A Lesson in Finance

财政学的一课
Smith was the manager of a construction company and was taking bids on a new project. The first bidder was a Polish company, and their representative offered to do the job for $400,000.
“That seems reasonable,” said Smith. “Can you give me a breakdown on that?”
“Sure,” said the Pole, “$200,000 for labor and $200,000 for materials.”
Next to make a bid was the Standard American Construction Company, which bid $800,000.
“Hmm, that seems a bit high,” said Smith. “What’s the breakdown?”
“$400,000 on materials, $400,000 on labor.”
“I’ll get back to you.”
Finally the representative of Cohen, Goldstein and Leibowitz entered Smith’s office.
“$1,200,000 is our bid,” said the agent.
“$1,200,000! That’s way out of line,” exclaimed Smith. “Can you give me a breakdown on that?”
“No problem,” replied the rep. “$400,000 for me, $400,000 for you and $400,000 for the Polacks.”
史密斯是一家建设公司的经理，他正负责一个新工程的招标案。第一位投标的是一家波兰公司，他们的代表出价四十万元接那个案子。
“似乎很合理，”史密斯说。“你可不可以给我一张明细表呢？”
“当然没问题，”波兰公司代表说道，“廿万元工资，廿万元材枓费。”
下一个出标的是美国标准建设公司，他们以八十万元竞标。
“嗯，这个价钱似乎有些偏高，”史密斯说道。“你们有明细表吗？”
“四十万元材料，四十万元工资。”
“你们坐一下，我稍后就回来。”
最后可翰‧高斯坦‧雷伯威兹公司的代表走进史密斯办公室。“一百廿万元是我们竞标的价码，”代表说道。
“一百廿万元这支标高得太过份了，”史密斯叫道：“你可以给我一张明细表吗？”
“没有问题，”代表回答道。“四十万元给我，四十万元给你，最后四十万元则给那家波兰佬开的公司。”