You Bet Your Life.
以命相賭
1. Life insurance is not really betting although it can be compared to it. You pay the money just in case. In this day and age, we think of insurance as a natural thing. If we scrape a fender or injure ourselves at work, we know that there is some sort of payment that we can get through insurance. Of course, we don't get it for nothing; we make payments to the companies. If we don't use the insurance, the companies keep the money.
1、生命保險(xiǎn)不是真正意義上的賭博，雖然它能與賭博相比較，你花了錢以防意外。在今天和這個時(shí)代，我們認(rèn)為保險(xiǎn)是一件很自然的事。如果我們劃破了皮膚或者在工作中傷著了自己，我們知道通過保險(xiǎn)我們能獲得某種賠款。當(dāng)然，我們不是無功受祿，我們給保險(xiǎn)公司付了錢。我們?nèi)绻麤]有使用這項(xiàng)保險(xiǎn)，保險(xiǎn)公司就賺了這筆錢。
2."Insurance" is the term that we understand today. Some companies are beginning to use the term "assurance“. As a matter of fact, Charles Babbage, over one hundred years ago, felt that "assurance" was a better term. Apparently few others did, because "insurance" has stayed with us until today.
2、“保險(xiǎn)”是我們今天可以理解的一個詞語。某些公司現(xiàn)在開始用“保證”這樣的詞語。事實(shí)上，早在一百余年前，查爾斯先生就認(rèn)為“保證”是一個更恰當(dāng)?shù)脑~語。顯然很少有別的人這樣認(rèn)為，因?yàn)椤氨ｋU(xiǎn)”這個詞已經(jīng)伴隨我們至今。
3. How old is insurance? Two hundred years? A thousand? Or is it as old as man? I suppose that would depend upon what you mean. We might say that "insurance" was with us while man was just beginning to develop civilization. One family or tribe might feel that they would be helped if they helped to protect another family or tribe. In this way, both groups got what they needed-protection from enemies. Of course, you and I don't need that kind of protection today.
3、那么“保險(xiǎn)”到底有多久的歷史？兩百年？一千年？或者和人類歷史一樣長遠(yuǎn)？我認(rèn)為問題將取決于你的問題的本意到底是什么。我們可以說，在人類開始發(fā)展自己的文明時(shí)，“保險(xiǎn)”就與人類在一起了。一個家庭或者部落去幫助了另外一些家族或部落不受侵襲，他們認(rèn)為自己也會得到幫助。這樣，兩個集體都得到了他們所需要的東西：防御敵人。當(dāng)然，今天你我都不再需要這種保護(hù)。
4. This system of trading services with each other has been with us for quite a while. The idea of an old age pension is certainly older than you might think. Today you think of social security or some other system. Most people who retire are still able to receive money that they have paid into the system during their working days. The idea of a reward for services like this is quite an old one. The trouble was that the reward was not always given to everyone, nor was it given to those who deserved it most.
4、這個互相交易服務(wù)體系已經(jīng)伴隨我們相當(dāng)一段時(shí)間了。關(guān)于老年退休金理念的產(chǎn)生比你想象的要早得多。今天，你想到社會保障系統(tǒng)或其它別的社會系統(tǒng)。大多數(shù)人退休后仍然能夠拿到錢，這些錢是他們工作期間支付給社會保障系統(tǒng)的。這種給服務(wù)以回報(bào)的理念是很古老的。問題在于：報(bào)酬不是任何時(shí)候給每一個人，甚至不是給本身最應(yīng)該得到這個報(bào)酬的人。
5. What happened when man began to move into the cities from the farms? He found that he could no longer support himself by growing his own food. His children and relatives might move away to another city, and there might be no way of earning enough money. Perhaps because of this, the idea of social security and insurance developed. Now insurance companies are near the top of the list of the biggest business in the United States.
5、當(dāng)一個人從農(nóng)村移居城市時(shí)會發(fā)生什么事？他發(fā)現(xiàn)，他用自己生產(chǎn)的食品養(yǎng)活自己的日子一去不復(fù)返。他的孩子和親屬可能搬往其它城市，但是那里可能沒有辦法賺到足夠的錢。也許恰恰因?yàn)檫@些，社會安全和保險(xiǎn)的思想發(fā)展了。如今，在美國，保險(xiǎn)公司的名字正名列最大企業(yè)名單的榜首。
6. Some of the first commercial insurance companies began around 1580 in England. These companies were some of the first to accept payment for insurance. Fire insurance became more popular after the fire in London in 1666.This was one of the most terrible fires in history. It lasted for five days. London had to be rebuilt almost completely. No wonder that many people decided to try fire insurance after that.
