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StevenLevitt_2004-_分析毒品交易经济学_
You'll be happy to know that I'll be talking not about my own tragedy , but other people's tragedy. 你们将会很庆幸我要讲的并非自己的遭遇, 是其他人的遭遇。
tragedy:n.悲惨的事;不幸;灾难;悲剧作品;
It's a lot easier to be lighthearted about other people's tragedy than your own, and I want to keep it in the spirit of the conference . 相比亲身经历不幸,别人的遭遇听起来就轻松得多。 我想把这条列为这次大会的基本精神。
lighthearted:adj.快乐的,心情愉快的;无忧无虑的; conference:n.会议;研讨会;商讨会;体育协会(或联合会)
So, if you believe the media accounts, being a drug dealer in the height of the crack-cocaine epidemic was a very glamorous life, in the words of Virginia Postrel. 如果你相信媒体的数据, 在可卡因泛滥成灾的时代,作为一个毒品贩子, 用Virginia Postrel的话来说,他们的生活十分绚烂。
media:n.媒体;媒质(medium的复数);血管中层;浊塞音;中脉; drug dealer:n.毒品贩子; epidemic:n.流行病;蔓延;adj.传染病;流行性的; glamorous:adj.迷人的,富有魅力的; Virginia:adj.弗吉尼亚州的;
There was money, there was drugs, guns, women, you know, you name it -- jewelry, bling-bling -- it had it all. 有金钱,有毒品,有枪,有女人, 还有你所能想到的--珠宝,在那儿熠熠发光--所有这些。
bling-bling:珠光宝气的;闪亮的;
What I'm going to to tell you today is that, in fact, based on ten years of research, a unique opportunity to go inside a gang -- to see the actual books, the financial records of the gang -- that the answer turns out not to be that being in the gang was a glamorous life. 但经过十年的研究,今天我要与你们分享 一个独一无二的深入黑帮内部的机会-- 去看看他们最真实的财政纪录-- 你会发现他们的生活一点都不绚烂。
unique:adj.独特的,稀罕的;[数]唯一的;n.独一无二的人或物; gang:n.一群; v.(英)去; financial:adj.金融的;财政的,财务的;
But I think, more realistically , that being in a gang -- selling drugs for a gang -- is perhaps the worst job in all of America. 更实际地说,作为黑帮的一员-- 为组织贩卖毒品--可能是全美国最悲惨的工作。
realistically:adv.现实地;实际地;逼真地;
And that's what I'd like to convince you of today. 今天我要说服你们。
convince:v.使确信;使相信;说服,劝说;
So there are three things I want to do. 我有三件事要做。
First, I want to explain how and why crack cocaine had such a profound influence on inner-city gangs . 首先,我会解释为什么快克（片状可卡因） 对城市黑帮的影响如此深远。
crack:v.使破裂;打开;变声;n.裂缝;声变;噼啪声;adj.最好的;高明的; cocaine:n.[药]可卡因; profound:adj.深厚的;意义深远的;渊博的; influence:n.影响;势力;感化;有影响的人或事;v.影响;改变; inner-city:n.(居民拥挤,住屋破旧的)市中心平民区;adj.市中心的; gangs:n.帮派(gang的复数);v.成帮结伙;合伙行动(gang的三单形式);
Secondly, I want to tell you how somebody like me came to be able to see the inner workings of a gang. 其次,我想告诉你们 我是如何了解到黑帮的内幕的。
workings:n.作用;工作方式;操作(working的复数);
It's an interesting story, I think. 这个故事很有趣,至少我是这么认为的。
And then third, I want to tell you, in a very superficial way about some of the things we found when we actually got to look at the financial records -- the books -- of the gang. 最后,我想要用一种很通俗易懂的方式, 告诉你们我们所找到的和看到的-- 黑手党的账本。
superficial:adj.表面的;肤浅的;表面文章的;外表的;(人)浅薄的;
So before I do that, just one warning, which is that this presentation has been rated 'R' by the Motion Picture Association of America. 开始前有个小警告, 这个演讲已被美国电影协会列为限制级,
presentation:n.展示;描述,陈述;介绍;赠送; Motion Picture:adj.电影的; Association:n.协会;关联;联想;交往;
It contains adult themes, adult language. 其中涉及成人话题及用语。
Given who is up on the stage , you'll be delighted to know that in fact there'll be no nudity , barring a -- 鉴于演讲者是我,你会知道实际上 这个演讲不会有什么赤裸裸的东西, 除非--
on the stage:在舞台上;现阶段;当演员; delighted:adj.高兴的; v.使高兴; (delight的过去分词和过去式) nudity:n.裸露;裸体像;
(Laughter) （笑声）
- unexpected wardrobe malfunctions aside. -意料之外的事件。
unexpected:adj.意外的,想不到的; wardrobe:n.衣柜;衣橱;(英国)放置衣物的壁橱;(一个人的)全部衣物; malfunctions:n.失灵;故障,功能障碍;(malfunction的复数)
(Laughter) （笑声）
So let me start by talking about crack cocaine, and how it transformed the gang. 现在我开始讲讲快克是如何改造了黑帮的。
transformed:v.使改变形态;使改变外观(或性质);(transform的过去分词和过去式)
And to do that, you have to actually go back to a time before crack cocaine, in the early '80s, and look at it from the perspective of a gang leader. 你首先得回到没有快克的时代, 作为一个黑帮头头。
perspective:n.观点;远景;透视图;adj.透视的;
So being a gang leader in the inner city wasn't such a bad deal in the mid-'80s. 在80中期,混迹于城市的日子还算不错
inner city:n.(居民拥挤,住屋破旧的)市中心平民区;adj.市中心的;
In the early '80s, some would say. 或80早期
Now, you had a lot of power, and you got to beat people up -- you got a lot of prestige , a lot of respect. 你有很大的权利,你随便打人-- 你享受着不一般的特权和众人的敬畏。
prestige:n.威望,声望;声誉;
But there was no money in it, OK? 但是,你没有钱。
The gang had no way to make money. 黑帮们没有赚钱渠道。
And they couldn't charge dues to the people in the gang, because the people in the gang didn't have any money. 他们也不能像成员要会费, 因为这些帮内成员也穷的叮当响。
You couldn't really make any money selling marijuana . 卖大麻也赚不了几个钱。
marijuana:n.大麻;大麻毒品;
Marijuana's too cheap, it turns out. 大麻实在是太便宜了。
You can't get rich selling marijuana. 卖大麻不能赚大钱。
