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Ask people to name someone they find charming and the answers are often predictable. There’s James Bond, the fictional spy with a penchant for shaken martinis. Maybe they’ll mention Oprah Winfrey, Bill Clinton or a historical figure, like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or Mahatma Gandhi. Now ask the same people to describe, in just a few seconds, what makes these charmers so likable.要是你让人说出一个他心目中有魅力的人的名字，答案通常都可以预测。
有人会说詹姆斯·邦德，那个偏爱摇酒法调制的马提尼的虚构的间谍。
也许会有人提到欧普拉·温弗里，比尔·克林顿，或是某个历史人物，比如小马丁·路德·金牧师，或是圣雄·甘地。
那么现在再让同一个人来用区区几秒钟描述，到底是什么特质让这些魅力十足的人物如此受人爱戴呢？It’s here, in defining what exactly charisma is, that most hit a wall. Instinctually, we know that we’re drawn to certain people more than others. Quantifying why we like them is an entirely different exercise.到此为止，在魅力到底是什么的确切定义过程中，通常就是到这里走进了死胡同。
Diageo last week took a majority stake in Seedlip, a non-alcoholic spirit sold as an alternative to gin — a move seen by analysts as the drinks giant’s attempt to grab more of the growing teetotal market. The young are more abstemious than their elders, and manufacturers and marketers need to keep up.帝亚吉欧(Diageo)不久前收购了Seedlip的多数股权，这是一种被作为金酒替代品出售的无酒精型烈酒——市场分析师们将此举解读为酒业巨头试图在日益扩张的无酒精饮料市场中分一杯羹。
年轻一代相对于他们的长辈在饮酒方面更加节制，酒类生产商和营销机构必须跟上这种趋势。
For those of us who don’t drink or, in my case, only occasionally, a reduction in others’ drinking, along with a fall in the antisocial consequences, is a welcome development. At a wedding in Italy this summer, I marvelled as a group of Italian and French guests partied under a hot afternoon sun and late into the night, without anyone staggering or slurring in the way they would inevitably have done in the UK.对于我们当中那些不喝酒——或者以我自己为例——仅偶尔喝一杯的人来说，他人饮酒量的下降，以及与之相随的危害社会公共利益问题的减少，是一种令人愉快的新变化。
When bosses walk in employees’ shoes当老板站在员工的角度思考It is hard for managers to understand what life is like for staff. But not impossible 管理者很难理解员工的处境，但也不是不可能Any manager worth their salt knows the value of spending time “walking in their customers’ shoes”. There are many ways to do it. You can observe customers in their natural habitat.任何称职的管理者都知道花时间“站在客户的角度思考”的价值。
想做到这一点有很多办法可行。
你可以对处在自然状态下的顾客进行观察。
Pernod Ricard’s boss recently told Bloomberg, a news service, about his habit of bar-hopping in order to see what people want to drink. Such research is a lot less fun if your company makes soap dispensers for public toilets but the same principle applies.保乐力加的老板最近向彭博社(一家新闻服务机构)透露，他经常会去酒吧看看人们爱喝什么酒。
如果你公司的产品是公厕皂液器，那这种研究方式就不太合适了，不过道理都是一样的。
You can be a customer yourself, buying your company’s products, ringing your own helplines and enduring the same teeth-grinding muzak. Or you can hear from your customers directly.你可以试着购买自家的产品，拨打自家的客服热线，忍受让人咬牙切齿的同款音乐。
The decline of the office romance办公室恋情的穷途末路Fewer romantic relationships will be forged at the water cooler.That is a shame在饮水机旁建立恋爱关系的机会越来越少了，这令人遗憾Their eyes met across the office photocopier.At long last,each of them had found someone who could push their buttons.Eventually,they settled down and decided to reproduce.Read more in“Fifty Sheets of Grey Paper”,out soon in paperback.隔着办公室的打印机，他们四目相对。
终于，每个人都找到了能够触动彼此内心的人。
最后，他们相爱并结婚生子。
更多内容详见即将出版的《五十页灰纸》平装版。
Romance is a long-established side-effect of office life.After all,people may spend almost half their waking hours at work,and their colleagues will frequently have something in common with them,even if it is only complaining about the manager.Some relationships are inevitably bound to result.爱情是办公室生活长期以来存在的副产品。