6、1580年左右，英國第一批商業(yè)保險(xiǎn)公司開始營業(yè)。這幾家是最早接受為保險(xiǎn)付費(fèi)的公司中的一部分。1666年倫敦大火之后，火災(zāi)險(xiǎn)變得普及。倫敦大火是歷史上最嚴(yán)重的火災(zāi)之一，它持續(xù)了五天。倫敦幾乎需要全部重建。難怪很多人在其后決定試買火災(zāi)險(xiǎn)。
7. We think today's insurance companies are large, but there was also a pretty big company about two hundred years ago in England. The company still does business. The name of the company is Lloyd's of London. It carried more than ￡600,000 of insurance between 1793&1815.The England pound was then worth many times what it is worth today; so you can see how big Lloyd's was then. Of course, it didn't make money all the time. For example, around 1975 the company paid a claim of ￡190,000.In American money, that would be nearly half a million dollars.
7、我們覺得今天的保險(xiǎn)公司都很大，但在200年前的英國，也有一家相當(dāng)大的保險(xiǎn)公司。這家名叫倫敦勞埃德的保險(xiǎn)公司至今仍在營業(yè)，1793到1815年間，該公司包括了60萬英鎊保險(xiǎn)。當(dāng)時(shí)英鎊的價(jià)值是它今天價(jià)值的很多倍，你可以想象當(dāng)時(shí)的勞埃德公司有多大。顯然，它不可能所有時(shí)間都賺錢。例如，1795年，它支付給客戶19萬英鎊保險(xiǎn)金。折算成美元，它差不多是五十萬美金。
8. Lloyd's has become famous for some of the unusual things it has insured. For instance Lloyd has insured against the birth of twins. If twins had been born to the family insured, the company would have had to pay a certain amount of money to the parents. You can see in this example that some insurance is a little like gambling. There have also been many cases of famous performers or athletes who have insured themselves against accidents. Suppose a very good actor feared that his looks could be injured. If they were, he would not be able to make a living as an actor. Therefore, he might attempt to insure himself against that possibility.
8、 勞埃德之所以有名還因?yàn)樗鼘σ恍┓瞧匠５氖逻M(jìn)行保險(xiǎn)。例如它保險(xiǎn)不生雙胞胎。如果投險(xiǎn)家庭生出雙胞胎，保險(xiǎn)公司將必須支付一定數(shù)量的錢給父母。在這個例子里，你能看到某些保險(xiǎn)是有一點(diǎn)像賭博。還有些著名演員和運(yùn)動員對他們在活動中的意外事故保險(xiǎn)。假定一個非常好的演員害怕他的容貌可能受傷。如果事情發(fā)生了，他將不能作為演員賺錢生活。因此，他可能試圖針對這種可能性保險(xiǎn)他自身。
9. Now there are companies that will insure people for damage caused by a sonic boom. A sonic boom is the loud crash and shaking that happens when a jet plane goes faster than the speed of sound. When this happens, a shock wave hits the earth and may break windows or cause ceilings to crack. If you're not near an airport used by jets, you may not need to worry about sonic booms, but some people do suffer damage in this way. They want to make sure that they don't have to pay all the repair bills themselves.
9、現(xiàn)在，有些保險(xiǎn)公司將對聲爆對人們造成的損害保險(xiǎn)。聲爆是當(dāng)噴氣式飛機(jī)超音速行駛時(shí)產(chǎn)生的巨大碰撞和搖動聲。當(dāng)聲爆發(fā)生時(shí)，沖擊波擊打地面，可能震破窗戶或造成頂棚破裂。如果你不在靠近噴氣機(jī)場的地方住，你不需要擔(dān)心聲爆，但是，某些人的確在這方面受到損害。他們希望得到保證，使自己不必付這些修理費(fèi)。
10. From protection against enemies to social security to sonic booms, insurance has come a long way.
10、從保證不受敵人侵犯，到社會安全，到聲爆，保險(xiǎn)業(yè)走過了一條長長的路。
