The start of a new year is a good time to take stock, and there are few better indicators of our long-term economic prospects—and also our prospects for political and social peace—than productivity. As anyone who's taken basic college economics should know, productivity is simply jargon for efficiency. It's also what most people think of as economic progress. The good news is that productivity has been growing strongly; the bad news is that it may slow down.
新一年的开始是对过去一年进行评估并对新一年作出判断的最好时机，如果想对经济的长远发展前景，以及政治和社会安定困结局面的前景作出正确的评估，那么生产率是最好的指标。每一个学过基础大学经济学的人都应该知道，生产率就是俗称的效率。它也是在经济发展时很多人都会想到的一个词。现在有一个好消息是生产率正在强有力的持续增长；坏 息是增长的速度可能会减慢。
To see why that matters, consult a fascinating government report, "100 Years of U. S. Consumer Spending." A century ago, Americans spent 43 percent of their incomes on food and another 14 percent on clothing. By 2002, those shares were 13 percent and 4 percent. Meanwhile, family incomes (after inflation) had tripled. Filling the spending gap are all the things we take for granted—cars, TVs, travel, telephones, the Internet. Home ownership has zipped from about 20 percent to almost 70 percent-of households.
看一看为什么会这样呢？让我们来参阅一份有趣的政府报告《美国人近百年消费开支大观》。100 年前，美国人收入的 43%用于购买食品，14%用于配置衣物。到 2002 年，这一比值分别变成了 13%和 4%。 同时，家庭的收入（通货膨胀后）是原来的 3 倍。填补消费差额的东西我们理所当然地认为是——汽车、电视、旅游、电话以及网络。平均一个家庭在这方面的开支由 20%飘升至现在的 70% 。
This triumph of mass consumption is usually credited to technological breakthroughs, from the assembly line to computer chips. But the whole process is also described as productivity improvement. In 1900, 41 percent of Americans worked on farms. If mechanization，new seeds and fertilizers hadn't meant that fewer people could produce more food, we'd still be paying two fifths of our income to eat. Labor productivity is measured as output per hour worked. Whatever enables people to produce more in a given time (machinery, skills, organization) boosts productivity.
科学技术的突破造成了资源的大量消耗。从工厂产品的装配线到计算机芯片。但是所有这些过程也被称为生产率的提高。1900 年，41%的美国人在农场工作。在机械化时代新的种子和肥料并不意味着更少的人可以生产出更多的食品。我们在食品上面的花费仍然要占收入的 2/5。劳动生产率以每小时的劳动产量为计量。无论什么原因（比如机器，技术以及合理有效的安排）, 只要能够使人在规定的时间内生产出更多的产品就意味着它提高了生产率。
That in turn raises our incomes—or gives us more leisure. It also promotes domestic tranquility by muffling the competition between government and personal spending. Slow future productivity growth virtually ensures a collision between the heavy costs of retiring baby boomers—mostly for Social Security and Medicare—and younger workers' living standards. Higher taxes will bite deeply into sluggish incomes. The reason: what seem to be tiny productivity shifts have huge consequences.
当然反过来那样也会增加我们的收入——或者说是给了我们更多的闲暇时间。生产率的提高还通过抑制政府和个人消费间的竞争促进了国内的安定团结。未来生产率的缓慢增长实际上会导致退休人员的巨大花费（大多是在社会保险和匿疗上）与年轻工人的生活水平之间形成冲突。而较高额的税额又会严重影响到收入无力增长。造成这一局面的原因就在于生产率任何一点小小的变化都会引发社会巨大的变化。
Consider. In 2005, the U.S. economy produced $12.5 trillion of goods and services, or gross domestic product (GDP) . Per capita income—the average for individuals—was $35,000. If productivity growth averages 2.5 percent a year, the economy reaches $34 trillion in 2035 (in constant "2005 dollars"), estimates Moody's Economy.com. Per capita income rises to $73,000.
