34. Modigliani Assassination?

Serena Modigliani warned her husband—the economist Franco Modigliani not to turn around【1】 if someone shouted his name on the streets of Rome. "Otherwise they'll shoot you," she said. It was the winter of 1978, and Italy was gripped by political violence and economic chaos. Franco Modigliani, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had returned to the country of his birth to take part in 【2】 a televised debate, urging unpopular reforms.

When Mr Modigliani left his hotel the next morning, he heard a man behind him call his name. He tried to walk faster, but his pursuer drew nearer, and finally caught him, grabbing his jacket. An assassin? No: a cobbler, in fact, desperate to tell him that, of all the bigwigs on the television the previous night, Mr Modigliani had been the only one to say anything comprehensible."

Modigliani went on to win a Nobel Prize in Economics in 1985 and died peacefully in 2003.

有人刺杀莫迪利亚尼？

塞雷娜·莫迪利亚尼提醒她的丈夫——经济学家佛朗哥·莫迪利亚尼：如果有人在罗马大街上喊你的名字千万不要回头。“否则他们将枪杀你。”她说。她说这话的时候是1978年的冬季，当时的意大利正处于政治暴力和经济混乱的困境。在麻省理工学院任教的经济学家佛朗哥·莫迪利亚尼返回祖国参加一场电视辩论，敦促意大利政府实行不受欢迎的改革。

第二天早上，莫迪利亚尼先生正要离开酒店，听到身后一名男子喊他的名字。莫迪利亚尼加快步伐，试图摆脱这名男子，可是追随者离他越来越近，最后终于抓住了他的夹克。是行刺者？不是。事实上追他的人是位修鞋匠，他之所以急匆匆地追莫迪利亚尼，是想告诉他：在昨天晚上电视上的所有要人中，只有他说的话是“听得懂的”。

莫迪利亚尼继续生活着并在1985年获得诺贝尔奖，2003年安然离世。

背景知识与点评

·佛朗哥·莫迪利亚尼（1918—2003）是出生于意大利的美国经济学家，以生命周期理论（life-cycle theory）闻名于世。

·生命周期理论现已成为宏观经济学中的一部分，其主要观点是把人生分为青年、壮年、老年三个阶段，认为消费者总是要估算一生总收入并考虑在生命过程中如何最佳分配自己的收入，以获得一生中最大的消费满足。

·莫迪利亚尼夫人的忠告让人不由得想起《教父》中的镜头，意大利的黑手党名不虚传啊。

·连修鞋匠都能听懂这位经济学家说的话，说明并非所有经济学家都是脱离现实的人。

英语知识链接

【1】 turn around：转身

【2】 take part in：参加…，参与…活动