You couldn't sell cocaine. 你也不能卖可卡因。
You know, cocaine's a great product -- powdered cocaine -- but you've got to know rich white people. 可卡因是个伟大的东西--可卡因粉末-- 但前提是你得认识那些有钞票的白人。
powdered:adj.变成粉末的;涂粉的;v.使成粉末(powder的过去分词);撒粉;搽粉;
And most of the inner-city gang members didn't know any rich white people -- they couldn't sell to that market. 而大部分黑帮成员根本不会认识有钞票的白人。 他们没有市场。
You couldn't really do petty crime, either. 你也不能整天实施那些无关痛痒的小犯罪。
petty:adj.琐碎的;小气的;小规模的;
It turns out, petty crime's a terrible way to make a living . 实际上靠实施小犯罪谋生是非常糟糕的。
make a living:谋生,维持生活;
So, as a result , as a gang leader, you had, you know, power. 所以结果就是, 作为一个黑帮,你确实有权利。
as a result:结果;
It's a pretty good life. 生活确实不错。
But the thing was, in the end, you were living at home with your mother. 但问题是,你不得不和你妈住在一块。
And so it wasn't really a career . 所以这根本算不上“事业“。
career:n.职业;事业;生涯;经历;
It was something that -- it's just there were limits to how powerful and important you could be if you had to live at home with your mother. 这完全算不上。 你不可能拥有无限的权利的地位, 如果你不得不整天跟你妈呆在一起。
Then along comes crack cocaine. 然后,快克出现了。
And in the words of Malcolm Gladwell, crack cocaine was the extra-chunky version of tomato sauce for the inner city. 用Malcolm Gladwell的话说,这东西 就是城市的一盘大菜。
sauce:n.酱;调味汁;讨厌的话(或举动);v.给…加滋味;(俚)对…说冒昧话;
(Laughter) （笑声）
Because crack cocaine was an unbelievable innovation . 因为片状可卡因是一个令人难以置信的创造。
unbelievable:adj.(非正式)难以置信的;不可信的 innovation:n.创新,革新;新方法;
I don't have time to talk about it today. 我今天没空说这个了。
But if you think about it, I would say that in the last twenty-five years, of every invention or innovation that's occurred in this country, the biggest one, in terms of impact on the well-being of people who live in the inner city, was crack cocaine. 如果你去想一想,我会说在过去二十五年, 这个国家的所有发明创新中, 对城市人们生活状态影响最大的, 就是快克。
occurred:v.发生;出现;存在于;出现在;(occur的过去分词和过去式) impact:n.影响;效果;碰撞;冲击力;v.挤入,压紧;撞击;对…产生影响; well-being:n.幸福;康乐;
And for the worse -- not for the better , but for the worse. 更糟的是--注意不是更好,是更糟,
for the worse:恶化;向坏的方面转化; for the better:好转,向好的方向发展;
It had a huge impact on life. 它对生活的影响巨大。
So what was it about crack cocaine? 那么快克到底是什么？
It was a brilliant way of getting the brain high. 它可以轻易让大脑兴奋。
Because you could smoke crack cocaine -- you can't smoke powdered cocaine -- and smoking is a much more efficient mechanism at delivering a high than is snorting it. 因为你可以像吸烟一样吸入快克--粉末状可卡因是不能用嘴吸的-- 相比于用鼻子吸入来说, 用嘴吸入可以更快地带来高潮。
efficient:adj.有效率的;有能力的;生效的; mechanism:n.机制;原理,途径;进程;机械装置;技巧; snorting:v.喷鼻息,哼;用鼻子吸(毒品);(snort的现在分词)
And it turned out, there was this audience that didn't know it wanted crack cocaine, but, when it came, it really did. 事实上,曾有一个观众开始并不会知道自己想要用嘴吸入可卡因, 但当高潮来时他就知道了。
And it was a perfect drug. You could sell for-- buy the cocaine that went into it for a dollar, sell it for five dollars. 这是一种堪称完美的毒品。你可以 用一块钱的可卡因原料制作它,然后以5块钱出手
Highly addictive -- the high was very short. 这东西非常容易上瘾--而且快感非常短暂。
Highly:adv.高度地;非常;非常赞许地; addictive:adj.使人上瘾的;使人入迷的;
So for fifteen minutes, you get this great high. 只能持续十五分钟。
And then, when you come down, all you want to do is get high again. 然后当你回复平静,你只想要再爽一次。
It created a wonderful market. 它创造了完美的市场。
And for the people who were there running the gang, it was a great way, seemingly , to make a lot of money. 对那些营运着黑帮的人来说, 这看起来是一个赚钱良机。
seemingly:adv.看来似乎;表面上看来;
At least for the people in the top. 至少对于顶层的人来讲。
So this is where we enter the picture. 所以我们从这里开始深入。
Not really me -- I'm really a bit player in all this. 当然不是我--我只是个跑龙套的。
bit player:n.小角色;小演员;无足轻重的人(或组织);
My co-author , Sudhir Venkatesh, is the main character. 和我一起写书的Sudhir Venhatesh,才是真正的主角。
co-author:n.合著者;vt.合著;
So he was a math major in college who had a good heart, and decided he wanted to get a sociology Ph.D. 他大学主修数学,非常善良, 他决定要获得社会学的博士学位。
sociology:n.社会学;群体生态学;
Came to the University of Chicago. 然后他来了芝加哥大学。
Now, the three months before he came to Chicago, he had spent following the Grateful Dead. 在来芝加哥之前的三个月里, 他一直在追Grateful Dead（一支美国电子摇滚乐队）。
And, in his own words, he "looked like a freak ." 用他自己的话说,他“看起来就像个怪物。“
freak:n.怪人,怪事;畸形人;反复无常;adj.奇异的,反常的;
He's a South Asian -- very dark-skinned South Asian. 他是南亚人--肤色很深。
dark-skinned:深肤色的;
Big man, and he had hair, in his words, "down to his ass." 块头很大,体毛旺盛--用他的话说--“蔓延到屁股。“
Defied all kinds of boundaries : Was he black or white? Was he man or woman? 他挑战着所有边界:黑种人还是白种人？男人还是女人？
Defied:adj.受蔑视的;遭违抗的;v.违抗(defy的过去式); boundaries:n.边界;分界线;(boundary的复数)
He was really a curious sight to be seen. 他确实是一个奇特的事物。
curious:adj.好奇的,有求知欲的;古怪的;爱挑剔的;
