2020年经济学人 开放不再,繁荣落幕(2)

（单词翻译）

“Open” is clear, colourful and convincing, marshalling evidence from a range of eras and civilisations. The Roman Empire ceased to prosper¹ when it ceased to be open. Christianity became the established religion, and sought to crush all others. “This new intolerance…led to vicious conflicts… between Christians² and pagans, who saw their old gods being banned and their temples torn down.” Persecuted³ pagans joined Rome’s enemies, even welcoming barbarian⁴ invaders⁵ as liberators.

《开放》这本书清晰易懂、丰富多彩、令人信服，作者探寻了一系列时代和文明，并从中收集证据。罗马帝国停止开放的同时，繁荣也就落幕了。基督教成为了罗马帝国国教，并试图粉碎所有的其他宗教。“这样新的对异己的无法容忍引发了基督教和异教徒之间的恶性冲突，异教徒们看着自己信仰的旧神被明令禁止，目睹着庙宇被拆毁。”受到迫害的异教徒们加入了罗马的敌方阵营，他们甚至欢迎野蛮的入侵者来解放罗马。

Human history, in Mr Norberg’s telling, is a cacophony⁶ of drawbridges being lowered and then raised. Mathematics and medicine flourished under the cosmopolitan⁷ Abbasid caliphate, but froze when religious conservatives won control. By driving out Jews, Muslims and heretics, he argues, the Inquisition helped impoverish⁸ Spain (between 1500 and 1750 the Spanish economy actually shrank).

在诺伯格看来，吊桥先降后升，社会由开放到闭塞，人类历史就是大杂烩。在阿巴斯哈里发帝国世界性的统治下，数学和医学蓬勃发展，当宗教保守主义者掌权时，数学和医学发展停滞不前。诺伯格认为，宗教裁判所驱逐犹太人、穆斯林和异教徒，致使西班牙陷入困顿（实际上，1500年至1750年间，西班牙经济萎缩）。

China’s Song dynasty, which welcomed Muslim traders, Indian monks⁹ and Persians, developed paper money,water-powered textile machines and the makings of an industrial revolution 400 years before the West. But later dynasties turned inward and stagnated¹⁰. Ming officials smashed clever machines, banned overseas trade on pain of death and curbed¹¹ movement within China itself. The Manchus were even worse: to prevent contact with the outside world, in 1661 they forced the whole population of the southern coast to move 30km inland. A century later the Qianlong emperor banned or burned any books that seemed sympathetic to previous dynasties, including a great encyclopedia¹² of economic and technical matters.

中国在宋朝时期欢迎穆斯林商人、印度僧侣和波斯人，还早于西方国家400年就发展了纸币、水力纺织机和工业革命。但是宋朝以后的时代逐渐变得闭塞，停滞不前。明代官员捣毁巧妙的机器、禁止海外贸易且违者处死，还限制了中国国内的人口流动。满族的情况甚至更糟。1661年，满族政府强迫南部沿海的全部人口向内陆迁移30公里，以遏制与外国的接触。一个世纪后，乾隆皇帝查封或烧毁了大量有支持前朝倾向的书籍。包括一本记录经济和技术问题的大百科全书。