【问】 The country is in bad economical state.(国家经济状况不佳。)这里用economical对吗?
 【答】 economical是指“节约的，不浪费的，节俭的”(not wasteful;money-saving)。例如，eco-nomical management(节俭经营)，economical living(节俭的生活)，an economical housewife(节俭的家庭主妇)，economical method(节约的方法)，economical person(节俭的人)：
 1. The engine is fairly economical of fuel.
 这台发动机相当省油。
 2. He is economical of his time.
 他很节约时间。
 3. The young housewife cannot be too economical if she is to help her husband in his ca-
 reer.
 年青的家庭主妇如果想支持丈夫事业的话，无论怎么节俭都是不会过份的。
 而economic则是指“经济(上)的”、“与经济学有关的”(connected with the science of eco-nomics)，“与贸易、商业、生产、财产分配等有关的”，例如economic problems(经济问题)，eco-nomic state(经济状况)，economic situation(经济形势)，economic system(经济制度)，economicbasis(经济基础)。
 1.His family moved to a smaller house for economic reasons.
 他家因经济上的原因搬进了一所较小的房子里去住了。
 2. Their country is faced with many economic problems.
 他们国家面临许多经济问题。
 3. Social evils were fundamentally caused by economic inequality.
 社会上的种种罪恶基本上是由于经济上的不平等引起的。
 应当指出，economic与economical的副词都是economically。因此economically可用于表达以上两个不同的意义。
 有了上面的理解，做下面的托福题就没有困难了：
 1. Mrs. John Moclain is always economical.
 A. very dear B. costly C. inexpensive D. thrifty(TOEFL，78. 4)
 2. From the point of view of economical gain，specification has its own limitation. (TOE
 FL，70.1)
 3. The economics difficulties of the country will not diminish unless inexpensive fertiliz-ers can be widely distributed. (TOEFL，80.3).