So he showed up at the University of Chicago. 所以他出现在芝加哥大学。
And the famous sociologist , William Julius Wilson, was doing a book that involved surveying people all across Chicago. 著名的社会学家,William Julius Wilson, 正在做一个针对所有芝加哥人的调查。
sociologist:n.社会学家; involved:adj.有关的; v.涉及; (involve的过去式和过去分词) surveying:n.(土地)测量;考察;
And he took one look at Sudhir, who was going to go do some surveys for him, and decided he knew exactly the place to send him -- which was to one of the toughest, most notorious housing projects. 他看了Sudhir一眼,当时Sudhir正想替他做些调查, 然后他就完全明白了他应该送Sudhir去哪里-- 最贫困、最臭名昭著的住宅区。
surveys:n.调查(survey的复数); notorious:adj.声名狼藉的,臭名昭著的;
And not just in Chicago, but in the entire United States. 而且不仅限于在芝加哥,而是整个美国。
United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式)
So Sudhir -- the suburban boy who had never really been in the inner city -- dutifully took his clipboard and, you know, walked down to this housing project . 所以Sudhir--这个来自郊区的、从没有深入城市过的年轻男孩-- 非常负责地带上他的题板,开始了他的调查。
suburban:adj.郊区的,城郊的;土气的;见闻不广的;n.郊区居民; dutifully:adv.忠实地;忠贞地; clipboard:n.剪贴板;附有纸夹的笔记板; housing project:n.公房项目;公房区(常由政府为贫困家庭营造);
Gets to the first building. 到了第一幢楼。
The first building? Well, there's nobody there. 第一幢楼？好像没有人。
But he hears some voices up in the stairwell , so he climbs up the stairwell. 但他听到楼上有响动,所以他走上楼梯。
stairwell:n.楼梯井;
And he comes around the corner -- finds a group of young African-American men playing dice . 他转过楼梯角-- 发现一群非裔小年轻在玩骰子。
African-American:非洲裔美国人(指美国黑人); dice:n.骰子;色子;掷骰游戏;掷骰赌博;v.将(肉、菜等)切成小方块;将…切成丁;
This is about 1990 -- peak of the crack epidemic. 那大概是1990年--快克流行的巅峰时期。
peak:n.高峰; v.达到高峰; adj.最高度的;
This is a very dangerous job, being in a gang -- you don't like to be surprised. 深入一个黑帮显然是非常危险的工作。
You don't like to be surprised by people who come around the corner. 黑帮显然很不待见突然从转角出现的外人。
And the mantra was: shoot first, ask questions later. 箴言是:先开枪,再问话。
mantra:n.咒语(尤指四吠陀经典内作为咒文或祷告唱念的);颂歌;
Now, Sudhir was lucky. Sudhir够走运。
He was such a freak -- and that clipboard probably saved his life, because they figured no other rival gang member would be coming up to shoot at them with a clipboard. 他这么一个怪胎-- 也可能是他的题板救了他一命,因为那些人大概觉得 其他黑帮的人不会带着题板来射杀他们。
rival:v.与…相匹敌;比得上;adj.竞争的;n.竞争对手;
(Laughter) （笑声）
So his greeting was not particularly warm, but they did say, well, OK -- let's hear your questions on your survey. 所以他得到的不冷不热的问候是这样的: 那么好吧--说说你的问题。
particularly:adv.特别地,独特地;详细地,具体地;明确地,细致地;
So, I kid you not, the first question on the survey that he was sent to ask was, "How do you feel about being poor and black in America?" 好吧我没有跟你们开玩笑,问卷的第一个问题是: “作为一个生活在美国的贫困的黑人,你感受如何？“
(Laughter) （笑声）
Makes you wonder about academics , OK? 你们现在对学术研究肯定很好奇吧？
academics:n.学术水平;学术知识;专业学者;
(Laughter) （笑声）
So the choice of answers were: very good, good, bad, and very bad. 列出的选项有:非常好,好,糟糕,非常糟糕。
What Sudhir found out is, in fact, that the real answer was the following -- Sudhir后来发现,真正的答案是:
(Laughter) 去你妈的
The survey was not, in the end, going to be what got Sudhir off the hook . 最终使他摆脱困境的,并非这个调查。
off the hook:摆脱困境;脱身;
He was held hostage overnight in the stairwell. 他被绑在楼梯间里一个晚上。
hostage:n.人质;抵押品; overnight:adj.夜间的; v.在夜间; n.(美)前一天的晚上;
There was a lot of gunfire -- there were a lot of philosophical discussions he had with the gang members. 发生了很多枪击-- 他和那群黑帮也进行了很多对话。
gunfire:n.炮火;炮火声; philosophical:adj.哲学的(等于philosophic);冷静的;
By morning, the gang leader arrived. 早上的时候,头头来了。
Checked out Sudhir -- decided he was no threat, and they let him go home. 他们对Sudhir搜身-- 确定他不具有任何威胁,于是他们就让他走了。
So Sudhir went home. Took a shower, took a nap . Sudhir回到家,洗澡,睡觉。
nap:n.打盹;短绒毛;赛马情报;v.打盹;(naps是nap的复数)
And you and I, probably, faced with the situation, would think, well, I guess I'm going to write my dissertation on The Grateful Dead. 如果是你或者我,遇到这种情况,可能会想, 我该写写那篇关于The Greatful Dead的论文。
dissertation:n.论文,专题;学术演讲;
I've been following them for the last three months. 我已经研究他们三个多月了。
(Laughter) （笑声）
Sudhir, on the other hand , got right back -- walked down to the housing project. 但是Sudhir,他回去了---他走回了那幢房子。
on the other hand:另一方面;
Went up to the floor, the second floor, and said: "Hey, guys. 上楼,第二层,说:“嗨哥们儿,
I had so much fun hanging out with you last night, 昨天晚上我跟你们玩的真开心,
I wonder if I could do it again tonight." 我想知道今晚能不能再玩一次。“
I wonder if:我不知道是否…？;
And that was the beginning of what turned out to be a beautiful relationship that involved Sudhir living in the housing project on and off for ten years: 那段美丽关系就这样开始了。 Sudhir在那幢房子里断断续续住了十年:
hanging out in crack houses, going to jail with the gang members, having the car-windows shot out of his car, having the police break into his apartment and steal his computer disks -- you name it. 他在那毒窟里与那些黑帮成员一起混,还一起进监狱, 遇到过汽车窗玻璃被砸, 也遇到过警察破门而入偷走他的光盘-- 可想而知。
jail:n.监狱;监牢;拘留所;v.监禁;下狱;
But ultimately , the story has a happy ending for Sudhir, who became one of the most respected sociologists in the country. 不过最终这个故事还是有了个不错的结局。 Sudhir成为了这个国家最受尊重的社会学家。
ultimately:adv.最终;最后;归根结底;终究; sociologists:n.社会学家;
And especially for me, as I sat in my office with my Excel spreadsheet open, waiting for Sudhir to come and deliver to me the latest load of data -- 对我而言,当我坐在办公室里打开Excel工作表, 等着Sudhir来给我传最新数据--
especially:adv.尤其;特别;格外;十分; Excel:v.超过;擅长; spreadsheet:n.电子制表软件;电子数据表;试算表;
- that he would get from the gang. -他从黑帮那里搞来的数据。
It was one of the most unequal co-authoring relationships ever -- 这真是历史上最不公平的合作关系之一--
unequal:adj.不平等的;不规则的;不胜任的;n.不等同的事物; co-authoring:合著(co-author的现在分词);
(Laughter) （笑声）
- but I was glad to be the beneficiary of it. -不过作为受益者我还是很高兴的。
beneficiary:n.[金融]受益人,受惠者;封臣;adj.拥有封地的;受圣俸的;
So what do we find? What do we find in the gang? Well, let me say one thing. 我们发现了什么？关于黑帮？我只说一件事。
We really got access to everybody in the gang. 我们确实有这个团伙里每一个人的资料。
We got an inside look at the gang, from the very bottom up to the very top. 我们进行了深入的研究,从底层一直到顶层。
They trusted Sudhir -- in ways that really no academic has ever -- or really anybody, any outsider -- has ever earned the trust of these gangs, to the point where they actually opened up what was most interesting for me: their books, their financial records that they kept. 他们信任Sudhir--从来没有一个搞学术研究的-- 或者说从来没有任何人,任何外人--能赢得这群黑帮如此的信任, 以至于他们展示了我最好奇的东西: 他们的帐本。
outsider:n.外人;无取胜希望者;
And they made them available to us. 他们给我们看了这些账本。
And we not only could study them, but we could ask them questions about what was in them. 我们不仅可以研究这些账本,甚至能问他们问题。
So if I have to kind of summarize very quickly in the short time I have what sort of the bottom line of what I take away from the gang is, is that if I had to draw a parallel between the gang and any other organization it would be that the gang is just like McDonald's. 如果说要简短地概括一下我的所得, 我对黑帮的最基本理解是, 如果要把黑帮和其他组织做一比较的话, 在很多方面,
summarize:v.总结;概述;概括;归纳; short time:adj.短暂的;快速的(shorttime的变形); the bottom line:底线;本质内容;最底线; parallel:adj.平行的; v.与…相似; n.极其相似的人(或情况、事件等); organization:n.组织;机构;体制;团体;
In a lot of different respects -- the restaurant McDonald's. 黑帮就像麦当劳。
So first, in one way -- which isn't maybe the most interesting way, but it's a good way to start -- is in the way it's organized . 第一个方面,也是最有趣的一个, 是它被组织起来的方式。
in the way:妨碍;挡道; organized:adj.有组织的; v.组织; (organize的过去分词和过去式)
The hierarchy of the gang; the way it looks. 整个帮派的阶层结构。
hierarchy:n.层级;等级制度;
So here's what the org chart of the gang looks like. 这个是它的结构图。
I don't know if any of you know very much about org charts, but if you were to assign a stripped-down and simplified McDonald's org chart, this is exactly what the org chart would look like. 不知掉你们中有没有人很熟悉机构图。 但是如果让你画一个简化的麦当劳组织图, 就是这样的。
assign:v.指定;指派;转让;分派;n.[法]受让人; stripped-down:无装饰的;简装的; simplified:v.简化; (simplify的过去式)
Now, it's amazing, but the top level of the gang, they actually call themselves the "board of directors." 令人称奇的是,在这个黑帮的最高级, 事实上他们自称为“董事会”。
(Laughter) （笑声）
And Sudhir says it's not like these guys had a very sophisticated kind of view of like, what happened in American corporate life. Sudhir说这些人其实对美国商业公司的运作 并无深入细致的了解。
sophisticated:adj.复杂的;老练的;见多识广的;水平高的; corporate:adj.公司的;组成公司(或团体)的;法人的;社团的;
But they had seen movies like Wall Street , and they kind of had learned a little bit about what it was like to be in the real world. 但是他们都看过“华尔街”此类的电影,于是他们也多少 了解了真实世界里公司的运作方式。
Wall Street:n.华尔街(美国纽约金融中心和证券交易所所在地);
Now, below that board of directors, you've got essentially what are regional VP's -- people who control, say, the south side of Chicago, or the west side of Chicago. 在董事会之下,你看到的是地区副总裁-- 负责芝加哥南部,或者西部的人。
essentially:adv.本质上;本来; regional:adj.地区的;局部的;整个地区的;
Now, Sudhir got to know very well the guy who had the unfortunate assignment of trying to take the Iowa franchise . Sudhir和其中一个挺不幸的家伙混的不错, 这个家伙本打算拿到艾和华区域的专营权。
assignment:n.分配:(分派的)工作,任务: franchise:n.特权;公民权;经销权;v.给…以特许(或特权);赋予公民权;
(Laughter) （笑声）
Which, it turned out, for this black gang, was not one of the more brilliant financial endeavors that they undertook . 后来他发现,在这个黑帮里,这个决定实在不算明智, 他们在财政上牺牲了不少。
endeavors:尽力; undertook:v.承担(undertake的过去式);着手做;
(Laughter) （笑声）