毕竟，人们将醒着的近一半的时间都花在工作上，并且往往会和同事存在一些共同点，即便只是一起抱怨经理。
“Avengers:Endgame”has been an unusual hit in China《复仇者联盟：终局之战》在中国取得了非同寻常的成功Otherwise,Hollywood is struggling to please Chinese audiences或者说，好莱坞正在努力迎合中国观众Even if it did not boast a character called Captain America,the superhero film“Avengers:Endgame”is a very obviously American spectacle.Beyond its swagger and expensive special effects,the Marvel comic book film series,of which this is the final instalment,celebratesflawed,individualistic superheroes.尽管超级英雄电影《复仇者联盟:终局之战》没有吹捧“美国队长”这名角色，但它显然是一部美国大片。
作为漫威漫画系列电影中的最后一部，除了华丽和昂贵的特效外，它还颂扬了有缺陷的、个人主义的超级英雄。
That the film just broke Chinese box-office records for its opening weekend could lead outsiders to assume that the American and Chinese film markets—the world’s two largest—are converging.In fact China’s film world is becoming more distinctive and self-confident.这部电影在上映首周末就打破了中国的票房记录，这可能会让外界认为，美国和中国的电影市场（世界上最大的两个电影市场）正在融汇。
A global house-price slump is coming全球房价即将暴跌It won’t blow up the financial system, but it will be scary虽然不会摧毁金融体系，但仍然令人恐慌Over the past decade owning a house has meant easy money. Prices rose reliably for years and then went bizarrely ballistic in the pandemic. Yet today if your wealth is tied up in bricks and mortar it is time to get nervous.过去十年里，拥有一套房就意味着轻松赚钱。
房价多年来一直稳步上涨，甚至在疫情期间还异乎寻常地飙升了。
然而现如今，如果你的财富被套牢在房产上，那你应该感到紧张了。
House prices are now falling in nine rich economies. The drops in America are small so far, but in the wildest markets they are already dramatic. In condo-crazed Canada homes cost 9% less than they did in February.九个发达经济体的房价都在下跌。
到目前为止，美国房价的跌幅还不大，但最疯狂的市场的房价跌幅已经非常大了。
在热衷于共管公寓的加拿大，房价较今年2月下跌了9%。
As inflation and recession stalk the world a deepening correction is likely—even estate agents are gloomy. Although this will not detonate global banks as in 2007-09, it will intensify the downturn, leave a cohort of people with wrecked finances and start a political storm.随着通货膨胀和经济衰退的风险在全球范围内蔓延，房价或将迎来一场深度调整——甚至房地产经纪人也对此感到悲观。
One afternoon in April 2020, I took an old bamboo rod out of my shed and cut it to a length of 115cm. Stood on the ground, it came about halfway up my chest. I laid it on a scrubby patch of our garden on the island of Aegina, in Greece: one end next to a tough-looking dandelion, the other pointed northwards. Then I dug up the dandelion with a trowel and replanted it at the other end of the stick. A small step for humans, but quite the leap for the dandelion.2020年4月的一个下午，我从棚子里拿出一根旧竹竿，把它切成了115厘米的长度。
立在地上，它的长度大概是到我胸部高度的一半。
我把它搁在花园中的一小片灌木丛生的土地上，花园位于希腊的埃吉纳岛（Aegina）上。
竹竿的一端挨着一株看上去很强韧的蒲公英，另一端朝着北方。
随后我用泥铲把蒲公英挖了出来，再把它重新种进竹竿另一端的土里。
对人类来说，这是一小步的距离，但对蒲公英而言却是一次不小的跃进。
This 115cm corresponds to a particular measurement. It is the present average velocity of climate change — how fast the effects of global heating are moving across the surface of the planet — and thus represents the speed we need to move in order for the conditions around us to stay the same. It also implies a direction: the bubble habitats where different forms of life can survive and thrive are moving uphill, and towards the poles.这115厘米所对应的是一个特定的尺寸。
Diary of a home worker一名居家办公者的日记The challenges of concentrating during a lockdown封锁期间，一场注意力集中的挑战Morning:wake up at7am.Listen to radio news full of government restrictions,disease numbers and tales of economic decline.Stop on the way to shower to wake up teenage daughter so she can get ready for school.Daughter tersely points out that her school has been closed for days.早上：7点起床。
听一会广播，全是有关政府限制措施、疫情数据和经济衰退的新闻。
