The Rich Get Richer Faster than Ever

富翁比以往更快地变富

[1]Britain's richest people have experienced the biggest-ever rise in their wealth, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

[2] Driven by the "new economy of internet and computer entrepreneurs, the wealth of those at the top of the financial tree has increased at an unprecedented¹ rate.

[3] The 12th annual Rich List will show that the collective worth of the country's richest 1,000 people reached nearly --146 billion by January, the cut-off point for the survey. This represented an increase of --31 billion, or 27% , in just 12 months.

[4] Since the survey was compiled, Britain's richest have added billions more to their wealth, thanks to the continuing boom in technology shares on the stock market. This has pushed up the total value of the wealth of the richest 1,000 to a probable -- 160 billion according to Dr Philip Beresford, Britain's acknowledged expert on personal wealth who compiles the Sunday Times Rich List.

[5] The millennium² boom exceeds anything in Britain's economic history, including the railway boom of the 1840s and the South Sea bubble of 1720. "It has made Margaret Thatcher's boom seem as sluggish³ as Edward Heath's three-day week," said Beresford. "We are seeing billions being added to the national wealth every week."

[6] William Rubinstein, professor of modern history at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, confirmed that the growth in wealth was unprecedented. "Almost all of today's wealth has been created since the industrial revolution, but even by those heady standards the current boom is extraordinary," he said.

[7] "There is no large-scale cultural opposition⁴ or guilt⁵ about making money. In many ways British business attitudes can now challenge the United States."

[1]根据《星期日泰晤士报》的财富排行榜，英国最富有的人们经历了他们的财富有史以来最大的增长。
[2]受到因特网和计算机企业家们倡导的“新经济”的驱使，那些位居财富之树顶端的有钱人的财富以前所未有的速度增长着。

[3]第12次的年度财富排行榜将显示：到1月份，也就是调查的截止日期，英国最富有的 1000人的财富总和达到了1460亿英镑。这表明仅在12个月内他们的财富就增加了310亿英镑，即增长了27％。

[4]自从这个调查开始时起，由于证券市场上技术股的持续繁荣，这些最有钱的人的财富又增加了数十亿。据《星期日泰晤士报》财富排行榜的统计整理人、英国公认的个人财富专家菲利浦·贝雷斯福德博士说，这可能使最富有的1000人的财富总量达到了1600亿英镑。

[5]这千年之交的繁荣超过了英国经济史上的任何繁荣时期，包括19世纪40年代兴修铁路带来的繁荣和1720年南海投机业的兴旺。贝雷斯福德说：“千年之交的繁荣使玛格丽特·撒切尔执政时期的经济繁荣相形见绌，看起来就像爱德华·希思的1周工作3天同样不景气。我们将目睹国家的财富以每星期数十亿的速度增加。”

[6]位于阿伯里斯威思的威尔士大学的现代史教授威廉·鲁宾斯坦肯定，这种财富的增长是史无前例的。他说：“今天所有的财富几乎都是工业革命以来创造的，但是即使是依照那时的令人头脑发热的标准，现在的繁荣也是非同寻常的。”

[7]“现在人们对于赚钱没有大规模文化上的反感或歉疚感。英国商业态势目前在许多方面都能与美国较量。”

[8] Although Britain's richest are experiencing the sharpest surge in wealth, the rest of the population has also benefited from the stock market boom and rising house prices. Last year wealth rose by 16% to a record --4,267 billion, according to calculations by the investment bank Salomon Smith Barney. In real terms, wealth has increased by more than a third since the late 1980s.

[9] Much of the wealth of the richest is held in shares in start-up companies. Some of these paper fortunes, analysts⁶ agree, could easily be wiped out, although the wealth-generating effects of the internet revolution seem to be here to stay.

[10] New economy entrepreneurs are to be found in all parts of Britain, but the City is a particular beneficiary of the stock market's internet boom. The number of those earning more than -- 1m a year in salaries and bonuses has risen to 3,000 from 750 five years ago.

[11] A Sunday Times Young Rich List confirms that people are becoming wealthier younger. It includes the 60 richest millionaires aged⁷ 30 or under. At the top, on --600m, is the "old money" Earl of Iveagh, 30, head of the Guinness brewing⁸ family. In second place is Charles Nasser, also 30, who launched the Clara-NET internet provider four years ago and is worth --300m. The remaining eight in the top 10 young millionaires made their money from computing⁹ and the internet.

[12] The richest woman is Avneet Sahni, 29, who runs the Manchester-based VIP Computer Centre with her husband Jatti and is worth 50m. Martha Lane Fox, 27, of lastminute.com, is 15th equal in the list.

[13] David and Victoria Beckham, jointly¹⁰ worth --25m, are 18th equal along-side boxer¹¹ Naseem Hamed. The youngest millionaire is the singer Charlotte Church, 14, who is worth -- 10m.

[8]虽然英国最富有的人们正在经历财产的最强劲的攀升，其他老百姓也从股市的繁荣和房价的升高中获得了利益。根据萨洛蒙·史密斯·巴尼投资银行的计算，去年的财富增长了16％，达到创纪录的42670亿英镑。自 20世纪80年代末以来，实际上财富已增长了三分之一强。

[9]最有钱的那些人的大部分财富都集中在新创建公司的股份中。分析家认为：虽然因特网革命带来滚滚财源的势头似乎会持续下去，但新兴公司尚未兑现的财富可能会轻而易举地被一扫而光。

[10]新经济企业家在英国随处可见，但是网络股的繁荣使伦敦商业区的居民特别受益。年薪和分红挣到100万英镑的人数由5年前的750人增加到了3000人。

[11]《星期日泰晤士报》的一个青年财富排行榜确认，人们在更年轻的时候变得更有钱了。排行榜上60位最富有的百万富翁的年龄只有30岁或更年轻。排在榜首的，是“有祖传财产的”、拥有6亿英镑财产的艾弗伯爵，30岁，吉尼斯酿酒业家族的首领。位居第二的是查尔斯·纳赛尔，也是30岁，4年前创办了“克拉拉网”互联网服务公司，拥有3亿英镑。头10位年轻的百万富翁中的剩下9位都是从计算机产业和因特网赚到钱的。

[12]最富有的女性是29岁的阿弗尼特·萨尼，她和丈夫贾蒂一起经营一家总部在曼彻斯特的名人电脑中心，总资产5000万英镑。 27岁的玛莎·莱恩·福克斯经营“最后一分钟网站”(lastminute.com)，在排行榜上排在并列第15位。

[13]戴维和维多利亚·贝克汉姆的总资产为2500万英镑，与拳击手纳希姆·哈米德并列第18。最年轻的百万富翁是14岁的歌星夏洛特·丘奇，现有1000万英镑的财产。