第十一篇      

Is There a Way to Keep the Britain's Economy Growing?

1　 In today's knowledge economy, nations survive on the things they do best. Japanese design electronics while Germens export engineering techniques. The French serve the best food     and Americans make computers.

2   Britain specializes in the gift of talking. The nation doesn't manufacture much of anything. But it has lawyers, stylists and business consultants¹ who earn their living from talk, talk and more talk. The World Foundation think tank1 says the UK's four iconic jobs today are not scientists, engineers, teachers and nurses. Instead, they're hairdressers, celebrities², management consultants and managers. But can all this talking keep the British economy going? The British government thinks it can.

3   Although the country's trade deficit³ was more than ￡ 60 billion in 2006, UK's largest in the postwar period, officials say the country has nothing to worry about. In fact, Britain does have a world-class pharmaceutical⁴ industry, and it still makes a small sum from selling arms abroad. It also trades services - accountancy, insurance, banking⁵ and advertising⁶. The government believes Britain is on the cutting edge of the knowledge economy. After all, the country of Shakespeare and Wordsworth has a literary tradition of which to be proud. Rock‘n' roll2 is an English language medium, and there are billions to be made by their cutting-edge bands. In other words, the creative economy has plenty of strength to carry the British economy.

4   However, creative industries account for only about 4 percent of UK's exports of goods and services. The industries are finding it hard to make a profit, according to a report of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts3. The report shows only 38 percent of British companies were engaged in "innovation activities", 3 percentage points below the EU average and well below Germany (61 percent) and Sweden (47 percent).

5   In fact, it might be better to call Britain a "servant" economy - there are at least 4 million people "in service". The majority of the population are employed by the rich to cook, clean, and take care of their children. Many graduates are even doing menial jobs for which they do not need a degree. Most employment growth has been, and will continue to be, at the low-skill end of the service sector⁷ - in shops, bars, hotels, domestic service and in nursing and care homes.

词汇：

iconic adj.偶像的

pharmaceutical adj.制药的

menial adj.仆人的

注释：

1. think tank 思想库；智囊团

2. cutting edge 尖端的

3. Rock 'n' roll 摇滚乐

4. National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts 国家科学、技术和艺术捐赠委员会