赏析版2011年7-12月经济学人文章(英汉双语对照)汇(16)

And sometimes, because it is the path of least resistance, the nudging works and a private patient is seen quicker than would been the case had we been left to our own devices. When the number of private patients is relatively small the impact of this on other patients is minimal, but if private patients constituted a substantial proportion of the people being seen in our department, the pressure to bump NHS patients down the list could be considerable.

因为这么做就不用再受他们的百般阻挠，有时候，这种鼓动就起了效果，于是一个自费病人就能会比按照我们排的看病顺序更快地得到会诊.当自费病人的数量相对较少的时候这种影响对其他病人很小，但是如果我们部门中自费病人在问诊人群中占了很大一部分比例，公费病人从名单中被挤掉的压力就会变得很大。

So if the NHS is to take more paying customers, I think we need to introduce stronger measures to ensure that patients are treated according to clinical need rather than ability to pay. At the moment, when money talks, it is hard not to listen.

所以如果英国国民医疗保健制度要接收更多的付费客户，我想我们需要更多有力的手段来确保病人能按照他们的临床需要得到治疗，而不是按照他们的经济能力。到时候，当钱开了口，恐怕很难有人不听的了。

译者：狐狸耳

[2011.12.27] Vocabulary: Words of the Year 年度词汇

Dec 27th 2011, 13:24 by R.L.G. | NEW YORK

IT'S that time of year. Fretting about pounds put on over the long holiday break. Throwing Christmas wrapping into the fire. Contemplating gift returns. Beginning to wonder how much you really needed a long break with your extended family (though I must say truthfully that my in-laws are dead easy to spend two weeks with). Wondering which New Year's party will be the best. (My tip: low expectations correlate strongly with fun New Year's Eves. Expectations for the Best Party Ever guarantee disappointment.) 每年都免不了有这个时候。为长假中吃喝添的膘而烦躁。收受圣诞节礼物带来的一堆包装纸需要烧掉。盘算下哪些礼物可以拿去―交换‖。还有，我们真的需要这么长的一个假期跟七大姑八大姨厮混吗，这倒是要开始想一想了（不过，天地良心，我的姻亲们不讨厌， 跟他们泡上两周忒容易了。） 另外， 还要考虑参加哪个除夕酒会最好。（我的经验是：无论选择哪个酒会， 都要降低自己的期望，期望越低往往玩的越开心。 抱着非去一个平生最佳的酒会不可的心理， 注定要失望的。）

It's also

the time of the year when dictionary-writers and lexicographers pick a Word of the Year. I've polite and apologetic tip of the hat to a Johnson friend, Ben Zimmer, the New Words supremo at the American Dialect Society. The reason I personally don't get too excited is just how rarely the winners tittilate. A

neologism or new sense of a word catches on, unlike the many neologisms that didn't, and

or that in Britain, the was the top political catchphrase of 2011. Merriam-Webster, being a dictionary maker, picked a word that many people looked up on its website, and so went with "pragmatic" instead of "occupy". Nonetheless, "occupy" is the frontrunner to win the Oscar of WOTYs, that given by the American Dialect Society.