上海日前警告追随时尚的市民，不要"盲目崇拜名牌"。官方质量检查机构指出，巴宝莉(Burberry)、香奈儿(Chanel)、阿玛尼(Giorgio Armani)等顶级品牌的高价服装质量不合格。

Shanghai has warned local fashionistas against "blind brand worship", saying high-priced garments boasting top names such as Burberry, Chanel and Armani had been found wanting by official quality checkers.

上海市工商局在其网站上张贴公告指出，检查发现，有些著名品牌服装甚至有危险，存在甲醛超标和pH值不合格问题，长期使用可能导致健康问题。

Some famous brand clothing had even been found to be dangerous, with formaldehyde and pH levels that could cause health problems after prolonged use, the Shanghai Municipal Industrial and Commercial Ad-ministration said in a notice posted on its website.

上海市工商局表示，通过对当地零售商出售的高价服装进行检查，还发现了标识标注混乱、染色牢度不佳等一系列其它问题。

Other problems that were found in a check of high-priced clothes on sale atlocal retailers ranged from poor labelling to unfastdyes, the administration said.


这份报告突显出，外国品牌在中国很容易遭到当地官员的负面鉴定。这些官员有时给一些产品"挑刺"，而这些产品在欧美、日本等市场的销售却平安无事。

The report highlighted the vulnerability of foreign brands in China to negative appraisals by local officials, who sometimes find faults with products that have been sold without mishap in other markets such as the US, Europe and Japan.


许多中国消费者认为，外国品牌的质量可能远远高于许多本土厂商生产的伪劣商品。这些本土生产商尚未形成值得保护的声誉。 Many Chinese consumers see foreign brands as likely to be of much higher quality than the often shoddy goods churned out by many local producers that have yet to develop a reputation worth safeguarding.

然而，上海市工商局指出，其质量监测说明，消费者不应该以高价、名牌以及是否进口作为衡量商品质量的唯一依据。"市工商局倡导消费者应培养科学、适度、合理的消费理念，提倡理性消费，节约消费。"

However, the Shanghai administration said its quality checks showed that consumers should not judge clothes solely on their price and on whether they had been imported. "[We] propose that consumers should develop a scientific, moderate and reasonable approach toward shopping and [we] advocate rational and frugal consumption," it said.

上海市工商局的公告称，在没有通过质量监测的产品中，"巴宝莉"便裤存在严重的标识标注和染色牢度问题，一款"阿玛尼"夹克纤维含量标注错误，一种"香奈儿"产品pH值不合格。

It added that among the goods that failed the quality checks were Burberry slacks found to be badly labelled and with dye problems, an Armani jacket with the wrong fibre content and a Chanel product with unacceptable pH levels.

此前也曾有一些外国品牌未能通过中国官方的质量监测，并在随后出现了销售额下降的情况。去年，由于中国官员指责SK-II产品含有铬和钕，美国宝洁公司(P&G)被迫将日本制造的这一系列产品撤下了中国货架。不过，宝洁坚称这些化妆品是安全的。

Other foreign brands have suffered drops in sales after failing official quality checks. Proctor & Gamble pulled its Japanese-made SK-II products from Chinese shelves last year after officials said they contained chromium and neodymium, although the US group insisted the cosmetics were safe.

我与其他6个人合住在一间学生公寓里。我们都喝牛奶，有人喝得多，有人喝得少。但在我们之中只有3个人买牛奶，而且我们买的是3种不同的牛奶。这就意味着，我喜欢的那种牛奶可能很快就被喝光了。

I live in a student house with six others. All of us drink milk, some a lot, and some a little. Only three of us buy milk, and we buy three different varieties, meaning my preferred type can quickly run out.

更糟糕的是，我买的半脱脂牛奶似乎是其他所有人第二偏爱的品种。

Worse, my variety (semi-skimmed) seems to be the second preference of everyone else.

免费搭车现象很常见，而我也不想让严格的规定和强制机制来破坏宿舍里的和谐气氛。您有什么高招建议吗？

Free riding is common, but I don´t want to spoil the atmosphere with strict rules and enforcement mechanisms. What course of action would you recommend?

哈康(Haakon), 来自牛津

Haakon, Oxford


亲爱的哈康：

Dear Haakon,

显然，你认为人们永远不会自愿分摊自己应付的牛奶账单，而且认为建立必要的监控系统以确保行为合规又很费力。这说明你对经济理论的认识还很肤浅，因为，即使是理性的经济行为主体，也能从诚实行为中获得效用。因此，我们可以借鉴别人的经验，看看你可以怎么做。

You clearly think that people would never volunteer their fair share of the milk bill, and that the monitoring systems necessary to ensure compliance would be onerous. This is a naive reading of economic theory, because even rational economic agents can gain utility from acting honestly. Your course of action therefore needs to be identified empirically.

被称为"面包人"的保罗oF (Paul F.)可以给我们一些启示。他是一个已经退休的经济学家，现在经营着一家给写字楼送面包圈的公司。他建立了一个信誉制度，由人们自行取走面包圈，并自行留下买面包圈的钱。

Draw inspiration from Paul F., also known as "the bagel man". Paul F. is a retired economist who now runs a bagel delivery business to offices. He operates an honour system, where people take bagels and leave the cash to pay for them.

保罗oF保留着所有客户付款比率的详细记录，并与《趣味经济学》(Freakonomics)一书的作者史蒂文o莱维特(Steven Levitt)和斯蒂芬o杜布纳(Stephen Dubner)分享了这些信息。

Paul F. keeps scrupulous records about the payment rates of all his clients, and shared them with Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, the authors of Freakonomics.

你或许可以简简单单地设立一个捐款箱，以便你的室友在偷喝你的牛奶时投进几个便士。保罗oF发现，这个机制可以实现89%的付款率。令人更加欣慰的是，他发现，在小写字楼工作的人更诚实，在他自己工作的地方也一样。

Perhaps you should simply leave a contribution box to make it easy for your housemates to contribute a few pennies as they swipe your milk. Paul F. found that this system produced a payment rate of 89 per cent. Even better, he saw more honesty in small offices, and in the office where he himself worked.

学生宿舍的情况可能类似。
A student house is probably similar.

但在一些重要时刻，例如圣诞节期间，人们的诚实度可能会降低--因此，在考试期间，最好还是看护好你的捐款箱。

Honesty only broke down at times of stress, such as Christmas - so guard the box in exam season.