请认真思考一下.2005 年美国全部产品和劳务的经济总收人即国内生产总值为 12.5 万亿美元，人均收人 35，000 美元。如果生产率按平均每年 2.5%的速度递增，2035 年美国国
内生产总值将为 34 万亿美元（2005 年为起点），人均收人 73，000 美元（摘自：Moody
Economy, com )
Unfortunately, productivity growth has recently decreased. In the past year, it's been only 1.4 percent. By contrast, it averaged about 3 percent from 2000 to 2005. The falt-off partly reflects a mature business cycle. As project that the poor performance will continue. In Moddy's Economy.com's outlook, productivity growth averages 1.4 percent a year from 2005 to 2035. The main reason: stunted business investment in new machine, technologies and buildings, says chief economist Mark Zandi.
不幸的是，最近生产率的增长速度减缓了。去年的增长率仅为 1.4%， 相反 2000 年至2005 年的年平均增长率大约为 3%a 增长速度的减缓部分地反映了商业圈的成熟。虽然经济增长速度减缓了，但生产率仍然在提高。一些关于经济发展前景的预测指出这种不乐观的情况将会持续。2005 年至 2035 年生产率的年平均增长率将为 1.4%。最主要的原因是在配置机器设备、研发新的技术以及组装反面的商业投资在减少——首席经济学家马克·灿迪这样说。
小试牛刀
1. Which of the following statements of productivity is NOT true?
A. Productivity is the best indicator of the economic, political and social prospects.
B. In general, productivity is simply for efficiency.
C. It runs through the economic progress.
D. Productivity improvement is that people can produce more products.
2. Statistics used in the second paragraph are intended to .
A. show us that the life standard of the Americans has improved
B. tell us that the service industry has developed rapidly
C. explain that people always pay a certain of income to eat
D. illustrate that technology has made breakthroughs
3. According to paragraph 4, the productivity improvement has not contributed to .
A. the increase of our income
B. technological development
C. more spare time for us
D. peace and unity of the country
4. We can infer from the passage that the author favors .
A. the productivity is always keeping growing rapidly
B. the development of the productivity isn't good for the society
C. the productivity may influence the political reformation
D. every small change of productivity will cause huge change of society
5. The author's main purpose to write this article is .
A. to tell us that productivity is growing strongly and rapidly
B. to explain what productivity is and how it functions in our society
C. to show that productivity plays a very important role in our society
D. to illustrate the growth of productivity seems to slow down
1.答案：D
解析：事实细节题。考点在第三段。原文第三段中， "whatever enables people to produce
more in a given time ( machinery, skills, organization ) boosts productivity", 意思是：无论什么
原因（比如机器，技术以及合理有效的安排），只要 能够使人在规定的时间内生产出更多
的产品就意昧着它提高了生产率。而选项 D 的意思 是，"生产率的提高是人们能够生产更
多的产品"，并没有说到‘在规定时间内”，所以 该选项并不完整。因此本题应选 D。
2. 答案：D
解析：推理判断题。考点在第二段。第二段中作者用了 100 年前和 2002 年美国人们生活
支出做比较，说明了科学技术发展的突破改变了人们收入的支出情况。所以本题应选 D 意
思是"科学技术取得了突破"。
3. 答案：B
解析：事实细节题。考点在第四段。在原文中我们可以看出生产率的提高使得："raises our
incomes"; "gives us more leisure"; " domestic tranquility,” 。 所以本题应选 B, 意思是"科学技术的发展"。
4.答案: D
解析：推理判断题。选项 A， 意思是"生产率一直保持着快速地发展"，在文章第一段我
们就知道了生产率正在强有力的持续增长，但是其增长的速度可能会减慢。选项 B， 意
思是"生产率的提高对社会没有好处，”这与原文的意思不相符。选项 C,意思是"生产率可能
影响到政治的改革，"这在文章中也并未提及。选项 D， 意思是"生产率任何一点 小小的
变化都会引发社会巨大的变化，"这与原文第四段最后一句话"tiny productivity shifts have
huge consequences" 相符。因此，本题应选 D。
5.答案：B
解析：主旨大意题。这篇文章主要讲的是生产率。文章阐述了什么是生产率，并讲了生产
率的作用，同时也说了生产率的现状。所以本题最符合的选项是 B。
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