But the thing that really makes the gang seem like McDonald's is its franchisees . 他们和麦当劳最大的相似之处就在于专营权。
franchisees:n.连锁加盟,特许经营人(franchisee复数);
That the guys who are running, you know, the local gangs -- the four-square-block by four-square-block areas -- they're just like the guys, in some sense, who are running the McDonald's. 那些负责各个小区域的分支-- 控制着方圆四个区-- 可以说他们就像经营着麦当劳餐厅的人。
They are the entrepreneurs . 他们就是企业家。
entrepreneurs:n.企业家;(entrepreneur的复数)
They get the exclusive property rights to control the drug-selling. 他们独享着售卖毒品的权利。
exclusive:adj.独有的;排外的;专一的;n.独家新闻;独家经营的项目;排外者;
They get the name of the gang behind them, for merchandising and marketing. 他们用各自所属帮派的名号进行毒品交易和营销。
merchandising:n.推销;销售规划;v.推销;经营;(merchandise的现在分词)
And they're the ones who basically make the profit or lose a profit, depending on how good they are at running the business. 他们经营的水平高低, 决定他们是利润的获得者或是亏损的承担者。
basically:adv.主要地,基本上; profit:n.利润;利益;v.获利;有益;
Now, the group I really want you to think about, though, are the ones at the bottom, the foot soldiers. 现在,我认为你们最应该关注的是底部群体, 这些赤脚小兵。
These are the teenagers, typically , who'd be standing out on the street corner, selling the drugs. 他们大多是青少年, 他们站在街角卖毒品。
typically:adv.代表性地;作为特色地; out on the street:无家可归;失业;
Extremely dangerous work. 这个工作极度危险。
Extremely:adv.非常,极其;极端地;
And important to note that almost all of the weight, all of the people in this organization are at the bottom. 特别注意这群人构成了黑帮的主体, 整个帮派的重量几乎全集中于底部。
OK, just like McDonald's. 这就像麦当劳。
So in some sense, the foot soldiers are a lot like the people who are taking your order at McDonald's. 这些赤脚小兵, 正如在麦当劳为你点餐的服务员。
And indeed, it's not just by chance that they're like them. 这并非巧合。
by chance:偶然;意外地;
In fact, in these neighborhoods, they'd be the same people. 实际上在邻近区里,这是同一群人。
So the same kids who are working in the gang were actually -- at the very same time, they would typically be working part-time at a place like McDonald's. 这些在黑帮里的孩子们, 同时也在麦当劳里 打零工。
Which already, I think, foreshadows the main result that I've talked about, about what a crappy job it was being in the gang. 这一事实已预兆了某种结果,我正要讲到的, 关于在黑帮工作是多么糟糕的一份工作。
foreshadows:vt.预示;成为…的前兆;n.预兆; crappy:adj.蹩脚的;糟糕的;没价值的;
Because obviously, if being in the gang were such a wonderful, lucrative job, why in the world would these guys moonlight at McDonald's? 很显然,如果这是个完美的、能赚钱的工作, 为什么这些孩子还需要在麦当劳辛苦工作？
lucrative:adj.有利可图的,赚钱的;合算的;
So what do the wages look like? So you might be surprised. 这个工作的工资到底有多少？你也许会惊讶。
wages:n.[劳经]工资; v.开展(运动等)(wage的第三人称单数形式);
But based on the actual -- you know, being able to talk to them, and to see their records, this is what it looks like in terms of the wages. 事实上-- 根据我与他们的谈话,和我所看到的财政纪录, 他们的薪水就是这点。
The hourly wage the foot soldiers were earning was 3.50 in an hour. 这群赤脚小兵每小时赚3.5美金。
hourly:adv.每小时地;频繁地,随时;adj.每小时的,以钟点计算的;频繁的;
It was below the minimum wage , OK? And this is well-documented . 低于最低工资标准。这个结论有证可循。
minimum wage:n.(法定的)最低工资; well-documented:adj.证据充分的;
It's easy to see, by the patterns of consumption they have. 看他们的消费模式,很容易看出
consumption:n.消费;消耗;肺痨;
It really is not fiction -- it's fact. 这个结论并非杜撰,这是事实。
There was very little money in the gang, especially at the bottom. 黑手党没有钱,尤其是底部群体,
Now if you managed to rise up -- say, and be that local leader, the guy who's the equivalent of the McDonald's franchisee -- you'd be making 100,000 dollars a year. 如果你发达了,比如成为了某个区域的头, 类似麦当劳的专营者-- 你可以一年进帐10万美金。
equivalent:adj.等价的,相等的;同意义的;n.等价物,相等物;
And that, in some ways, was the best job you could hope to get if you were growing up in one of these neighborhoods as a young black male. 这是你所能期待的上限了。 作为一个在这些区域长大的年轻黑人,
If you managed to rise to the very top, 200,000 or 400,000 dollars a year is what you'd hope to make. 如果你能够做到顶层, 你可以一年进帐20万～40万。
Truly, you would be a great success story . 那倒确实算的上成功。
success story:n.获得巨大成功的人(或事物);
And one of the sad parts of this is that indeed, among the many other ramifications of crack cocaine is that the most talented individuals in these communities -- this is what they were striving for. 但随之也衍生出一些副作用, 帮派中最聪明的那群人, 都在为这个目标奋斗。
ramifications:n.(众多复杂而又难以预料的)结果,后果;(ramification的复数) individuals:n.[经]个人;[生物]个体(individual的复数); communities:n.社区;社会;团体;共有(community的复数) striving:n.努力;奋斗;v.努力;奋斗;力争;力求;(strive的现在分词)
They weren't trying to make it in legitimate ways, because there were no legitimate channels out. 他们不会采取什么合法手段, 因为那里根本不存在什么合法渠道。
legitimate:adj.合法的;正当的;合理的;正统的;v.使合法;认为正当(等于legitimize);
This was the best way out. 这是混的最好的一条道路。
