Cloth of gold
一块价值堪比黄金的布
Why the economic value of a face mask is$56.14
为什么说一个口罩的经济价值是56.14美元
After a brutal first six months of the year,governments across the world are hoping for an economic bounce-back.Rich-world GDP fell by about 10%in the first half of2020.
在经历今年上半年的残酷考验后，世界各国政府都期待经济能够触底反弹。

2020年上半年，发达国家的GDP下降了约10%。

Yet much has changed since—including that more people are now wearing masks.Economists,obsessed with translating everything into GDP,wonder if more widespread face-covering could help the recovery.然而，自从越来越多的人戴上口罩后，情况发生了显著变化。

经济学家痴迷于用GDP来解释一切事物，如今他们想知道，随着更多的人戴上了口罩，经济能否走向复苏。

The thinking goes that masks can,in part,substitute for lockdowns. People wearing them need not be discouraged as much from using public transport.More shops and offices might be able to reopen,albeit while practising social distancing.
这种想法基于这样一个逻辑，戴口罩在一定程度上可以代替封锁措施。

当人们戴上口罩后，就不必再对公共交通工具进行限制了。

更多的商店和办公室也将重新开放，尽管是在保持社交距离的前提下。

Calculations from Goldman Sachs,a bank,suggest that a15 percentage-point rise in the share of the population that wears masks
would reduce the daily growth of cases by about one percentage point. That obviates the need for lockdown measures that would otherwise subtract nearly5%from GDP.
高盛银行经计算后发现，戴口罩者的比例每上升15%，每日新增确诊病例就会下降1%。

随着新增病例的下降，封锁措施便可解除，否则将使GDP损失近5%。

The Economist took those calculations a step further.According to our reckoning,an American wearing a mask for a day is helping prevent a fall in GDP of$56.14.Not bad for something that you can buy for about50 cents apiece.
本刊对这些数据进行了进一步的计算。

据估算，一个美国人佩戴口罩一天将有助于美国GDP免于损失56.14美元。

对于一个花50美分即可买到的东西来说，这是笔划算的买卖。

These economic benefits suggest that governments should do even more to nudge the minority of people who still forgo masks.English shoppers without a face-covering risk a fine of£100-3,200($130-4,200).Authorities in Turkey and Tuscany have handed out free ones to citizens.
这些经济利益表明，政府应该做更多的工作，以促使少数不愿戴口罩的人戴上口罩。

在英国，不戴口罩的购物者将面临100-3200英镑（约合130-4200美元）的罚款。

在土耳其和意大利托斯卡纳，政府当局正在向民众发放免费的口罩。

Perhaps governments should do more—such as pay people to wear them. After all,the large economic benefits of doing so have finally been unmasked.
也许政府的工作还应该更进一步——比如对佩戴口罩的人们予以奖励。

毕竟，我们可以看到，佩戴口罩能够带来巨大的经济效益。

(红色标注词为重难点词汇)
重难点词汇：
brutal[ˈbruːtl]adj.残忍的；野蛮的
bounce-back[baʊns bæk]n.反冲；反射；弹回；复苏obsessed with着迷于
albeit[ˌɔːlˈbiːɪt]conj.虽然，尽管
obviate[ˈɑːbvieɪt]vt.排除；避免；消除
apiece[əˈpiːs]adv.每人；每个；各自地
nudge[nʌdʒ]v.轻推；推开；劝说；接近n.推动；触发。