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1. Life insurance is not really bettingalthoughitcan be compared toit. You pay the money just in case.In thisday and age, wethink ofinsuranceas a natural thing.If we scrape afenderor injure ourselvesatwork, we know that there issomesort of paymentthatwe can get through insurance.Of course, we don't get it for nothing; we make paymentstothe companies. If wedon't use the insurance, the companies keep the money.
1、生命保險不是真正意義上的賭博，雖然它能與賭博相比較，你花了錢以防意外(just in case)。在今天和這個時代（in this day and age），我們認為保險是一件很自然的事(thaink of insurance as anatural thing)。如果我們劃破了汽車的擋泥板或者在工作中傷到了自己，我們知道通過保險我們能獲得（we can get throughinsurance）某種賠款。當然，我們不是無功受祿(for nothing 免費)，我們給保險公司付了錢。我們如果沒有使用這項保險，保險公司就賺了這筆錢。
2."Insurance" is the termthatwe understand today. Some companiesare beginning to usethe term "assurance”. As a matter of fact, Charles Babbage,over one hundred years ago, felt that "assurance" was a betterterm. Apparentlyfew othersdid, because"insurance"has stayed withus until today.
2、“保險”是我們今天可以理解的一個詞語。某些公司現在開始用“保證”這樣的詞語。事實上(as a matter of fact)，早在一百余年前(over one hundred years ago)，查爾斯先生就認為“保證”是一個更恰當的詞語。顯然（apparently）很少有別的人(few others)這樣認為，因為“保險”這個詞已經伴隨我們至今(has stayed with us untiltoday)。
3. How old is insurance? Two hundred years? Athousand? Or is itas old asman? I supposethatwould depend upon what you mean. We might say that "insurance" waswith uswhileman was just beginning to develop civilization.One family or tribe might feelthatthey would be helpedif they helped to protect another familyor tribe. In this way, both groups gotwhat they needed-protectionfromenemies. Of course, you and I don't need that kind of protection today.
3、那么“保險”到底有多久的歷史？兩百年？一千年？或者和人類歷史一樣長遠？我認為問題將取決于(depend upon)你的問題的本意到底是什么。我們可以說，在人類開始發展自己的文明時(while man was just beginning to developcivilization)，“保險”就與人類在一起了。一個家庭或者部落(tribe)去幫助了另外一些家族或部落不受侵襲，他們認為自己也會得到幫助。這樣，兩個集體都得到了他們所需要的東西(what they needed)：防御敵人(protection from enemies)。當然，今天你我都不再需要這種保護。
4. This system oftradingserviceswitheach otherhas been with us for quitea while. The idea of an old agepension is certainlyolder than you might think.Today you think ofsocial security orsome other system. Most peoplewhoretireare still able to receive moneythatthey have paidinto the systemduring theirworking days.The idea of areward for serviceslikethisis quite anold one. The trouble was that the reward was not always given to everyone, nor was it given tothose whodeserved it most (nor 引導的倒裝句).
4、這個互相交易服務(trading services with each other)體系已經伴隨我們相當一段時間(for quite a while)了。關于老年退休金理念的產生比你想象的要早得多(older than you might think)。今天，你想到社會保障系統或其它別的社會系統。大多數人退休后仍然能夠拿到錢，這些錢是他們工作期間支付給社會保障系統的。像這樣給服務以回報的理念（the idea of a reward for services like this）是很古老的。問題在于：回報并不總給每一個人，甚至不是給那些最應該得到回報的人（those who deserved it most）。
5. What happened when man began to move into thecities from the farms? He found that he couldno longersupport himselfby growing his own food. His children andrelatives might move away toanother city, andthere mightbe no way ofearning enough money. Perhapsbecauseofthis, the idea of social security and insurance developed. Nowinsurance companies arenearthe top of the list ofthe biggestbusinessin theUnited States.