And it actually was the right choice, probably, to try to make it out -- this way. 实际上这也是一条正确的路。
You look at this. 看这个。
The relationship to McDonald's breaks down here. 与麦当劳的相似之处到此为止了。
The money looks about the same. 金钱上差不多。
Why is it such a bad job? 为什么说这个工作很糟糕？
Well, the reason it's such a bad job is that there's somebody shooting at you a lot of the time. 原因就在于,总有人, 正在瞄准你准备扣动扳机。
So, with shooting at you, what are the death rates? 那么死亡率是多少？
We found in our gang -- and, admittedly , this was not really sort of a standard situation. 在我们的这个帮派中--当然我承认这种说法 并不确切。
admittedly:adv.公认地;无可否认地;明白地; standard:n.标准;水准;旗;度量衡标准;adj.标准的;合规格的;公认为优秀的;
This was a time of intense violence -- of a lot of gang wars -- as this gang actually became quite successful. But there were costs. 这是一段暴力频繁发生的时期,非常多的枪击-- 这个帮派发展的非常成功,但他们也付出了代价。
intense:adj.强烈的;紧张的;非常的;热情的; violence:n.暴力;侵犯;激烈;歪曲;
And so the death rate -- not to mention the rate of being arrested, sent to prison, being wounded -- the death rate in our sample was 7 percent per person per year. 死亡率--更不用提被逮捕, 入狱,或者受伤的概率--我们样本中的死亡率, 是每人每年7%。
death rate:n.死亡率; not to mention:更不必说;不必提及; wounded:adj.受伤的; n.伤员; v.使受伤; (wound的过去分词和过去式)
You're in the gang for four years, you expect to die with about a 25 percent likelihood . 你在这个黑手党里混四年,可以估计你有25%的可能死于非命。
likelihood:n.可能性,可能;
That is about as high as you can get. 这个概率就是这么高。
So for comparison's purposes, let's think about some other walk of life where you may expect might be extremely risky. 为了方便比较,我们来看看其他的谋生选择, 也许是极度危险的某种方式。
walk of life:n.行业;阶层;社会地位;
Like let's say that you were a murderer and you were convicted of murder, and you're sent to death row . 比如你是个谋杀犯, 你被判谋杀罪,成为死囚。
convicted:v.定罪;宣判…有罪;(convict的过去式和过去分词) death row:n.死囚牢房;死囚区;
It turns out, the death rates on death row -- from all causes, including execution -- two percent a year. 而事实上,死囚的死亡率, 包括了执行死刑等各种情况,仅仅是每年2%。
execution:n.执行,实行;完成;死刑;
(Laughter) （笑声）
So it's a lot safer being on death row than it is selling drugs out on the street. 所以死囚也比在街上卖毒品要安全得多。
That makes you pause -- gives you some pause -- those of you who believe that a death penalty's going to have an enormous deterrent effect on crime. 那些相信死刑对犯罪防范有巨大作用的人, 听到这里应该重新思考了。
enormous:adj.庞大的,巨大的;凶暴的,极恶的; deterrent:adj.遏制的,威慑的;制止的;n.威慑;妨碍物;挽留的事物;
Now to give you a sense of just how bad the inner city was during crack -- and I'm not really focusing on the negatives , but really, there's another story to tell you there -- if you look at the death rates -- 现在让你们大略了解一下,充斥着毒品交易的城市中心地带有多糟糕-- 我并不是在强调负面的东西, 但我要给你们看看这个-- 如果你看看这个死亡率--
negatives:n.[摄]底片; v.否定;
just of random , young black males growing up in the inner city in the United States -- the death rates during crack were about one percent. 那些在美国城市中心成长的年轻黑人男性, 在毒品交易中,死亡率大概是1%
random:adj.[数]随机的;任意的;胡乱的;n.随意;adv.胡乱地;
That's extremely high. 这相当高。
And this is violent death -- it's unbelievable, in some sense. 而且这全是暴力导致的死亡--令人难以置信。
violent:adj.暴力的;猛烈的;
To put it into perspective, if you compare this to the soldiers in Iraq, for instance , right now fighting the war: 0.5 percent. 为让大家有更直观的认识,如果把这个与伊拉克的驻兵相比, 比如现在战争中的死亡率是0.5%,
compare:v.比较;对比;n.比较; instance:n.实例;情况;建议;v.举...为例;
So in some very literal way, the young black men who were growing up in this country were living in a war zone, very much in the sense of the way that the soldiers over in Iraq are fighting in a war. 所以那些在城市中心长大的年轻黑人男性, 感觉上就像生活在战区 与在伊拉克打仗的士兵差不多了。
literal:adj.文字的;逐字的;无夸张的;
So why in the world, you might ask, would anybody be willing to stand out on a street corner selling drugs for 3.50 an hour, with a 25 percent chance of dying over the next four years? 你可能要问,为什么会有人愿意 站在街角,为了一小时赚3块5而贩卖毒品, 同时冒着在未来四年内25%的死亡概率？
Why would they do that? And I think there are a couple answers. 为什么他们要这样做？我认为有几个原因。
I think the first one is that they got fooled by history. 第一个原因,他们被历史愚弄了。
It used to be the gang was a rite of passage . 确实黑帮曾经风光一时。
rite of passage:n.(标志人生重要阶段的)通过仪式;
That the young people controlled the gang -- that, as you got older, you dropped out of the gang. 年轻人掌控黑帮, 老人离开黑帮。
So what happened was, the people who happened to be in the right place at the right time -- the people who happened to be leading the gang in the mid to late '80s -- became very, very wealthy. 实际上, 那些遇到了好时机的人, 恰好在80年代末领导了黑帮, 积累了大量的财富。
at the right time:在适当时候;
And so the logical thing to think was that: "Well, the next generation -- so they're going to age out of the gang, like everybody else has, and the next generation is going to take over and get the wealth ." 所以逻辑上大家都认为: 下一代的新带头人 , 在老一辈离开帮派时 会继承权利和财富。
