今天我们接着学《小岛经济学》第一章 第二部分：

前面我们讲过，小岛上资源贫瘠，只有一种食物：鱼。

Fortunately, the island was surrounded by an abundant population of strangely homogeneous fish, any one of which was large enough to feed one human being for one day. However, this was an isolated place where none of mankind’s many advancements in fish-catching technology had arrived. The best these guys could do was jump in and grab the slimy buggers by hand.

不过呢，幸运的是，岛上的鱼数量却出奇的多，虽然这些鱼都属于同一品种（homogeneous）。

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Homogeneous
词根：homos "same" + genos "kind, gender, race, stock"
指：of the same or a similar kind or nature, or uniform in structure, made up of the same kind of people or things 同质的，同类的，比如这个小岛上的鱼。

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那有同类的，就有不同类的。不同类的英文怎么讲呢？

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Heterogeneous
词根：heteros "different" + genos "kind, gender, race stock"
指：diverse in kind or nature, or not uniform in structure 不同质的

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来个例句一起记这两个单词：
Combine data from heterogeneous data sources into a single homogeneous structure.
将来自各类数据源的数据组合为单一同类结构。

Using this inefficient technique, each could catch one fish one day, which as just enough to survive to the next day. This activity amounted to the sum total of their island economy. Wake, fish, eat, sleep. Not much of a life, but they, it beats the alternative.

And so, in this super-simple, sushi-based island society there are No savings! No credit! No investments!

Everything that is produced is consumed! There is nothing saved for a rainy day and there is nothing left to lend.

因为捕鱼效率太低了，岛上每个人每天只能抓到一条鱼吃，勉强存活到第二天。捕鱼就是这个岛上全部的经济活动了。吃了睡，睡了吃，加上捕鱼，如果不是会挨饿的话也挺幸福啊，简单的幸福。

Not much of a life, but they, it beats the alternative. not much of 一般是指并不怎么好的，这句话是说，生活不算怎么如意，但总好过于忍饥挨饿(即此处的Alternative)

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Alternative
词根：alter "the other"
指：offering one or the other of two 两者中选一个
对于小岛上的居民而言，要么捕鱼每天吃一个，要么挨饿，二者选一个。

There is nothing saved for a rainy day and there is nothing left to lend。 这个句子挺顺口的，大家可以背一下。我们说的“未雨绸缪”就是"save sth for a rainy day", 类似的表达还有：make hay while the sun shines

总结：

我们今天主要学了两个单词，一个词组以及与他们关联的其他词:

• heterogeneous, heterogeneous
• alternative
• save sth for a rainy day

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