The statement, for example, that capital formation occurs when there is a lengthening of the period of production does not much advance matters.

例如，资本形成发生在生产周期延长时这一说法并不重要。

Obviously consumption-goods, taken as a whole, have in this sense the longest period of production, since of every productive process they constitute the last stage.

显然，从整体上看，消费品在这个意义上具有最长的生产周期，因为它们构成了每个生产过程的最后阶段。

A product, I should prefer to say, has a period of production n if n time-units of notice of changes in the demand for it have to be given if it is to offer its maximum elasticity of employment.

我宁愿说，如果要提供最大的就业弹性，就必须给出 n 个时间单位的需求变化通知，那么产品的生产周期为 n。