《生活大爆炸》里面的Penny一直找不到別的工作，只好在餐廳當(dāng)服務(wù)員。有智商優(yōu)越感的人可能覺得那是她的能力問題，可是經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)理論卻不這么認(rèn)為。在經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)領(lǐng)域有個理論叫“漂亮服務(wù)員經(jīng)濟(jì)指數(shù)”，說的是餐廳里漂亮服務(wù)員越多說明當(dāng)下經(jīng)濟(jì)形勢越不好。Penny聽到這個理論應(yīng)該會很開心吧。

Hot Waitress Economic Index is an index that indicates the state of the economy by measuring the number of attractive people working as waiters/waitresses. According to the hot waitress index, the higher the number of good looking servers, the weaker the current state of the economy. It is assumed that attractive individuals do not tend to have trouble finding high-paying jobs during good economic times. During poor economic times, these jobs will be more difficult to find and therefore more attractive people will be forced to work in lower paying jobs such as being waiters/waitresses.

漂亮服務(wù)員經(jīng)濟(jì)指數(shù)（Hot Waitress Economic Index）指通過計算長相出眾的人從事服務(wù)員職業(yè)的人數(shù)來預(yù)測經(jīng)濟(jì)形勢的指數(shù)。該指數(shù)顯示，從事服務(wù)員職業(yè)的漂亮人士越多，當(dāng)前的經(jīng)濟(jì)形勢越差。因為通常都認(rèn)為長相出眾的人在經(jīng)濟(jì)形勢良好的時候，想找份高薪的工作并不困難。在經(jīng)濟(jì)形勢不太好的時候，高薪工作難找，那些相貌出眾的人也不得不從事服務(wù)員這樣的低薪職業(yè)。

Traditional economic theory contends that employment tends to be a lagging indicator for economic recovery. However, the hot waitress economic index could be a coincident or even a leading indicator for economic recovery because attractive people may be the first group of individuals to find better paying jobs when a bad economy begins to turn around.

傳統(tǒng)的經(jīng)濟(jì)理論認(rèn)為，就業(yè)在預(yù)測經(jīng)濟(jì)時是一個相對滯后的指數(shù)。不過，漂亮服務(wù)員經(jīng)濟(jì)指數(shù)卻是一個巧合或者甚至可以作為一個預(yù)測經(jīng)濟(jì)復(fù)蘇的先行指數(shù)，因為漂亮人士可能是經(jīng)濟(jì)開始好轉(zhuǎn)時第一批能找到較高收入工作的人群。

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(中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 Helen )