nation of shopkeepers店主之国

【使用地区】：英国

【释义】：

Though Napoleon applied this term contemptuously to the British，hedidn’t invent it．Apparently he read it in Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations(1776)or quoted the phrase of a contemporary．Smith wrote in full：“To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers，may at first sight appear a project altogether unfit for a nation that is governed by shopkeepers．”Thirteen years before him Josiah Tucker，a religious leader in Gloucester，had written：“A Shop—keeper will never get the more Custom by beating his Customers；and what is true of a Shopkeeper，is true of a Shop—keeping nation．”

此词字面意思是“店主之国”，意为“商业国家”。拿破仑曾经使用这一说法来奚落英国人，但这个说法并不是他发明的。很显然他阅读了亚当·斯密的《国富论》(1776)，或者只是转述他同时代人的话。斯密这一段的全文如下：“建立伟大帝国的唯一的目的只是为了养活一个消费者的民族，乍看起来对由店主统治的国家不合时宜。”在斯密之前13年，格洛斯特地区的宗教领袖Josiah Tucker写道，“店主不会通过欺骗顾客获得更多的顾客。对店主是如此，对商业国家也是如此。”