06
An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations 國富論

Adam Smith

亞當·斯密

導讀

亞當·斯密的《國富論》在批判封建殘余和重商主義統治政策的基礎上，論證了自由主義體制下如何促進生產力的增長和如何實現市民社會全面富裕的問題。亞當·斯密首次把價值法則作為其經濟體制的基礎，將勞動分工和資本積累作為發展社會生產力的基礎，全面展開了他的理論闡述。這里選了第一篇關于商品的兩種價格一章。

Every man is rich or poor according to the degree in which he can afford to enjoy the necessaries, conveniences, and amusements of human life. But after the division of labour has once thoroughly taken place, it is but a very small part of these with which a man's own labour can supply him. The far greater part of them he must derive from the labour of other people, and he must be rich or poor according to the quantity of that labour which he can command, or which he can afford to purchase. The value of any commodity, therefore, to the person who possesses it, and who means not to use or consume it himself, but to exchange it for other commodities, is equal to the quantity of labour which it enables him to purchase or command. Labour, therefore, is the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities.

一個人是富是貧，要看他能取得必需品、舒適品和娛樂品的程度如何。但是，自從各個部門的分工確立之后，一個人依靠自己的勞動能夠取得的只是這些物品中的極小部分，極大部分必須仰給他人的勞動；所以他是富是貧，就要看他能夠支配或買到的勞動量有多大。因此，任何一種商品，對于占有這種商品而不打算自己使用或消費，卻打算用它交換其他商品的人來說，它的價值等于這個商品能夠買到或支配的勞動量。由此看來，勞動是衡量一切商品的交換價值的真實的尺度。

The real price of every thing, what every thing really costs to the man who wants to acquire it, is the toil and trouble of acquiring it. What every thing is really worth to the man who has acquired it, and who wants to dispose of it or exchange it for something else, is the toil and trouble which it can save to himself, and which it can impose upon other people. What is bought with money or with goods is purchased by labour, as much as what we acquire by the toil of our own body. That money or those goods indeed save us this toil. They contain the value of a certain quantity of labour which we exchange for what is supposed at the time to contain the value of an equal quantity. Labour was the first price, the original purchase—money that was paid for all things. It was not by gold or by silver, but by labour, that all the wealth of the world was originally purchased; and its value, to those who possess it, and who want to exchange it for some new productions, is precisely to the quantity of labour which it can enable them to purchase or command.

任何一個物品的真實價格，即取得這個物品在實際上所需付出的代價，乃是獲得它的辛苦和麻煩。對于已得此物但愿用以交換他物的人來說，它的真正價值，等于因占有它而能自己免除并轉加到別人身上去的辛苦和麻煩。以貨幣或貨物購買物品，就是用勞動購買，正如我們用自己的勞動取得一樣。此等貨幣或貨物，使我們能夠免除相當的勞動。它們包含著一定量勞動的價值，我們就用這一定量的勞動去同假定在當時包含著同量勞動的價值的東西相交換。勞動是第一性價格，是用以購買一切貨物的最初代價。世界上的一切財富原先都不是用金或銀而是用勞動購買的；這些財富的價值，對于占有它們并想用它們交換什么新產品的人來說，恰好等于他能買到或支配的勞動量。

Wealth, as Mr. Hobbes says, is power. But the person who either acquires, or succeeds to a great fortune, does not necessarily acquire or succeed to any political power, either civil or military. His fortune may, perhaps, afford him the means of acquiring both, but the mere possession of that fortune does not necessarily convey to him either. The power which that possession immediately and directly conveys to him, is the power of purchasing: a certain command over all the labour, or over all the produce of labour which is then in the market. His fortune is greater or less, precisely in proportion to the extent of this power;or to the quantity either of other men's labour, or what is the same thing, of the produce of other men's labour, which it enables him to purchase or command. The exchangeable value of every thing mustalways be precisely equal to the extent of this power which it conveys to its owner.

正如霍布斯先生所說：財富就是權力；但是，獲得或繼承了大宗財產的人，不一定因此就得到民政的或軍事的政治權力，他的財產，也許可以提供他一種獲得政權的手段，但單有財產未必就能給他政權。財富直接提供給他的權力，無非是購買的權力；這是一種支配當時市場上有的一切他人勞動或者說他人勞動的一切產品的權力。他的財富的多少同這個權力的大小恰成比例。換言之，財富的大小，同他所能夠支配的他人勞動量成比例，或者同樣可以說，同他能夠買到的他人勞動的產品成比例。一種物品的交換價值，必然恰等于這物品對其所有者所提供的支配勞動的權力。

But though labour be the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities, it is not that by which their value is commonly estimated. It is often difficult to ascertain the proportion between two different quantities of labour. The time spent in two different sorts of work will not always alone determine this proportion. The different degrees of hardship endured, and of ingenuity exercised, must likewise be taken into account. There may be more labour in an hour's hard work than in two hours' easy business; or in an hour's application to a trade which it cost ten years labour to learn, than in a month's industry at an ordinary and obvious employment. But it is not easy to find any accurate measure either of hardship or ingenuity. In exchanging indeed the different productions of different sorts of labour for one another, some allowance is commonly made for both. It is adjusted, however, not by any accurate measure, but by the higgling and bargaining of the market, according to that sort of rough equality which though not exact, is sufficient for carrying on the business of common life.

