[28, Ni, Nickel, 镍, 58.69]
What This Country Needs?
这个国家真正需要的是
“?is a good five-cent cigar!” Secretary of the Treasury Babbinger slammed a hand down on his desk. “Would somebody please tell me what idiot came up with that?”
“一支五分钱就能买到的好雪茄！”财政部长巴宾格把手放在桌子上，“有人请告诉我那玩意是怎么一回事？”
“It was Thomas Marshall, sir,” an unwary aide said.
“是托马斯·马歇尔，先生。”一位粗心的助手说：
“What?”
“啥？”
“Thomas Riley Marshall, 1854 to1927, vice president under Woodrow Wilson from 1913 through 1921, renowned for his wit, though for little else.”
“托马斯·赖利·马歇尔，1854至1927年人，在1913年至1921年担任伍德罗·威尔逊的副总统，他以机智而闻名，尽管没人知道怎么个机智法。”
“Thank you,” Babbinger said with heavy irony. “Thank you for that history lesson, young master Stewart. Our entire economy is about to collapse, and you’re lecturing me about Woodrow Wilson’s witty vice president!”
“谢谢你。”巴宾格讽刺地说。 “谢谢你的历史课，年轻的斯图尔特硕士。我们的整个经济将要崩溃，而你正在向我讲解伍德罗·威尔逊那机智的副总统！”
“To be fair, sir,” another aide said, “I don’t see what damage the new personal nanofactories are going to do. They’ll bring prices down?that’s a good thing! I dumped my old suit in my ‘factory last night, and now I’ve got a genuine Armani for a five dollar licensing fee.”
“老实说，先生，”另一位助手说，“我看不到新的个人纳米工厂会给我们造成什么损害。它们会降低价格吗？那是件好事啊！昨晚我把旧衣服扔进了我的工厂，而现在我只要支付5美元的许可费就能得到一件真正的阿玛尼。”
“That,” said Babbinger, “is exactly the problem. We have an economic system here that is based on scarcity and want. If everybody’s going to have all the fine foods and rare wines and good clothes they want for the price of rags and gruel, then who’s going to empty our spittoons and clean our toilets? Who’s going to do the scut-work?”
“可那个，”巴宾格说，“正是问题所在。我们这里的经济体制是建立在稀缺和匮乏的基础上的。如果每个人都想要所有的精美食物，稀有葡萄酒和好衣服，同时只需要付出破布和稀饭价格，那谁还会倒我们的痰盂或是打扫我们的厕所？谁还会来干粗活？”
“Perhaps we should all do our own scut-work, sir,” young master Stewart said.
“也许我们都应该做自己的剪裁工作，先生。”年轻的硕士斯图尔特说。
Babbinger glared at his aide. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”
巴宾格瞪了他的助手。“我会假装你没有这么说的。”
He patted his jacket pockets. “Damn! I left my cigar case at home.””Here, sir. Have one of mine.”
他拍了拍夹克的口袋。“该死！我把雪茄盒忘在家里了。”“来，先生。抽我的吧。”
Babbinger accepted the cigar, sniffed it. “Cuban. My own brand.” Anger flared in him. “By God, you’ve been stealing my cigars. You’re fired!”
巴宾格接过雪茄，嗅了嗅。“古巴货。独一无二的雪茄。”怒火在他身上爆发了，“天哪，你一直在偷我的雪茄。你被解雇了！”
The young man didn’t turn a hair. “That’s fine by me, sir. I’ve got a couple hundred bucks saved up, and that’s enough to last me for years. I’ve been thinking about a career change anyway. I suspect a lot of people have been thinking of career changes lately.”
那个年轻人镇定自若：“对我来说还好，先生。我已经存了几百美元，够我花很多年了。不管怎么样，我一直在考虑换份工作。我怀疑最近有很多人正在考虑换工作。”
He paused at the door. “You can keep the cigar. It only cost me a nickel.”
他在门口停了下来：“雪茄你留着吧。它只花了我一枚五分钱镍币。”