4. Where Did the Chaos Come from?
An economist, a philosopher, a biologist, and an architect were arguing about what was God's
【1】 real profession. The philosopher said, "Well, first and foremost 【2】 , God is a philosopher because he created the principles by which man is to live." "Ridiculous!" said the biologist, "Before that, God created man and woman and all living things, so clearly he was a biologist." "Wrong," said the architect, "Before that, he created the heavens and the earth. Before the earth, there was only complete confusion and chaos! So clearly he was an architect." "Well," said the economist, "where do you think the chaos came from?"
混亂來(lái)自何方?
經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家、哲學(xué)家、生物學(xué)家和建筑師討論上帝的真正職業(yè)是什么。哲學(xué)家說(shuō):“首先,上帝是位哲學(xué)家,因?yàn)樗麨槭廊硕ㄏ铝俗鋈说臉?biāo)準(zhǔn)?!薄岸嗫尚Γ 鄙飳W(xué)家不以為然地說(shuō)道,“在那之前上帝就創(chuàng)造出了男人、女人和世間眾生,因此很顯然他是位生物學(xué)家?!薄板e(cuò)!”建筑師說(shuō)道,“在那之前上帝創(chuàng)造出了天和地。而在他造出地球之前,世界完全被混亂和混沌所籠罩,因此他是位建筑師?!薄澳敲?,”經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家不慌不忙地說(shuō)道,“你們認(rèn)為這些混亂又是誰(shuí)制造的呢?”
背景知識(shí)與點(diǎn)評(píng)
·著名經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家左大培先生曾經(jīng)寫(xiě)過(guò)一本書(shū),叫做《混亂的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)》,其書(shū)名和內(nèi)容大概可以很好地詮釋本笑話的笑料所在。
·現(xiàn)實(shí)世界中也不乏經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家制造混亂的例子,比如最近的經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)。本次經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)顯然是由那些自命不凡的金融專(zhuān)家們(當(dāng)然也可歸為經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家一類(lèi))制造的產(chǎn)物,他們(據(jù)說(shuō)其中不乏物理學(xué)家和數(shù)學(xué)家)利用各種深?yuàn)W的經(jīng)濟(jì)模型(具體來(lái)說(shuō)就是金融領(lǐng)域里的資產(chǎn)定價(jià)模型)將各類(lèi)垃圾債券重新包裝后以高價(jià)販?zhǔn)鄣绞澜绺鞯兀Y(jié)果引發(fā)了次級(jí)債風(fēng)波及金融風(fēng)暴,繼而導(dǎo)致了全面經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī),所以用笑話來(lái)對(duì)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家進(jìn)行諷刺是經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)笑話的一大內(nèi)容。
·最新的一則笑話如下:“Knock-knock. Who's there? Economist. Economist who? Economist the financial crisis, but I promise I will do better next time. ”(有人敲門(mén)?!笆钦l(shuí)?”“經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家。”“什么樣的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家?”“金融危機(jī)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家,不過(guò)我發(fā)誓下次我會(huì)做得更好一點(diǎn)?!保?
英語(yǔ)知識(shí)鏈接
【1】 God指的是上帝,如果首字母小寫(xiě)且是復(fù)數(shù)形式(gods)就指眾神。
【2】 first and foremost:首要地;首先