How to Get the Poor off our Conscience Paraphrase& Translation

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How to Get the Poor off our Conscience

I. Paraphrase

1. Virtue is, indeed must be, self-centered. (Para. 4)

— By right action, we mean an action that helps, indeed it must help, promote personal

interest.

2. … (poverty) was a product of their excessive fecundity…(Para. 5)

— …because poverty of the poor was caused by their having too many children. — …because poverty of the poor was a result of their having too many children. 3. … the rich were not responsible for either its creation or its amelioration. (Para. 6)

— …the existence of poverty was not the fault of the rich who therefore didn’t have to do

anything to help solve this problem. — …the rich were not to blame for the existence of poverty and therefore should not be

asked to help solve this problem. 4. It is merely the working out of a law of nature and a law of God. (Para. 8)

— It is simply the effect of the law of nature, survival of the fittest, applied to economic and

social life.

— It is simply natural selection, or the law of survival of the fittest, that is functioning in economic and social life.

5. It declined in popularity, and references to it acquired a condemnatory tone. (Para. 9)

— (Social Darwinism began to be considered a bit too cruel.) Therefore, it became less

popular, and when it was mentioned, it was usually the target of strong criticism.

— (Social Darwinism began to be considered a bit too cruel.) Therefore, it became less

popular, and people spoke of it with strong disapproval and criticism.

6. … the search for a way of getting the poor off our conscience was not at an end; it was only suspended. (Para. 11)

— …the effort to look for a way to justify our unconcern for the poor / the public apathy

toward poverty had not really been abandoned; it had only been put off.

7. … who are overwhelmingly honest and only rarely given to overpaying for monkey wrenches,

flashlights, coffee makers, and toilet seats. (Para. 13)

— … who are extremely honest and would only rarely pay high prices for office equipment

to get sales commissions / kickbacks.

8. This is perhaps our most highly influential piece of fiction. (Para. 15)

— The argument that there is something seriously damaging about helping the poor, though

very popular and widely accepted, is completely untrue / is a sheer lie. 9. Belief can be the servant of truth — but even more of convenience. (Para. 16)

— Belief itself can be useful in the search for truth. But, more often than not, it can be used for trouble-saving purposes and practical advantages.

— Belief can be useful in pursuit of truth. But in more cases, it can be used for trouble-saving purposes and practical advantages.

10. George Gilder…who tells to much applause that the poor must have the cruel spur of their

own suffering to ensure effort…. (Para. 20)

— George Gilder…who advocates the highly-praised view that the poor will never work

hard to change their own situation unless their great misery and suffering force them to do

so.

— George Gilder…who advocates that the poor must need their misery and suffering to

force themselves to work hard, and such a view is widely accepted. II. Translation

1. An imbalance between the rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of republics.

(Para. 2) — 贫富不均乃共和政体最古老的不治之症。

2. Their poverty is a temporary misfortune: If they are poor and also meek, they eventually will

inherit the earth. (Para. 3)

— 他们的贫困仅仅是一时的不幸: 如果他们虽穷困却温顺善忍, 他们最终将成为这个

世界的主人。

3. Couples in love should repair to R. H. Macy’s, not their bedrooms. (Para. 6)

— 热恋的新婚夫妇们应该到梅西百货公司过夜, 而不是去他们的新房。

4. The American Beauty Rose can be produced in the splendor and fragrance which bring cheer

to its beholder only by sacrificing the early buds which grow up around it. And so is it in economic life. It is merely the working out of a law of nature and a law of God. (Para. 8)

— 美国这朵美丽的玫瑰以其华贵与芳香令观花的人欢呼、喝彩, 而其之所以能被培植

出来, 则是因为在早期其周围的花蕾被掐掉了。在经济生活中, 情况亦是如此。这是自然法则和上帝的意志在发生作用。

5. (It has become) an economically not unrewarding enterprise. (Para. 11)

— 这已成为经济上获利不菲的一个行业。.

6. There is …no form of oppression that is so great, no constriction on thought and effort so

comprehensive, as that which comes from having no money at all. (Para. 18)

— 没有哪种形式的压迫比身无分文更厉害, 也没有哪种对思想与行动的束缚能比一无

所有更全面彻底。 — 一贫如洗对人的压迫远胜过任何形式的压迫; 一无所有对人们思想与行动的束缚远

比任何束缚更全面彻底。

7. Freedom we rightly cherish. Cherishing it, we should not use it as a cover for denying

freedom to those in need. (Para. 18) — 我们当然要珍惜自由, 而正因为我们珍惜自由, 我们就不能以此为借口, 拒绝给最

需要自由的人们以自由。