logical:adj.合逻辑的,合理的;逻辑学的; take over:接管;继承;接收;接任;接替; wealth:n.财富;大量;富有;
So there are striking similarities , I think, to the Internet boom , right? 这与互联网热潮真是令人咂舌的相似,对吧？
similarities:n.相仿性;类似性;相像处;(similarity的复数) boom:n.繁荣;吊杆;v.激增;繁荣昌盛;轰鸣;轰响;adj.(美)猛涨起来的;
The first set of people in Silicon Valley got very, very rich. 硅谷的第一群开发者,捞到了巨大的财富。
Silicon Valley:n.硅谷(美国加利福尼亚州一处计算机和电子公司聚集地,有时用以指任何计算机公司聚集地);
And then all of my friends said: "Maybe I should go do that, too." 然后我所有的朋友都说:“也许我也该去硅谷试试。”
And they were willing to work very cheap, for stock options that never came. 他们愿意为了拿非常低的工资,只为了永远不会实现的股票持有权。
stock:n.股票; v.库存; adj.老一套的; options:n.选择; v.得到或获准进行选择; (option的三单形式)
In some sense, that's what happened, exactly, to the set of people we were looking at, is that they were willing to start at the bottom. 可以说,同样的事情 也发生在我们关注的群体身上,他们也愿意从最底层做起。
Just like, say, a lawyer at a law firm -- a first-year lawyer is wiling to start at the bottom, work eighty-hour weeks for not that much money, because they think they're going to make partner. 就好比,一个律师事务所的小律师, 一个工作第一年的律师愿意从最底层做起, 为了不算太多的钱每周工作84个小时, 因为他们认为他们会成为合伙人。
wiling:vt.欺骗,诱骗;消遣;n.诡计,阴谋;
But what happened was, the rules changed, and they never got to make partner. 但事实是,规则改变了,他们永远成不了合伙人。
Indeed, the same people who were running all of the major gangs in the late 1980s are still running the major gangs in Chicago today. 确实,在80年代末掌管各大黑帮的人, 今天仍然在运营着各大黑帮。
They never passed on any of the wealth. 他们从未给出过一个子儿。
So everybody got stuck at that 3.50-an-hour job, and it turned out to be a disaster . 所以每个人都被绑定在每小时3.5美金的工作上,这是一场灾难。
disaster:n.灾难,灾祸;不幸;
The other thing the gang was very, very good at was marketing and trickery . 除此之外,黑帮也很擅长营销和权谋。
trickery:n.欺骗;诡计;奸计;
And so for instance, one thing the gang would do is -- you know, the gang leaders would have big entourages , and they'd drive fancy cars and have fancy jewelry. 比如,他们会做这样一件事: 黑帮头头们常有一大群随行者, 他们会开着超炫的车,戴着超炫的珠宝。
entourages:n.随从;周围;环境; fancy:n.幻想; adj.想象的; v.想象;
So what Sudhir eventually realized, as he hung out with them more, is that, really, they didn't own those cars. 当Sudhir与他们多次同行后,他发现, 事实上他们根本没有车。
eventually:adv.最后,终于;
They just leased them -- because they couldn't afford to own the fancy cars. 他们只是租车,因为其实他们没钱买炫车。
leased:adj.[租赁]租用的; n.专线; v.租用(lease的过去式和过去分词); afford:v.给予,提供;买得起;
And they didn't really have gold jewelry -- they had gold-plated jewelry. 他们也没有真金珠宝,他们的首饰只是镀着金。
gold-plated:adj.镀金的;
It goes back to, you know, the real-real versus the fake-real. 这个又要回溯到,真的真实和假的真实。
versus:prep.对;与...相对;对抗;
And really, they did all sorts of things to trick the young people into thinking what a great deal the gang was going to be. 他们想尽各种办法哄骗年轻人 让他们相信加入黑帮是多么好的一笔交易。
So for instance, they would give a 14-year-old kid -- they'd give him a whole, you know, roll of bills to hold. 例如,他们会告诉一个14岁的孩子, 他们会给他一整把美金。
That 14-year-old kid would say: "Oh, well ..." 于是那个14岁的孩子说:“噢,好吧……”
You know, he would say to his friends, "Hey, look at all the money I got in the gang." 然后他会告诉他的朋友们, “看看我在黑帮里赚到的钱。”
It wasn't his money, until he spent it. And then essentially he was in debt to the gang, and was sort of an indentured servant for a while . 这不是他的钱,直到他花光了那笔钱。然后就是, 他欠了黑帮的债,同时好像成了契约仆人。
in debt to:欠债;欠情;受恩惠; indentured:adj.受契约束缚的;v.以契约约束;签订契约(indenture的过去分词); for a while:adv.片刻;暂时;一会儿;一时;
So I have a couple minutes. 我还有几分钟。
Let me do one last thing 让我做最后一件事。
I hadn't thought I'd have time to do, which is to talk about what we learned, more generally , about economics from the study of the gang. 我本来没想到我还会剩时间,来讲讲 研究黑帮的经济学到底让我们学到了什么。
generally:adv.通常;普遍地,一般地;
So economists tend to talk in technical words. 经济学家喜欢用术语。
technical:adj.工艺的,科技的;技术上的;专门的;
Often, our theories fail quite miserably when we go to the data. 通常我们的理论有数据支持就不会死得太惨。
miserably:adv.贫困地;可悲地;糟糕地;非常不幸地;
But actually, what's kind of interesting is that in this setting it turned out that some of the economic theories that worked not-so-well in the real economy worked very well in the drug economy -- in some sense because it's unfettered capitalism . 但事实上,有意思的是 一些与实际经济活动中不那么吻合的 经济学理论,在毒品经济学中却吻合得很好, 部分原因是由于不受约束的资本主义。
economic:adj.经济的,经济上的;经济学的; economy:n.经济;节约;理财; unfettered:adj.无拘无束的; v.使自由(unfetter的过去分词); capitalism:n.资本主义;
Here's an economic principle . 这是一条经济学定理。
principle:n.原理,原则;主义,道义;本质,本义;根源,源泉;
This is one of the basic ideas in labor economics, called a " compensating differential ." 这是一条劳动经济学里的定理,称为“补偿性工资定理”。
