着的手，用力击打了熊五六下。熊张开嘴，我揪住它的皮毛，想要把它推开。我实际上和熊扭打在了一起。然后，战斗结束了，和开始一样突然。熊向森林走去，然后又回来攻击——这是我第一次感到恐慌。 Apparently satisfied that we caused no further threat, the bear moved off, destroying a fence as it went. My arm was injured, but the outcome for us could hardly have been better. I’m proud that my family reminded clear-headed when panic could have led to a very different outcome. 显然，熊很满意我们没有造成进一步的威胁，于是它离开了，一边走一边摧毁了栅栏。我的胳膊受了伤，但对我们来说，结果再好不过了。我很自豪，我的家人提醒我，恐慌时清醒的头脑可能导致完全不同的结果。