去洗漱时顺便叫醒了女儿，她要准备去上学了。
女儿简短地回应道，学校已经停课好几天了。
7.20:Breakfast is tricky decision.Is the family closer to running out of milk and cereal,or bread?Realise that cat has only two food sachets left.7.20：早餐有点难办。
家里的牛奶、麦片和面包都快吃完了吗？突然意识到猫粮也只剩下两袋了。
7.30:Email inbox consists almost entirely of companies explaining how they are coping with the pandemic.This includes every hotel and restaurant that ever took an online booking.7.30：邮箱收件箱里收到的几乎都是来自各种公司解释他们如何应对这场疫情的邮件。
Have baby, stay in school生孩子还是继续上学？Why teenage mothers in Zimbabwe struggle to get educated为什么津巴布韦的未成年妈妈很难继续接受教育Brilliant Ndlovu has never really known childhood. Since the age of seven she has headed her household in Tsholotsho, a town in rural western Zimbabwe, after her parents went to work abroad. The oldest of five, she scraped a living growing crops while trying to keep up with her schoolwork.聪明的恩德洛夫从未真正经历过童年。
自从7岁起，她的父母去国外工作后，她就一直在津巴布韦西部乡村小镇茨洛特肖主持家务。
她是五个孩子中的老大，一边靠种庄稼勉强糊口，一边还要努力完成学业。
But in 2020 the covid-19 pandemic struck, coming shortly after a devastating drought. Farmers could not afford to pay child labourers like Ms Ndlovu. “So I looked for a man to help support my family,” she recalls. She found one who demanded sex in exchange for money. Aged 17, she got pregnant.但在2020年，经历一场毁灭性的干旱后，新冠疫情又紧随其后。
Why Do Trucks Use Diesel Fuel Instead of Gasoline?为什么卡车要烧柴油而不是汽油?Putting diesel in your regular gas-guzzling automobile isn’t just a waste of money—it can also cause some problems for your car. For semis and other trucks, however, diesel is just what the doctor (or mechanic, rather) ordered. And that’s because those types of vehicles typically have diesel engines, rather than gasoline engines.往你那烧汽油的车里加柴油不仅浪费钱，而且还会给你的汽车带来一些问题。
然而，对于半挂车和其他卡车来说，柴油就是医生（或者说机械师）开的处方。
这是因为这些类型的车辆通常使用柴油发动机，而非汽油发动机。
One big difference between the two engines is how they turn fuel into energy. According to Engineering Explained, gas engines usually use a spark plug to ignite the mixture of fuel and air in the cylinder.这两种发动机之间最大的区别就是将燃料转化为动能的方式。
根据《汽车机械小百科》的解释，汽油发动机通常使用火花塞来点燃气缸内燃料和空气的混合物。
But diesel engines compress the air until it reaches a high enough temperature that the fuel will ignite as soon as it gets injected into the cylinder. In order to heat the air to that point, a diesel engine needs an especially high compression ratio: the cylinder’s volume when the piston is at its highest point compared to the volume when the piston is at its lowest point.而柴油发动机会压缩空气，直到空气达到足够高的温度，燃料一进入气缸就会点燃。
Many economists defend disaster profiteers.They are wrong许多经济学家为发灾害财的人们辩解，但他们错了With price gouging,morality trumps economics就哄抬物价而言，道德胜过经济学Much about the pandemic sweeping across the world is unprecedented, but one aspect is all too familiar:price gouging in the wake of a disaster. In New York police arrested a man who had stockpiled medical gear, allegedly selling it for a700%mark-up.当一场流行病席卷全球之际，世界发生了许多前所未见的事情，但有一件事我们再熟悉不过了：灾难发生后，人们会哄抬物价。
纽约警方逮捕了一名男子，该男子囤积医疗物资，并溢价700%进行销售。
Indonesian authorities seized600,000masks from hoarders.In Italy the government launched a probe into sky-high online prices for basic protective equipment.Such crackdowns are popular.Who could possibly endorse disaster profiteering?Many economists,as it turns out.印尼当局从囤积者手中没收了60万个口罩。
意大利政府针对线上天价基本防护物资展开了调查。
此类打击行动受到了人们的欢迎。
那么谁会支持发灾难财的行为呢？答案是，许多经济学家。
To be clear,it is not that they want the public to miss out on life-saving products.Quite the contrary.They believe that soaring prices stimulate greater output,and that policies to cap costs might limit supplies and so do more harm than good.有一点需要说明的是，并不是说他们希望人们错失这些救命物资。
