What a price cannot tell you

学习目标

• 区分 price 与 value，概括两者的关系。
• 理解让步与限定，避免把作者观点绝对化。
• 结合个人经验，讨论价格作为判断依据的局限。

At a second-hand shop, two wooden desks stood side by side with identical price tags. One was polished and modern; the other carried scratches and a faint mark where a lamp had once stood.

在一家二手商店里，两张木书桌并排摆放，标着完全相同的价格。 一张光亮而现代；另一张有些划痕，以及一处台灯曾摆放过的淡淡印记。

To a buyer looking for a clean surface, the first desk might be the obvious choice. To someone who enjoys restoring old furniture, the second might offer something the first cannot.

对一个想要整洁桌面的买家来说，第一张桌子可能是显而易见的选择。 而对喜欢修复旧家具的人来说，第二张或许提供了第一张无法提供的东西。

A price makes different objects easy to compare, but comparison is not the same as understanding. The number tells us what we must give up in money, not everything we may gain in experience.

价格让不同物品易于比较，但比较并不等于理解。 这个数字告诉我们必须付出多少钱，却无法道尽我们可能获得的体验。

This does not mean that prices are useless or that personal preference should replace careful judgment. It means that a useful signal can still be incomplete.

这并不意味着价格毫无用处，也不意味着个人偏好应该取代审慎判断。 它意味着，一个有用的信号仍然可能是不完整的。

Before deciding whether something is worth its price, we might ask what purpose it serves and whose needs it meets. Value becomes clearer when we pay attention to the person as well as the object.

在判断一件东西是否物有所值之前，我们或许应先问：它服务于什么目的，满足了谁的需要？ 当我们既关注物品，也关注使用它的人时，价值才会更加清晰。