評論
打印
And this brings me to my modest proposal. I think that bad PowerPoint presentations are a serious threat to the global economy.
下面我就談談我的小小建議。我認為，用幻燈片做的那些糟糕的報告是全球經濟的嚴重威脅。
Now it does depend on how you measure it, of course, but one estimate has put the drain at 250 million dollars per day.
當然，這要取決于你如何衡量這件事，但是一種估算是每天損失兩億五千萬美元。
Now that assumes half-hour presentations for an average audience of four people with salaries of 35,000 dollars,
假設平均每四個人聽半小時的報告，四人年薪共三萬五千美元，
and it conservatively assumes that about a quarter of the presentations are a complete waste of time,
保守估計四分之一的報告純屬浪費時間，
and given that there are some apparently 30 million PowerPoint presentations created every day,
而且如果每天約有三千萬個用幻燈片做的報告，
that would indeed add up to an annual waste of 100 billion dollars.
那么，年損失金額將高達一千億美元。
Of course, that's just the time we're losing sitting through presentations.
當然，這還只是我們浪費的時間，全程聽完報告的時間。
There are other costs, because PowerPoint is a tool, and like any tool, it can and will be abused.
還有其他費用，因為幻燈片是一個工具，和其他工具一樣，幻燈片可以也將會被人濫用。
To borrow a concept from my country's CIA, it helps you to soften up your audience.
借用美國中央情報局的話說，這有助于軟化你的觀眾。
It distracts them with pretty pictures, irrelevant data.
炫麗的圖片，無關緊要的數據，讓他們眼花繚亂。
It allows you to create the illusion of competence, the illusion of simplicity, and most destructively, the illusion of understanding.
有助于創造稱職的假象，簡明的假象，最要命地，理解的假象。
So now my country is 15 trillion dollars in debt. Our leaders are working tirelessly to try and find ways to save money.
現在美國欠有十五萬億債務。我們的領導人們正不辭辛勞地尋求省錢之道。
One idea is to drastically reduce public support for the arts.
一種辦法是大規模削減對藝術的公共支持。
For example, our National Endowment for the Arts, with its $150 million budget,
比如，美國藝術捐贈基金會的預算為一億五千萬美元，
slashing that program would immediately reduce the national debt by about one one-thousandth of a percent.
砍掉這一項目將為國債削減約十萬分之一。
One certainly can't argue with those numbers.
我們當然不能和這些數字爭論。
However, once we eliminate public funding for the arts, there will be some drawbacks.
然而，一旦我們消除給藝術的資金支持，就會出現一些弊端。
The artists on the street will swell the ranks of the unemployed.
街上流浪的藝術家會使失業率猛增。
Many will turn to drug abuse and prostitution, and that will inevitably lower property values in urban neighborhoods.
很多人轉而會去吸毒、賣淫，這將不可避免地降低城區的房屋價值。
All of this could wipe out the savings we're hoping to make in the first place.
所有這些都將首先導致我們的儲蓄揮霍殆盡。
