【正文】 ve 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 overhead will be low. It will be low because it will be necessary to have only one man looking after each job, without having another man to check upon what he is doing, keep him in line, and report on him to someone else. But if no one can be trusted to act in a loyal and responsible manner towards his job, then the business will require armies of administrators, checkers, and foremen, and administrative overheads will rise correspondingly. As administrative overhead rises, so the earnings of the business, after meeting the 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.如果一個(gè)國家實(shí)際上處于分裂狀態(tài)，使之聯(lián)合起來就是政府的事了。這樣一來就增加了政府的開支，從而相應(yīng)地減少了可以用來發(fā)展國家的那部分經(jīng)濟(jì)資源。不應(yīng)忘記，在一個(gè)貧窮落后的國家里，那部分財(cái)力是很有限的。凡是政府管理費(fèi)用高的地方，用于發(fā)展國家經(jīng)濟(jì)的資金就會相應(yīng)地減少。把國家的狀況同私人企業(yè)的狀況加以比較，就可以看清這個(gè)問題。一個(gè)企業(yè)為了繼續(xù)經(jīng)營，不得不支出一定的費(fèi)用和開銷。就我們的目的而言，我們只關(guān)心一種費(fèi)用—企業(yè)行政管理費(fèi)。一家企業(yè)的這種行政管理開支類似于一個(gè)國家的政府管理所用的開支。如果企業(yè)中的每個(gè)人都在真誠地為提高企業(yè)利潤而工作，那么企業(yè)的管理費(fèi)用就會降低到相應(yīng)的程度。如果企業(yè)的每個(gè)人都信得過，人人都認(rèn)真負(fù)責(zé)，在各自的工作范圍內(nèi)發(fā)揮主動性，行政管理費(fèi)用就會降低。行政管理費(fèi)用降低的原因是：每項(xiàng)工作只需一個(gè)人去完成，用不著另外再有一個(gè)人檢查他的工作，督促他遵守章程，或向有關(guān)人士匯報(bào)他的工作。但是，如果企業(yè)中誰也不可信賴會對工作盡忠守職，那么企業(yè)就會需要大批的管理人員、檢查人員和帶班人員，管理費(fèi)用就會相應(yīng)地增加。管理費(fèi)用增加了，那么在扣除管理費(fèi)用后，企業(yè)的收入就降低了。因而用于分紅的金額或直接用于將來開拓和發(fā)展的投資就相應(yīng)地減少了。一個(gè)國家的情況也完全相同。如果人民忠于職守，舉止規(guī)矩，能受到政府的信賴，那么政府就不需要大批的警察和文職人員去促使人民遵紀(jì)守法。但是，如果一個(gè)國家處于分裂狀態(tài)，政府不能相信人民的行動有利于國家，那么政府就不得不對人民進(jìn)行監(jiān)督、檢查和控制。因此，一個(gè)處于分裂狀態(tài)的國家必然要支付過高的行政管理費(fèi)用。Lesson 37 The process of ageing 衰老過程At the age of twelve years, the human body is at its most vigorous. It has yet to reach its full size and strength, and its owner his or her full intelligence。 but at this age the likelihood of death is least. Earlier, we were infants and young children, and consequently more vulnerable。 later, we shall undergo a progressive loss of our vigour and resistance which, though imperceptible at first, will finally bee so steep that we can live no longer, however well we look after ourselves, and however well society, and our doctors, look after us. This decline in vigour with the passing of time is called ageing. It is one of the most unpleasant discoveries which we all make that we must decline in this way, that if we escape wars, accidents and diseases we shall eventually ‘die of old age’, and that this happens at a rate which differs little from person to person, so that there are heavy odds in favour of our dying between the ages of sixtyfive and eighty. Some of us will die sooner, a few will live longeron into a ninth or tenth decade. But the chances are against it, and there is a virtual limit on how long we can hope to remain alive, however