The Rich Get Richer Faster than Ever
[1]Britain's richest people have experienced the biggest-ever rise in their wealth, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.
[2] Driven by the "new economy of internet and computer entrepreneurs, the wealth of those at the top of the financial tree has increased at an unprecedented rate.
[3] The 12th annual Rich List will show that the collective worth of the country's richest 1,000 people reached nearly --146 billion by January, the cut-off point for the survey. This represented an increase of --31 billion, or 27% , in just 12 months.
[4] Since the survey was compiled, Britain's richest have added billions more to their wealth, thanks to the continuing boom in technology shares on the stock market. This has pushed up the total value of the wealth of the richest 1,000 to a probable -- 160 billion according to Dr Philip Beresford, Britain's acknowledged expert on personal wealth who compiles the Sunday Times Rich List.
[5] The millennium boom exceeds anything in Britain's economic history, including the railway boom of the 1840s and the South Sea bubble of 1720. "It has made Margaret Thatcher's boom seem as sluggish as Edward Heath's three-day week," said Beresford. "We are seeing billions being added to the national wealth every week."
[6] William Rubinstein, professor of modern history at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, confirmed that the growth in wealth was unprecedented. "Almost all of today's wealth has been created since the industrial revolution, but even by those heady standards the current boom is extraordinary," he said.
[7] "There is no large-scale cultural opposition or guilt about making money. In many ways British business attitudes can now challenge the United States."
[1]根据《星期日泰晤士报》的财富排行榜，英国最富有的人们经历了他们的财富有史以来最大的增长。
[2]受到因特网和计算机企业家们倡导的“新经济”的驱使，那些位居财富之树顶端的有钱人的财富以前所未有的速度增长着。
[3]第12次的年度财富排行榜将显示：到1月份，也就是调查的截止日期，英国最富有的 1000人的财富总和达到了1460亿英镑。这表明仅在12个月内他们的财富就增加了310亿英镑，即增长了27％。
[4]自从这个调查开始时起，由于证券市场上技术股的持续繁荣，这些最有钱的人的财富又增加了数十亿。据《星期日泰晤士报》财富排行榜的统计整理人、英国公认的个人财富专家菲利浦·贝雷斯福德博士说，这可能使最富有的1000人的财富总量达到了1600亿英镑。
[5]这千年之交的繁荣超过了英国经济史上的任何繁荣时期，包括19世纪40年代兴修铁路带来的繁荣和1720年南海投机业的兴旺。贝雷斯福德说：“千年之交的繁荣使玛格丽特·撒切尔执政时期的经济繁荣相形见绌，看起来就像爱德华·希思的1周工作3天同样不景气。我们将目睹国家的财富以每星期数十亿的速度增加。”
[6]位于阿伯里斯威思的威尔士大学的现代史教授威廉·鲁宾斯坦肯定，这种财富的增长是史无前例的。他说：“今天所有的财富几乎都是工业革命以来创造的，但是即使是依照那时的令人头脑发热的标准，现在的繁荣也是非同寻常的。”
[7]“现在人们对于赚钱没有大规模文化上的反感或歉疚感。英国商业态势目前在许多方面都能与美国较量。”