5、當一個人從農村移居城市時會發生什么事？他發現，他用自己生產的食品(by growing his own food)養活自己的日子一去不復返。他的孩子和親屬可能搬往其它城市，但是那里可能沒有辦法賺到足夠的錢。也許恰恰因為這些，社會安全和保險的思想發展了。如今，在美國，保險公司的名字正名列最大企業名單的榜首。
6. Some of the first commercial insurancecompanies began around 1580 inEngland. These companies weresome ofthe firsttoaccept payment forinsurance. Fire insurancebecamemore popularafter the fire in London in 1666.This wasone of the most terrible firesin history. It lasted for fivedays.London had to be rebuilt almostcompletely.No wonder that many peopledecided to try fire insurance after that.
6、1580年前后，英國第一批商業保險公司開始營業。這幾家是最早接受為保險付費的公司中的一部分(some of the first toaccept payment for insurance)。1666年倫敦大火之后，火災保險變得普及（became more popular）。倫敦大火是歷史上最嚴重的火災之一，它持續(last for)了五天。倫敦幾乎需要全部重建。(London had to be rebuilt almost completely.)難怪(no wonder)很多人在其后決定試買火災險。
7. We think today's insurance companies are large, butthere was also a pretty big companyabouttwo hundred years agoin England. The company still does business. Thename of the company is Lloyd's of London. It carried more than ￡600,000 of insurancebetween1793&1815.The England pound was then worthmany timeswhat it is worth today; so youcan seehow big Lloyd's was then.Of course, it didn't make moneyallthe time. For example, around 1795 the company paida claim of￡190,000.InAmerican money, that would benearly half a million dollars.
7、我們覺得今天的保險公司都很大，但在200年前的英國，也有一家相當大的保險公司。這家名叫倫敦勞埃德的保險公司至今仍在營業，1793到1815年間，該公司包括了60萬英鎊保險。當時英鎊的價值是它今天價值的很多倍，你可以想象當時的勞埃德公司有多大。顯然，它不可能所有時間都賺錢。例如，1795年，它支付給客戶19萬英鎊保險金(a claim of ￡190,000： 19萬英鎊索賠金)。折算成美元，它差不多是五十萬美金(nearly half a million dollars)。
8. Lloyd’s has become famousforsome of the unusualthingsit has insured. Forinstance Lloydhas insuredagainstthe birth of twins. Iftwinshad been born to the familyinsured,the companywould have had to paya certain amount of moneytothe parents. You can see inthis examplethatsome insurance is a littlelikegambling. There have also beenmany cases of famous performers or athleteswhohave insured themselvesagainstaccidents. Suppose a very good actor feared that his looks could be injured. If they were, he would not be able to make a living asan actor. Therefore, he might attempt to insure himselfagainstthat possibility.
8、勞埃德之所以出名，還因為它對一些非平常的事進行保險。例如它保險不生雙胞胎。如果投險家庭生出雙胞胎，保險公司將必須支付一定數量的錢給父母。（注意句子的時態變化！從句：過去完成時（被動語態），主句：將來完成時）在這個例子里，你能看到某些保險是有一點像賭博（like gambling）。還有些著名演員和運動員對他們在活動中的意外事故保險。假定一個非常好的演員害怕他的容貌受傷，如果事情發生了，他將不能作為演員賺錢生活。因此，他可能試圖為防止這種可能性為自己投保。
9. Now there are companies that will insure peoplefordamagecausedby a sonic boom. A sonic boom is the loud crash and shakingthathappens when ajet plane goesfaster thanthe speedof sound. When this happens, a shock wave hits the earth and may breakwindows or cause ceilings to crack. If you're not near an airportusedby jets, you maynot need to worry about sonic booms,but some peopledo suffer damagein this way. They want to make surethatthey don't have topay all the repair bills themselves.
9、現在，有些保險公司將對聲爆(a sonic boom)給人們造成的損害保險。聲爆是當噴氣式飛機超音速行駛時（when a jet plane goesfaster than the speed of sound）產生的巨大碰撞聲和搖動聲。當聲爆發生時，沖擊波(shock wave)擊打地面，可能震碎窗戶或造成頂棚破裂（cause ceilings to crack）。如果你不在靠近噴氣機場的地方住，你不需要擔心聲爆，但是，某些人的確在這方面受到損害。他們希望得到保證，使自己不必付全部的修理費。
10.Fromprotectionagainstenemiestosocial securitytosonic booms, insurancehas come along way.
10、從保證不被敵人侵犯，到社會安全，到聲爆，保險業走過了一條漫長的路。
