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A well-defined task can easily be put out to the market, where a contractor is paid a fixed sum for doing it.
定義明確的任務可以被輕輕松松地交于市場。在那里，簽約人被付給一筆固定的錢來完成這項任務。
The firm comes into its own when simple contracts of this kind will not suffice.
當這類簡單的合約不夠用時，公司會轉向自身。
Instead, an employee agrees to follow varied and changing instructions, up to agreed limits, for a fixed salary.
為了一筆固定的薪水，雇員會轉而同意聽從種類繁多和不斷變化的指令。
Coase had first set out his theory while working as a lecturer in Dundee, in 1932, having spent the prior academic year in America, visiting factories and businesses.
科斯是在1932在敦提做講師時第一次提出他的理論的，之前一個學年，他是在美國渡過的，游歷了許多工廠和公司。
“The nature of the firm”, his paper, did not appear for another five years, in part because he was reluctant to rush into print.
他的論文——《公司的性質》(The nature of the firm)在那之后的5年中沒有出場，部分是因為他不情愿匆忙出版。
Though widely cited today, it went largely unread at first.
盡管這篇論文如今被廣泛引用，最初卻乏人問津。
But a second paper, “The problem of social cost”, published in 1960, by which time he had moved to America, brought him to prominence.
但是，在他已經移居美國的1960年發表的第二篇論文——《社會成本問題》(The problem of social cost)卻讓他名聲大振。
It argued that private bargaining could resolve social problems, such as pollution, as long as property rights are well defined and transaction costs are low (they rarely are).
這篇論文指出，只要產權有明確的定義而且（很少低廉的）交易成本低廉，私下的討價還價能夠解決污染這類社會問題。
He had been asked to expound his new theory earlier that year to a sceptical audience of University of Chicago economists.
那一年的早些時候，他曾被要求向芝加哥大學經濟學家中一群持懷疑態度的聽眾解釋他的新理論。
By the end of the evening, he had won everyone around.
到那天晚上為止，他贏得了在場的每一個人。
Coase was invited to join the university's faculty in 1964; and there he remained until his death in 2013 at the age of 102.
1964年，科斯應受邀加入這所大學，并且在那里一直執教到2013年他以102歲高齡去世為止。
譯文來源考研英語時事閱讀
