【赏析】

第六章cutthroat读得累，为什么名为cutthroat？直到读完还是感觉对cutthroat的领会欠火候，这个词一般是用来形容竞争的激烈程度（to describe a situation in which people compete with each other in an unpleasant and often cruel and unfair way），它是暗示本章故事中主人公的生死劫，性命攸关？还是暗示人们涌入澳门，争相豪赌的热闹竞技场面？亦或是为了追赶the got rich first crowd , 人们不择手段攫取财富，不惜压上身家性命，掷金豪赌的惨烈？或许都是吧。

故事以一个剃头匠征战澳门赌场，一夜暴富，经历生死劫的传奇故事为引，通过对澳门的解读，道出了中国人对于风险、财富、命运的认识。在赌场这个微型战场“microscopic battle”,充斥着科技与执念的博弈“a standoff between science and faith .on one side is the casino, which can reliably calculate its advantage to two decimal points . on the other is a collection of Chinese beliefs about fate and superstition ” 膨胀的物欲，内心的躁动似乎在澳门得以宣泄Macau opened a window on the anxious new era in the People’ s Republic .有钱人肆意放纵，挥金如土 Macau afforded China’s new moneyed class the chance to indulge；在这个充满欲望和风险的是非之地，似乎人人都在劫难逃Macau is a place where it is easy to get into trouble –whether you are a former barber or one of the richest men in America .

在本章中作者也指出美国在十九世纪七十年代财富激增时，也面临着和中国同样的问题the political system at the time was subject to criticisms similar to those facing China’s political system today : corruption, lack of rule of law ,weakness in the face of corporate monopolies. 这是美国历史上的镀金时代（the American Gilded Age） . 在财富面前，人类一直都在博弈，在物欲与心灵的天平之上，物欲的膨胀势必造成心灵的失重….China’s combination of new wealth and opaque government was proving to be almost perfectly engineered for abuse.

作者还分析了中美对于命运的不同认识：Americans tend to see themselves in control of their fate, while Chinese see fate as something external…..to alter fate, the Chinese feel they need to do things to acquire more luck .对此我也在想为什么中国人骨子里会那么在乎这个“运气”？ 重点来了，钱穆先生（1895-1990中国现代历史学家）曾经写就一篇：中国人为什么讲究气数与命运，文章很长很长，从“气”到“数”再到“命运”，值得细细研读，方可知“气”之玄机、“命”之微妙。

中国人对于风险的承受能力--the Chinese were found to take consistently larger risks than Americans of comparable wealth -- 作者分析了两点原因：一是“the cushion hypothesis ”, the traditionally large Chinese family networks afford people confidence that they turn to others for help if their risk-taking does not succeed ; 另一个原因是归结于 the economic reforms undertaken by Deng Xiaoping were a gamble in themselves , so people got the idea that taking a risk is not just Okay, It has utility .

而对于澳门，Macau feels like China amplified and miniaturized . It is animated by the same combination of ambition, risk and self-creation, but the sheer volume of money and people passing through distilled the mixture into an extract so potent that it can seem to be either the city’s greatest strength or its greatest liability.这个光怪陆离的弹丸之地，带给政府两难的抉择how much should it be allowed to continue ?..... but cracking down on Macau posed political problems .

【表达】

1、 High rollers in Macau wagered about six hundred billion dollars .狂赌者

2、 A joke making the rounds 四处传 / make the rounds :visit a number of people or places/例句：Whenever we go back to the place my wife was born,we always have to do the rounds of her relatives.每次去我妻子的老家，我们都得要一家一家地走亲戚/ Night nurses are making their usual rounds.值夜班的护士正在例行查房。

3、 A spate of things 一连串

4、 A small-time soldier under See’s command 马仔

5、 Hit his streak 走运

6、 He was on the run 跑路，逃亡

7、 He offered me a lift back to the station 送一程