“无债一身轻”的回味

Recapturing the Feeling of “Out of Debt”

文、译/林巍

〔1〕二十多年前，当我第一次来到西方国家时，有一件事颠覆了我的传统概念，那就是不要怕借债。在中国传统文化里，是“无债一身轻”，证明你可自食其力，不依靠别人；而在西方社会里，是“有债一身轻”，因为那样证明你有信用，有人肯把钱借给你，同时也说明了你挣钱的能力。

[1] About twenty years ago, when I first came to a western country, I was shocked by one thing – debt. In traditional Chinese culture, there is a saying that “out of debt, out of pressure”; however, in the west, it is just opposite – when you are in debt, you are trustworthy and financially capable.

〔2〕就经济的发展规律而言，随着时间的积累，资源的消耗，物价总是上涨的，货币总是要贬值的，因而“今天花明天的钱”，“拿别人的钱来赚钱”便总是上算的。所以，结论是一定要借钱。

[2] It seems to be an economic law that paper currency will always be depreciated as wealth is accumulated, resources reduced and everything inflated. The golden rule therefore is always to purchase future goods using today’s money, or making money by borrowing from others.

〔3〕然而，任何事情都有“限度”，超过了便会走向反面；同时，在长期的总体规律之中，又有着短期的阶段性。

[3] However, everything can go wrong if it goes over the limit during the upturns and downturns of long term economic cycles.

〔4〕以美国人的生活为例，大部分都为债务人，或者说是靠债务来维持其很高的生活水准。在正常情况下，似乎一切都没有问题。但是，一旦经济周期进入低谷，债务链条发生断裂，便会引起一系列恶果，整个国家也会陷入经济危机。这便是2008年以来的现实。同样，正是由于欧洲政府的长期负债导致了当前的财政危机。

[4] Taking theUnited Statesas an example, most Americans are debtors, having high living standards through borrowing. Under usual circumstances, everything seems to be normal. However, with troughs in the economic cycle, the chain of the debts may be broken, causing serious consequences or even driving the country into crisis, which was the case in 2008. Likewise, the current financial crisis inEuropeis obviously a casualty of the massive amount of debt accumulated by governments over the long term.

〔5〕看来，量入为出是应永远恪守的一个原则。毕竟，“无债”比“有债”可以过得更加轻松一些。

[5] So, living within your means still seems to be the golden rule. You can surely be more relaxed when you are out of debt than when you are in debt.

（转自微信公众号：英语学习）