选自：An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776)
China has been long one of the richest, that is, one of the most fertile, best cultivated, most industrious, and most populous countries in world. It seems, however, to have been long stationary. Marco Polo, who visited it more than five hundred years ago, describes its cultivation, industry, and populousness, almost in the same terms in which they are described by travellers in the present times.
中国长期以来一直是世界上最富有的国家之一，也就是说，是最肥沃、最良好耕种、最勤劳和人口最多的国家之一。然而，它似乎长时间停滞不前。马可·波罗在五百多年前访问过中国，他描述了中国的耕作、工业和人口繁荣，几乎与现代旅行者对其的描述相同。
The poverty of the lower ranks of people in China far surpasses that of the most beggarly nations in Europe.
中国下层人民的贫困远远超过欧洲最贫困的国家。
Marriage is encouraged in China, not by the profitableness of children, but by the liberty of destroying them. In all great towns several are every night exposed in the street, or drowned like puppies in the water. The performance of this horrid office is even said to be the avowed business by which some people earn their subsistence.
在中国，婚姻的鼓励并非因为孩子的盈利性，而是因为销毁他们的自由。在所有大城市，每天晚上都有几个婴儿被遗弃在街头，或者像小狗一样被溺死在水中。甚至有人声称执行这可怕的职责是他们谋生的公开业务。
China seems to have been long stationary, and had probably long ago acquired that full complement of riches which is consistent with the nature of its laws and institutions.
中国似乎长期停滞不前，很可能在很久以前就已经获得了与其法律和制度可以容许的最大财富。
Twelve per cent accordingly is said to be the common interest of money in China.
据说在中国，利率普遍为百分之十二。