恰恰相反。
他们认为，价格的飞涨能够刺激产量的增长，而价格管制政策可能会导致供应紧缩，反而弊大于利。
In2012the University of Chicago surveyed32eminent economists about legislation that banned price gouging during a weather-related emergency.Only three supported the ban;more than half criticised it. 2012年，芝加哥大学就一项关于在发生与天气有关的紧急状况下禁止哄抬物价的立法对32位知名经济学家进行了调查。
结果只有3人对这项禁令表示支持；超过一半的人表示反对。
Similar views have been aired in recent weeks.An economist with the Cato Institute,a conservative think-tank,lamented the“madness”of anti-gouging rules,saying that profits are what entice firms to meet rising demand for safety equipment.近来几周同样也出现了类似的观点。
保守派智库卡托研究所的一位经济学家对人们反对哄抬物价的“狂热情绪”表示遗憾，他表示，利润是吸引企业满足人们对防护物资日益增长的需求的动力。
Yet a closer look at one key piece of equipment—masks—during the coronavirus crisis shows that this standard view needs revamping. Economists are normally loth to tamper with prices,the most basic element of any market.But little about this pandemic has been normal. Price signalling alone would have been inadequate to the challenge of ensuring vast increases in supply.然而，在新冠疫情流行期间，只需仔细观察口罩这一关键性物资，你就会发现这种观点是需要更正的。
对于任何市场来说，价格是最基本的要素，在正常情况下，经济学家是不愿意干预价格的。
但疫情的大流行并非正常情况。
仅凭价格信号是不足以应对确保供应大幅增加的挑战的。
First,consider the manufacture of masks.They might look simple,but producers need sterile factories and sophisticated machinery to churn out melt-blown fabric.Upfront costs would be hard to justify if the virus were quickly snuffed out.首先，想一想口罩的生产。
它们看似简单，但生产商需要有无菌化的工厂和精密的机器才能生产熔喷织物。
如果病毒很快就能被消灭，那么很难证明前期投入是合理的。
So in January,the early phase of the outbreak,Chinese firms began by scouring the world for masks rather than by making more of their own.It took government action to change that.因此，今年1月，在疫情爆发初期，中国企业先是在世界各地采购口罩，而非自己生产。
直到政府采取措施，这一情况才得以改变。
Officials offered subsidies to firms producing safety gear:promising not outsized gains but an avoidance of losses.China went from making20m masks per day before the crisis—half the world’s output—to nearly120m by the end of February.当局向防护用品生产商提供补贴：承诺就算不能带来丰厚的收益，但也不至于给他们带来损失。
疫情爆发前，中国的口罩日生产量为2千万个（占全球产量的一半），到2月底，日生产量已达近1.2亿个。
Profit,narrowly defined as the income earned from making masks,also fails to explain corporate motives.Regulation has been panies in China could not resume operations until all their workers had masks,so automakers,phone manufacturers and oil giants all added mask-production lines.利润（在狭义上定义为生产口罩所得的收入）无法解释企业的动机。
规章才是至关重要的。
在中国，企业想要复工就必须让所有员工都带上口罩，因此汽车制造商、手机制造商以及石油巨头纷纷增设了口罩生产线。
And big companies also want to look like good corporate citizens.Peter Navarro,a trade adviser to America’s president,accused3M,one of the world’s biggest manufacturers of high-end masks,of putting money before people.In fact,3M has stuck to its list prices and doubled its production.大企业也希望能够成为企业良民。
美国总统的贸易顾问彼得·纳瓦罗指责3M公司把钱看得比人还重要。
但事实上，3M公司不但没涨价，而且还将产量翻了一番。
Pricing is usually the best way to allocate resources,by revealing who is willing and able to pay for something.But there is no doubt now that masks are most essential for medical workers.Ordering large supplies at fixed prices is the right policy.定价通常是分配资源的最佳方式，因为价格反映了谁愿意并且有能力为某商品买单。
但毫无疑问，目前，口罩对于医务工作者来说是至关重要的。
以不变的价格进行大量供应才是正确的政策。
The public benefit of a functioning health system far outweighs any harm in impeding sellers from maximising their profits.This was a point made to the University of Chicago’s survey by one of the dissenting economists, who argued that it was fair to cap prices after a natural disaster.一个正常运转的医疗系统所带来的公共利益，要远远超过阻碍销售商实现利润最大化所带来的危害。