勞動雖是一切商品交換價值的真實尺度，但一切商品的價值，通常不是按勞動估定的。要確定兩個不同的勞動量的比例，往往很困難。兩種不同工作所費去的時間，往往不是決定比例的唯一因素，它們的不同困難程度和精巧程度，也須加以考慮。一個鐘頭的困難工作，比兩個鐘頭的容易工作，也許包含有更多的勞動量；需要十年學習的工作做一小時，比普通業務做一個月所含的勞動量也可能更多。但是，困難程度和精巧程度的準確尺度是不容易找到的。誠然，在交換不同勞動的不同產品時，通常都在一定程度上考慮到上述困難程度和精巧程度，但在進行這種交換時，不是按任何準確尺度來做調整的。而是通過市場上的議價來作大體上兩不相虧的調整的。這雖不很準確，但對日常買賣也就夠了。

Every commodity besides, is more frequently exchanged for, and thereby compared with, other commodities than with labour. It is more natural therefore, to estimate its exchangeable value by the quantity of some other commodity than by that of the labour which it can purchase. The greater part of people too understand better what is meant by a quantity of a particular commodity, than by a quantity of labour. The one is a plain palpable object; the other an abstract notion, which, though it can be made sufficiently intelligible, is not altogether so natural and obvious.

加之，商品多與商品交換，因而多與商品比較，商品少與勞動交換，因而少與勞動比較。所以，以一種商品所能購得的另一種商品量來估定其交換價值，比以這種商品所能購得的勞動量來估定其交換價值較為自然。而且，我們說一定分量的特定商品，比說一定分量的勞動也更容易使人理解。因為，前者是一個可以看得到和接觸得到的物體，后者則是一個抽象的概念。抽象概念，縱能使人充分理解，也不像具體物體那樣明顯、那樣自然。

But when barter ceases, and money has become the common instrument of commerce, every particular commodity is more frequently exchanged for money than for any other commodity. The butcher seldom carries his beef or his mutton to the baker, or the brewer, in order to exchange them for bread or for beer;but he carries them to the market, where he exchanges them for money, and afterwards exchanges that money for bread and for beer. The quantity of money which he gets for them regulates too the quantity of bread and beer which he can afterwards purchase. It is more natural and obvious to him, therefore, to estimate their value by the quantity of money, the commodity for which he immediately exchanges them, than by that of bread and beer, the commodities for which he can exchange them only by the intervention of another commodity; and rather to say that his butcher's meat is worth three pence or four pence a pound, than that it is worth three of four pounds of bread, or three or four quarts of small beer. Hence it comes to pass, that the exchangeable value of every commodity is more frequently estimated by the quantity of money, than by the quantity either of labour or of any other commodity which can be had in exchange for it.

但是，在物物交換已經停止、貨幣已成為商業上一般媒介的時候，商品就多與貨幣交換，少與別種商品交換。屠戶需要面包或麥酒，不是把牛肉或羊肉直接拿到面包店或酒店去交換，而是先把牛肉或羊肉拿到市場去換取貨幣，然后再用貨幣交換面包或麥酒。他出售牛羊肉所得的貨幣量，決定他后來所能購買的面包量和麥酒量。因此，屠戶估計牛羊肉價值，自然多用牛羊肉直接換來的物品量即貨幣量，少用牛羊肉間接換來的物品量即面包和麥酒量。說家畜肉一磅值三便士或四便士，比說肉一磅值面包三斤或四斤，或值麥酒三夸脫或四夸脫也更為合宜。所以，一個商品的交換價值，多按貨幣量計算，少按這個商品所能換得的勞動量或其他的商品量計算。

Cloze 選詞填空

Every man is rich or poor according to the degree 1 which he can afford 2 enjoy the necessaries, conveniences, and amusements of human life. But after the division of labour has once thoroughly taken 3, it is but a very small part of these 4 which a man's own labour can supply him. The far greater part of them he must derive 5 the labour of other people, and he must be rich or poor according to the 6 of that labour which he can command, or which he can afford to 7. The value of any commodity, 8, to the person who possesses it, and who means not to use or consume it himself, 9 to exchange it for other commodities, is equal to the quantity of labour which it 10 him to purchase or command. Labour, therefore, is the real 11 of the exchangeable value of all commodities.

Key

1. in 2. to 3. place 4. with 5. from 6. quantity

7. purchase 8. therefore 9. but 10. enables 11. measure

Translation Practices 翻譯練習

Wealth, as Mr. Hobbes says, is power. But the person who either acquires, or succeeds to a great fortune, does not necessarily acquire or succeed to any political power, either civil or military. His fortune may, perhaps, afford him the means of acquiring both, but the mere possession of that fortune does not necessarily convey to him either. The power which that possession immediately and directly conveys to him, is the power of purchasing: a certain command over all the labour, or over all the produce of labour which is then in the market.

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Key

霍布斯先生說：財富就是權力；但是，獲得或繼承了大宗財產的人，不一定因此就得到民政的或軍事的政治權力，他的財產，也許可以提供他一種獲得政權的手段，但單有財產未必就能給他政權。財富直接提供給他的權力，無非是購買的權力；這是一種支配當時市場上有的一切他人勞動或者說他人勞動的一切產品的權力。