compensating:n.补偿;修正;抵销;adj.补偿的;平衡的;v.补偿(compensate的ing形式); differential:adj.微分的;差别的;特异的;n.微分;差别;
It's the idea that basically, the increment to wages that a worker requires to leave him indifferent between performing two tasks -- one which is more unpleasant than the other -- that's what you call a compensating differential. 这条定理大意是说,工人所要求增长的工资 需让他在两件事间没有区别-- 若其中一件比另一件更让人不爽, 这之间的差别就称为补偿差。
increment:n.[数]增量;增加;增额;盈余; indifferent:adj.漠不关心的;无关紧要的;中性的,中立的; performing:adj.表演的;演奏的;v.做;执行;演出;运转(perform的现在分词) unpleasant:adj.令人不快的;不舒服的;不客气的
It's why we think garbage men might be paid more than people who work in parks, OK? 这就是为什么我们认为很可能拾荒者的收入要高于公园的工作人员。
garbage:n.垃圾;废物;
So in the words of one of the members of the gang I think makes this clear. 黑帮内一个成员所说的可以更好地阐明这一点。
So it turns out -- I'm sort of getting ahead of myself. 我好像讲得太超前了。
It turns out, in the gang, when there's a war going on, that they actually pay the foot soldiers twice as much money. 我是说,在黑帮混战时, 他们支付那些小兵两倍的报酬。
It's exactly this concept. 就是这样的概念。
Because they're not willing to be at risk. 因为他们都不愿意冒险。
And the words of a gang member capture it quite nicely . 某个成员的话漂亮地概括了这层含义。
capture:v.俘虏;捕获;攻占;夺得;刻画,描述;n.(被)捕获;(被)俘获 nicely:adv.细致地;有吸引力;令人满意;令人愉快;adj.强健的;
He says, "Would you stand around here when all this shit" -- that means shooting -- "if all this shit's going on? No, right? 他说,“当这一切狗屎”--他指的是所有枪击-- “都在发生的时候,你会只是站在那里吗？不会,对吗？”
So if I going to be asked to put my life on the line , then front me the cash, man." 所以如果我被要求把性命交出去时,你必须给我钱。”
on the line:处于危险中;模棱两可;在电话线上;
So essentially, I think the gang member says it much more articulately than does the economist, about what's going on. 所以我认为,那个黑帮分子对于这一切的描述, 比经济学家更确切。
articulately:发音清晰地;善于表达地;
(Laughter) （笑声）
Here's another one. 再说一件事。
So economists talk about game theory -- that every two-person game has a Nash equilibrium . 经济学家讨论博弈论, 说每个双人游戏都存在一个纳什均衡。
game theory:n.博弈论;对策论; equilibrium:n.均衡;平静;保持平衡的能力;
Here's the translation you get from the gang member. 这是黑帮分子对这个理论的转述。
They're talking about the decision of why they don't go shoot-- one thing that turns out to be a great business tactic in the gang, if you go and just shoot in the air -- just shoot guns in the other gang's territory -- all the people are afraid to go buy their drugs there. 他们在谈论他们为什么不扣动扳机。 黑帮中一个重要的商业战术是, 如果你在另外一个党派的领地发个空枪, 所有人都会不敢再去那里买毒品。
tactic:n.策略,战略;adj.按顺序的,依次排列的; territory:n.领土,领域;范围;地域;版图;
They're going to come into your neighborhood . 他们会转去你的领区。
neighborhood:n.附近;地区;街坊;adj.附近的;
But here's what he says about why they don't do that. 但他接着给出他们不会这样做的理由。
He says, "If we start shooting around there," -- in the other gang's territory -- "nobody, and, I mean, you dig it, nobody, going to step on their turf . 他说,“如果我们在别帮的领地开枪了, 你仔细想想,没有人会再踏上那片土地一步。
turf:n.草皮;泥炭;跑马场;v.覆草皮于;
But we gotta be careful, because they can shoot around here, too, and then we all fucked ." 但我们必须小心翼翼, 因为他们也会在我们的领地上开枪,然后我们都完蛋了。”
fucked:v.与…性交;(表示气愤)他妈的;(fuck的过去分词和过去式)
(Laughter) （笑声）
So that's exactly the same concept. 这概念是完全一致的。
But then, again, sometimes economists get it wrong. 但有时候经济学家会弄错。
So one thing we observed in the data is that it looked like, in terms of ... 我们观察数据,
observed:adj.观察的;观测的;v.观察;遵守;注意到(observe的过去分词形式);
The gang leader always got paid, OK? 黑帮头目总是能拿到报酬,对吧？
No matter how bad it was economically , he always got himself paid. 无论经济状况多么惨淡,他总是能支付他自己的工资。
economically:adv.经济地;在经济上;节俭地;
So we had some theories related to cash flow , and lack of access to capital markets, and things like that. 所以我们关于现金流又得出了些理论, 缺乏对资产市场的渠道,诸如此类。
cash flow:现金流转;
But then we asked the gang member, "Well, why is it you always get paid, and your workers don't always get paid?" 然后我们问那些党内成员, “为什么你总有钱拿,而你的手下却从来拿不到报酬？”
His response is, "You got all these niggers below you who want your job, you dig? 他回答,“那些土人都想要抢你的位子,你明白吗？”
response:n.响应;反应;回答; niggers:n.(美)(锯木厂中的)推木机; v.(美)耗尽(地力); (nigger的复数)
If you start taking losses, they see you as weak and shit." 如果你没钱,他们会认为你是没种的狗屎。”
And I thought about it, and I said, "CEOs often pay themselves million-dollar bonuses, even when companies are losing a lot of money. 我想了想说, “CEO们通常给自己上百万美金的年终奖, 即使公司面临亏损。
And it never would really occur to an economist that this idea of 'weak and shit' could really be important." 经济学家们永远不会想到“没种的狗屎”理论, 会这么重要。”
But maybe -- maybe "weak and shit" -- maybe "weak and shit" is an important hypothesis that needs more analysis . 但也可能, 可能这个“没种的狗屎”会是一个有待进一步分析的重要假说。
hypothesis:n.假设; analysis:n.分析;分解;验定;
Thank you very much. 谢谢。