Let us take the orthodox definition of the word bargain. It is something offered at a low and advantageous price. It is an opportunity to buy something at a lower price than it is really worth. A more recent definition is : a bargain is a dirty trick to extort money from the pockets of silly and innocent people.
让我们看一看“廉价货”这个词的传统定义。它是指那些以低价或优惠价出售的东西。这就给人们提供了一种以低于其本身价值的价格购得物品的机会。而现今对于廉价货的定义是，它是从那些愚蠢无知的人们的口袋里敲诈金钱的肮脏的圈套。
I have never attended a large company’s board meeting in my life, but I feel certain that discussion often takes the following lines. The cost of producting a new – for example – toothpaste would make 80p the decent price for it, so we will market it at 1.20. It is not a bad toothpaste (not specially good either, but not bad), and as people like to try new things it will sell well to start with; but the attraction of novelty soon fades, so sales will fall. When that starts to happen we will reduce the price to 1.15 . And we will turn it into a bargain by printing 5p OFF all over it, whereupon people will rush to buy it even though it still costs about forty-three percent more than its fair price.
我一生中从未参加过大公司的董事会，但我肯定关于销售的讨论常常以下面这种方式进行。例如，生产一种新型牙膏的成本决定了其适当的价格应为80便士，则我们就以1.2英镑的价格出售，这种牙膏质量不错（其实也并非很好，但还可以），而且由于人们愿意尝试新鲜事物，开始时销量很好。但是这种新奇感产生的吸引力很快消失，所以销量就会下降。一有种迹象发生，我们就会把价格降到1.15英镑。在上面打印上“削价5便士”作为廉价货销售。于是，尽管其合理的价格仍然高出43%，人们仍会争相购买。
Sometimes it is not 5p OFF but 1p OFF. What breathtaking impertinence to advertise 1p OFF your soap or washing powder or dog food or whatever. Even the poorest old-age pensioner ought to regard this as an insult, but he doesn’t. A bargain must not be missed. To be offered a ‘gift’ of one penny is like being invited to dinner and offered one single pea (tastily cooked), and nothing else. Even if it represented a real reduction it would be an insult. Still, people say, one has to have washing powder (or whatever) and one might as well buy it a penny cheaper. When I was a boy in Hungary a man was accused of murdering someone for the sake of one pengo, the equivalent of a shilling, and pleaded guilty. The judge was outraged: ‘To kill a man for a shilling! … What can you say in your defence?’ The murderer replied: ‘A shilling here … a shilling there … ’ And that’s what today’s shopper says, too: ‘ A penny here … a penny there … ’
有时不是削价值5便士而是削价1便士。对于肥皂、洗衣粉、狗食等商品，竟然登广告削价1便士，这真是令人不可理解。即使是最穷困，只能靠抚恤金度日的人也应该认为这是一种侮辱，但是情况并非如此，他们不可能不去买廉价货。赠送1便士的礼物就像是被邀请参加晚宴，饭后得到了一粒碗豆的馈赠（当然烹制重非常美味），别无它物。即使那1便士代表了确确实实的削价，它也是一种侮辱。然而，人们会说，他们需要洗衣粉（或诸如此类的东西），最好还是能少花1便士。记得在汉格瑞时，当时我还是一个小男孩，有个人因为一个便士被指控杀人，那时一个便士相当于现在的一先令，这个人被判有罪，法官怒不可遏，“为了一个先令竟然去杀人！….你还有什么可申辩的？”杀人犯回答说：“这儿一个先令….，那儿一个先令….，”这恰恰是现在的商业广告宣扬的“这儿省一个便士….，那儿省一个便士…”。
The real danger starts when utterly unnecessary things become ‘bargains’. There is a huge number of people who just cannot resist bargains and sales. Provided they think they are getting a bargain they will buy clothes they will never wear, furniture they have no space for. Old ladies will buy roller-skates and non-smokers will buy pipe-cleaners. And I once heard of a man who bought an electric circular saw as a bargain and cut off two of his fingers the next day. But he had no regrets: the saw had been truly cheap.
真正的危险在于根本不需要的东西成为了“廉价货”。那样就会有一大批人抵御不了打折销售的诱或。一旦他们认为自己能习到廉价货，他们就会买些永远也不会穿的衣服和根本没地方放的家具。老太太们会买四轮冰鞋，根本不吸烟的人也会买烟斗清洁器。我曾听说有个人买了一个打折的电动环形锯，第二天不慎切断了自己的两个手指，但他一点儿也不后悔，因为那锯的确很便宜。
Quite a few people actually believe that they make money on such bargains. A lady I know, otherwise a charming and seemingly sane girl, sometimes tells me stories such as this: ‘I’ve had a lucky day today. I bought a dress for $120, reduced from $400; I bought a suitcase for $40, reduced from $120 and I bought a beautiful Persian carpet for $600, reduced from $900.’ Perhaps she may add vaguely that she has been a trifle extravagant, but it will never occur to her that she has actually wasted $760. She feels as though she has made $660. She also feels, I am sure, that if she had more time for shopping, she could make a living out o fit.
实际上，相当多的人认为在买廉价货时他们赚了钱。我认识一位女士，她本应是一个迷人的而且看起来很正常的姑娘，可有时她会给我讲这样的事：“今天我真是幸运，花了120英镑买了一件衣服，原价是400英镑；还花了40英镑买了一个手提箱，原价是120英镑；还有一块漂亮的波斯地毯，从900英镑降到600英镑。”也许她会含糊地说也有些奢侈，但她永远也不会意识到实际上她浪费了760英镑。她觉得自己好像赚了660英镑，而且我肯定，她还觉得，如果她有更多的时间购物，她会以此为生的。
Some people buy in bulk because it is cheaper. At certain moments New Zealand lamb chops may be 3p cheaper if you buy half a ton of them, so people rush to buy a freezer just to find out later that it is too small to hold half a ton of New Zealand lamb. I once knew a couple who could not resist buying sugar in bulk. They thought it a tremendous bargain, not to be missed, so they bought enough sugar for their lifetime and the lifetime of their children and grandchildren. When the sugar arrived they didn’t know where to store it – until they realized that their loo was a very spacious one. So that was where they piled up their sugar. Not only did their guests feel rather strange whenever they were offered sugar to put into their coffee, but the loo became extremely sticky.
一些人为了贪图便宜而大批购物，在这些时候，如果你买半吨新西兰羊排，能便宜3便士，所以人们争相去买冰箱，而后来却发现冰箱太小，装不下半吨新西兰羊肉。我曾经认识一对夫妇，他们不停地大批买糖，他们认为这是个大便宜，不能错过，所以他们买下了足够的糖以供他们和他们的孩子们和孙子们使用。当他们拿到糖时，根本不知道放在哪儿贮存，后来他们意思识到厕所倒是个很宽敞的地方，就把糖放在了那里。当他们把糖递给来访的客人放到咖啡里时，客人们都觉得很奇怪，不仅如此，他们厕所也变得粘乎乎的。
To offer bargains is a commercial trick to make the poor poorer. When greedy fools fall for this trick, it serves them right. All the same, if bargains were prohibited by law our standard of living would immediately rise by 7.39 percent.
提供廉价货是一种使穷人更穷的商业圈套，当贪婪的傻瓜们掉进这个圈套时，他们可真是活该了。不管怎样，如果廉价销售货物被法律禁止，那我们的生活水平将会立即提高7.39%.