英语翻译The first lesson about making decisions is summarized in

英语翻译
The first lesson about making decisions is summarized in the adage:“There is no
such thing as a free lunch.” To get one thing that we like,we usually have to give
up another thing that we like.Making decisions requires trading off one goal
against another.
Consider a student who must decide how to allocate her most valuable resource—
her time.She can spend all of her time studying economics; she can spend all of her time studying psychology; or she can divide her time between the two fields.For every hour she studies one subject,she gives up an hour she could have used studying the other.And for every hour she spends studying,she gives up an hour that she could have spent napping,bike riding,watching TV,or working at her part-time job for some extra spending money,food,clothing,or a family vacation.Or they can save some of the family income for retirement or the children’s college education.When they choose to spend an extra dollar on one of these goods,they have one less dollar to spend on some other good.
When people are grouped into societies,they face different kinds of tradeoffs.The classic tradeoff is between “guns and butter.” The more we spend on national defense to protect our shores from foreign aggressors (guns),the less we can spend on consumer goods to raise our standard of living at home (butter).Also important in modern society is the tradeoff between a clean environment and a high level of income.Laws that require firms to reduce pollution raise the cost of producing goods and services.Because of the higher costs,these firms end up earning smaller profits,paying lower wages,charging higher prices,or some combination of these three.Thus,while pollution regulations give us the benefit of a cleaner environment and the improved health that comes with it,they have the cost of reducing the incomes of the firms’ owners,workers,and customers.

第一课关于作出决定这篇文章可以概括成一句谚语：“没有免费的午餐”.要得到我们想要的一件东西时我们通常不得不放弃另一件东西.作出决定要求我们权衡一个和其他的目标.
想象一下一个学生必须决定如何分配她最有价值的资源——她的时间. 她可以花费她所有的时间学习经济学；她可以花费她所有的时间学习心理学；或者她可以划分她的时间同时学习这两个领域.在一个小时她学习了一门科目,在这一小时内她就不能学习另一门科目了. 如果一个小时她用来学习了,她也就放弃了用这一小时来睡觉、骑自行车、看电视或者在工作之外的业余时间额外的消费、吃东西、买衣服或者家庭度假等.或者他们可以节省这些家庭收入为退休或者孩子的大学教育作准备.当他们选择花额外的一元在这些商品上时, 他们也就少花一元在其他商品上.
当人们融入社会时,他们面临不同种类的权衡. 传统的权衡关系是在“大炮和黄油”之间产生.我们在防御外国侵略者保护国家的国防（大炮）方面花费的越多,我们能够用在消费商品、提升生活标准方面（黄油）就越少.在现代社会一个同样重要的权衡关系是在清洁的环境和高水平的收入之间.法律要求公司降低污染提高产品成本和服务.由于高成本, 这些公司获得较少的利润,支付低工资,高价格, 或这三方面的某种组合.因而,当对污染管理给我们一个更洁净的环境并提高了健康质量的同时, 公司拥有者、工人和消费者也付出了减少收入的代价.