Just to get you oriented, this is energy decreasing from zero to progressively negative numbers.

只是为了让你们多了解些这方面的东西，在这里能量,从0开始逐渐递减到负数。

麻省理工公开课 - 固态化学导论课程节选

This, I think you've gotten from other economics courses-- we have something called diminishing marginal utility.

我认为你们已经从其它的经济学课程中学过了,称为边际收益递减

耶鲁公开课 - 金融市场课程节选

So, that's a funny property of conventional mortgages -that the mortgage balance declines very slowly at first and then it falls rapidly when it comes to maturity.

这是普通贷款很有意思的特性,即贷款余额在起初减少的非常缓慢,但随着到期日的临近,便会加速递减

耶鲁公开课 - 金融市场课程节选

The exact shape of the curve is subject to discussion, but the point of diminishing marginal utility is that, as you get more and more money, the increment in utility for each extra dollar diminishes.

这条曲线的确切形状还有待讨论,但是边际效用递减规律的重点在于,你得到的钱越多,每额外的一美元的增长效用会相对减小

耶鲁公开课 - 金融市场课程节选