lucky and robust we are.Normal people tend to forget this process unless and until they are reminded of it. We are so familiar with the fact that man ages, that people have for years assumed that the process of losing vigour with time, of being more likely to die the older we get, was something selfevident, like the cooling of a hot kettle or the wearingout of a pair of shoes. They have also assumed that all animals, and probably other organisms such as trees, or even the universe itself, must in the nature of things ‘wear out’. Most animals we monly observe do in fact age as we do, if given the chance to live long enough。 and mechanical systems like a wound watch, or the sun, do in fact run out of energy in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics (whether the whole universe does so is a moot point at present). But these are not analogous to what happens when man ages. A rundown watch is still a watch and can be rewound. An old watch, by contrast, bees so worn and unreliable that it eventually is not worth mending. But a watch could never repair itselfit does not consist of living parts, only of metal, which wears away by friction. We could, at one time, repair ourselveswell enough, at least, to overe all but the most instantly fatal illnesses and accidents. Between twelve and eighty years we gradually lose this power。 an illness which at twelve would knock us over, at eighty can knock us out, and into our grave. If we could stay as vigorous as we are at twelve, it would take about 700 years for half of us to die, and another 700 for the survivors to be reduced by half again.人體在12歲時(shí)是生命力最旺盛的時(shí)期。雖然在這個(gè)時(shí)期人的身材、體力和智力還有待發(fā)展和完善，但在這個(gè)年齡死亡的可能性最小。再早一些，我們是幼兒和小孩子，身體較脆弱；再遲一些，我們就要經(jīng)歷生命力和抵抗力逐步衰退的過程。雖然這個(gè)過程起初難以覺察，但最終會急轉(zhuǎn)直下，不管我們怎樣精心照料我們自己，不管社會和醫(yī)生怎樣對我們進(jìn)行精心照顧，我們也無法再活下去了。生命力隨時(shí)間的流失而衰退叫做衰老。人類發(fā)現(xiàn)的最不愉快的一個(gè)事實(shí)是：人必然會衰老。既使我們能避開戰(zhàn)爭、意外的事故和各種疾病，我們最終也會“老死”；衰老的速度在人與人之間相差甚微，我們最可能死亡的年齡在65至80歲之間，有些人會死得早一些，少數(shù)人壽命會長一些——活到八十幾歲或九十幾歲，但這種可能性很小。不管我們多么幸運(yùn)，多么健壯，我們所希望的長壽實(shí)際上是有限度的。衰老的過程，不經(jīng)提起，正常人容易忘記；一經(jīng)提醒，才會記起。我們對人總是要衰老的現(xiàn)象并不陌生，多年來就已認(rèn)識到。生命力隨著時(shí)間流失而喪失活力，人隨著年齡的增長而接近死亡，這是不言而喻的，就像一壺?zé)崴t早會涼下來，一雙鞋漸漸會磨破一樣。人們不但認(rèn)識到所有的動物，大概也認(rèn)識到所有的有機(jī)物，如樹木，甚至宇宙本身，從事物的本質(zhì)上來說都會“磨損掉”。我們通?？吹降拇蠖鄶?shù)動物，即使能讓它們活得足夠長久的話，也會像我們一樣衰老的。像上緊發(fā)條的手表那樣的機(jī)械裝置，或太陽，也都會消耗完其能量（整個(gè)宇宙是否如此，目前尚有爭論）。不過，這些衰老的情況同人并不相似。手表停了依然是只手表，還可以重上好發(fā)條。然而一只老掉牙的手表，磨損太厲害，老得一點(diǎn)兒也不準(zhǔn)了，最終會不值得修理了。但是，手表決不會自行修理，它不是由有生命的部件組成，而是由金屬組成，而金屬可以隨著磨擦而磨損殆盡。而我們?nèi)?，在一定時(shí)間內(nèi)是可以自行修復(fù)的，除了暴病而死或意外事故外，至少足以克服一切一般疾病和事故。在12歲至80歲之間，我們逐漸喪失這種能力。能使我們在12歲時(shí)病倒的疾病，到了80歲可能會使我們一蹶不振而進(jìn)入墳?zāi)埂＜偃缥覀兡鼙３?2歲時(shí)的旺盛生命力，那么我們當(dāng)中的一半人過700年才死去，剩下的一半人再過700年，才會又減少一半。Lesson 39 What every writer wants 作家之所需I have known very few writers, but those I have known,