金融英語閱讀：市場是一個概念

Is the market a place? Or a thing? Neither, really. It's a concept. If you are growing tomatoes in your backyard for sale, you are producing for the market. You might sell some to your neighbor and some in your little stand by the roadside and some to the manager of the local supermarket. But in either case, you are producing for the market. Your efforts are being directed by the market. If people stop buying tomatoes, you will stop producing them. If you mow lawns to earn money, you are producing a service for the market. If your father a steelworker or a bricklayer or a truck driver or a dentist or a grocer, he is producing goods or services for the market.　

市場是一個地方嗎?是一樣?xùn)|西嗎?都不是，真的。市場是一個概念。如果你在自家的后院種番茄出售，你是在給市場提供產(chǎn)品。你可以將一些蔬菜賣給鄰居，將一些蔬菜擺在路邊的小攤上出售，將一些蔬菜賣給當?shù)爻壥袌龅慕?jīng)理，在任何一種情況下，你都是在給市場提供產(chǎn)品。你的努力都是在市場的引導(dǎo)下作出的。如果人們不買你的番茄，你就不會種番茄。如果你割草掙錢，你是在為市場提供勞務(wù)。如果你父親是鋼鐵工人，或者是瓦匠，或者是卡車司機，或者是牙醫(yī)，或者是開食品雜貨店的，他也正在給市場提供商品或者勞務(wù)。

When you spend your income, you are buying things from the market. You may spend money in stores, supermarkets, gas stations, and restaurants. Still you are buying from the market. When the local grocer hires you to drive the delivery truck, he is buying your labor in the labor market.　　

當你花錢時，你是在市場上購買東西。你可以在商店、超級市場、氣站和餐館花錢，你還是在市場上購買東西。當本地的雜貨店雇你開送貨車，他是在勞動力市場上購買你的勞動。

The market may seem to be a fuzzy sort of thing. But for each person (or business) who is making and selling something, it's very real. If nobody buys your tomatoes, it won't be long before you get the message. The market is telling you something. It's telling you that you are using your energies and resources in doing something the market doesn't want you to do.　　

市場似乎是一種含糊不清的東西，但是，對一個正在生產(chǎn)商品的人(或一家企業(yè))，它是實實在在的。如果誰也不買你的番茄，不需要很長時間你就會得到信息。市場在告訴你一些道理，他在對你說，你做事所花的精力和使用的資源是市場上所不需要的。