The Guardian view on Britain’s productive forces:  they are not working

1

Productivity isn’t everything, observed the Nobel winner Paul Krugman, but in the long run it is almost everything. For Britons, the worrying news is that the growth in productivity – the amount of stuff we produce every hour – has slowed to a snail’s pace.

productivity   [‚pr?d?k't?v?ti]  n. 增長率

at a snail’s pace  以蝸牛的速度，極慢地，慢吞吞地

譯：諾貝爾獎得主保羅克魯格曼說，生產率并不是一切，但從長遠來看，它幾乎是一切。對英國人來說，令人擔憂的消息是：生產率的增長—我們每小時生產的東西—已經放緩到蝸牛般的速度。

2

The Office for Budget Responsibility, after maintaining a sunny disposition in the face of ever darkening clouds of data, now accepts that we are unlikely to return to pre-crash levels of productivity growth. Before the crash, we would have expected living standards to double every 40 years.

maintain  [me?n'te?n]  v. 保持，維持；維護保養；堅持認為

disposition  [‚d?sp?'z???n]  n. 性情，性格；傾向，意向；排列，布置

譯： 面對越來越黯淡的經濟數據，（英國）預算責任辦公室曾一度保持樂觀，但如今不得不承認：我們不太可能回到危機之前的生產率增長水平。在經濟崩潰之前，我們預計生活水平將每40年翻一番。

3

If we were to carry on in the current manner, it would take more than two centuries to do so. Unless something drastic happens we face not just losing a decade, but a future.

current   ['k?r?nt]  adj. 現時的，當前的

drastic   ['dræst?k]  adj. 急劇的，猛烈的

decade  ['deke?d]   n. 十年

譯： 如果我們以現在的方式繼續下去，那將需要兩個多世紀的時間才能實現該目標。除非發生某些劇烈的變化，否則我們失去的不僅是十年，而是整個未來。

4

While it is true that all western economies have failed to recover the kind of growth they experienced before the crash, rich world economies are picking up speed, while the UK splutters along.

splutter  ['spl?t?]  v. 結結巴巴地說話

譯：雖然所有的西方經濟體都未能恢復到危機之前所經歷的那種增長，但是世界上的發達經濟體正在提速，然而英國經濟增長卻磕磕絆絆。

5

Our rivals are also more prosperous than we are: France and the US had an average productivity in 2015 of €55 per hour worked - 25% higher than the UK. Britain is becoming the sick man of the rich world.

rival  ['ra?v?l]   n. 對手，競爭者  v. 與…相匹敵

prosperous  ['pr?sp?r?s]  adj. 繁榮的，興旺的

譯：我們的競爭對手也比我們更加繁榮：法國和美國在2015年的平均生產率是每小時55歐元，比英國的高了25%。英國正成為發達國家中的病夫。

6

Some of reasons for the malaise is historical: our educational system has woefully disregarded vocational training; after the last war we had less need for an industrial recovery and spent less on new equipment.

malaise  [mæ'le?z]  n. 痼疾；不安，不適

woeful   ['w??f?l]  adj. 悲傷的，糟糕透頂的

disregard  [‚d?sr?'ɡɑ?d]  v. 對…置之不理，忽視

vocation  [v??'ke???n]  n. 職業

recovery  [r?'k?v?ri]    n. 痊愈；復原，恢復

譯：有一些歷史原因造成了該痼疾：我們的教育制度不幸地忽視了職業培訓；在上一次戰爭之后，我們對工業復蘇的需求減少了，對購買新設備的投入也減少了。

7

However, that meant the others played catch up – and now it is a case of Britain lagging behind our rivals. It takes a German worker four days to produce what an employee here makes in five. Too many British workers work longer hours for lower pay than their rich-world counterparts.

lag   [læɡ]  （behind sb/sth）v. 緩慢移動；滯后，落后于

counterpart  ['ka?nt?pɑ?t]   n. 職務相當的人；作用相當的事物

譯：然而，那意味著其他國家追趕上來了。現在的情況則是英國落后于其競爭對手。一名德國工人只需4天就能生產出一名英國工人需要5天才能生產出的相同產品。

8

The reason is that our economy seems to be particularly bad at allocating labour: in the last year the less productive service sector has gone on a hiring spree, while higher value manufacturing has shrunk.

allocate  [?æl?ke?t]  v. 分配，配給

spree   [spri?]   n. 作樂，放縱〔尤指花錢或喝酒〕

shrink   [?r??k]  v. (使)縮小，（使）收縮   (過去式shrank, 過去分詞shrunk)

譯：原因是英國經濟在勞動力分配方面似乎特別糟糕：去年，生產率較低服務行業大舉招聘，然而高附加值的制造業在萎縮。

9

The market, which so many rightwingers think needs unchaining, is operating a sort of reverse creative destruction where the strong are weakened so that the weak can be strengthened.

reverse  [r?'v??s]  adj.相反的，反面的   v.顛倒,使反轉   n.相反;背面

destruction  [d?'str?k??n]  n. 摧毀，破壞

strengthen  ['stre?θ?n]   v. 加強，鞏固

譯：諾貝爾獎得主保羅克魯格曼說，生產率并不是一切，但從長遠來看，它幾乎是一切。對英國人來說，令人擔憂的消息是：生產率的增長—我們每小時生產的東西—已經放緩到蝸牛般的速度。