全新版大学英语(第二版)综合教程2课文及翻译(6)

家长：“太棒了。咱们把支票直接存到你的账户上去。”

孩子：“可这钱她是给我的！我要用！”

家长：“嗳，钱还是你的嘛。你只不过是要把钱放在银行里，好让它增多。” 孩子（狐疑地）：“你说‘增多’是什么意思？”

家长：“哦，要是你把这25美金在银行里放一年，银行就会付给你75美分。要是你连本带息在银行里再放一年，银行会再付给你75美分，另加2.5美分。这叫做复利。这钱能帮你上大学。”

3 The main defect in such saving schemes is that there's nothing in them for the kids. College is a thousand years away, and they probably think they'd just as soon stay home anyway. Indeed, the true purpose of such plans is usually not to promote saving but to prevent consumption. (1) Appalled by what their children spend on candy and video games (or, rather, appalled by the degree to which their children's overspending seems to mimic their own), parents devise ways to lock up their children's resources. Not surprisingly, kids quickly decide that large sums aren't real money and that all cash should either be spent immediately or hidden in a drawer.

这类储蓄计划的主要缺陷在于，孩子本人一无所获。上大学还不知要过多少年，他们或许会想他们宁愿呆在家里。实际上，这类计划的真正目的通常不是促进储蓄而是限制消费。孩子们在糖果、电子游戏上的花费之大令家长们十分震惊（或者更确切地说，令他们吃惊的其实是孩子们的超支行为与他们自己的相似程度），于是他们便设法让孩子们将钱存起来不用。毋怪乎孩子们很快就认定，大额钱款不是实实在在的钱，有了现钱要么赶紧花掉，要么藏在抽屉里。

4 To avoid this problem with my two children, I started my own bank. It's called the First National Bank of Dave. I set up an account for each child, using the same computer program I use to keep track of my checkbook. Because I wanted my kids' deposits to grow at a pace that would hold their attention, I offered an attractive interest rate-five per cent a month. (2) Compounded, that works out to an annual rate of more than 70 per cent. (No, I don't accept deposits from strangers.) Allowances are deposited automatically on the first day of each month. The kids can make other deposits, or withdrawals, whenever they like.

为了避免我的两个孩子产生这一问题，我开设了自己的银行，名叫戴夫第一国家银行。我用记录自己支票簿使用情况的同一个电脑程序给每个孩子开了一个账户。因为我希望孩子存款增长的速度足以引起他们的注意，便给他们一个诱人的利率——月息5厘。以复利计算，年息达到70%以上。（不，我不接受外来存款。）零花钱在每月第一天自动存入。孩子们也可以把别的钱存进来，想存就存，想取就取。

5 The Bank of Dave, which has been in operation four years, instantly turned both my children into keen savers. My son still comes to me with change he has found on the floor of the car, saying, "And credit this today." Both kids' accounts grew so fast that after two years I had to roll back my monthly interest rate to three per cent. The kids protested when I announced the change, but they nodded solemnly when I explained that the law of supply and demand applies even to the supply of money. The