In good times Gu Changshi's job is to persuade companies to invest in Lingang, a wind-swept free-trade zone on the edge of Shanghai, abutting the Pacific Ocean. But over the past two months, as China has battled covid-19, his job has been to ensure basic survival, both physical and corporate.
在經(jīng)濟景氣的時候，顧長石的工作是說服企業(yè)投資臨港。臨港是一個毗鄰太平洋、風(fēng)光無限的自由貿(mào)易區(qū)，位于上海邊緣。但在過去兩個月里，隨著中國與“新冠病毒”的斗爭，他的工作一直是確?；旧?，包括實體生存和企業(yè)生存。
abut 英[??b?t] 美[??b?t]
vi. 鄰接；毗鄰；緊靠
vt. 鄰接；毗鄰；緊靠
n. (Abut)人名；(英、土)阿布特
eg.The castles abut a natural forest.
與城堡毗鄰的是一片天然森林。First his agency requisitioned two hotels to quarantine anyone coming to Lingang from virus-hit regions. Then it started offering conditional cash grants to beleaguered companies located there. "There is no fixed limit to the subsidies," he says, his hands spreading wide.
首先，他的機構(gòu)申請了兩家酒店，用來隔離來自受病毒感染地區(qū)的臨港旅客。然后，開始向當(dāng)?shù)叵萑肜Ь车墓咎峁┯袟l件的現(xiàn)金援助。“補貼沒有固定的限制，”他雙手攤開地說道。
quarantine 英[?kw?r?nti?n] 美[?kw??r?nti?n]
n. 檢疫隔離期；隔離；檢疫；檢疫區(qū)，隔離區(qū)
v. 對（動物或人）進行檢疫隔離
be put/kept in quarantine 被隔離
eg.His uncle was put in quarantine for ten days.
他叔叔被隔離了十天。
When China went into lockdown in late January, economists thought that its growth trajectory would be v-shaped. There would be a sharp slowdown, followed by a swift rebound as soon as the virus was under control, as happened with China's outbreak of SARS in 2003. They were right about the slowdown.
1月下旬，中國在進入封鎖狀態(tài)時，經(jīng)濟學(xué)家認為中國的增長軌跡將呈“ V”形。一旦病毒得到控制，疫情就會出現(xiàn)急劇放緩，然后迅速反彈，就像2003年中國爆發(fā)非典那樣。他們對經(jīng)濟放緩的預(yù)測是正確的。
rebound 英[r??ba?nd] 美[r??ba?nd]
v.彈回; 反彈; 報應(yīng); 反作用于; 回升
n.反彈球; 回彈球; 搶斷籃板球; 復(fù)興; 振作
eg.The WTO expects trade to rebound by nearly 10% this year.
世貿(mào)組織（WTO）預(yù)計今年貿(mào)易會以10%的增幅反彈。
Hundreds of millions of people stayed inside for weeks on end. Factories, offices, restaurants and shops closed, in scenes now being replayed around the world. Most analysts think that China’s economy shrank in the first three months of 2020, perhaps by as much as 10%. The last time it contracted was more than four decades ago, at the end of the Cultural Revolution, according to official data.
數(shù)以億計的人在家里呆了數(shù)周之久。工廠、辦公室、餐館和商店都關(guān)門了，現(xiàn)在世界各地正在重演這樣的場景。多數(shù)分析人士認為，中國經(jīng)濟在2020年前三個月出現(xiàn)了萎縮，降幅可能高達10%。官方數(shù)據(jù)顯示，上一次出現(xiàn)收縮是在40多年前，即文革末期。
The prediction of a quick, strong recovery is more debatable. With barely any new cases of covid-19 now being detected, the government is trying to restore normal life. At four separate meetings of the ruling Politburo since late February, leaders have declared that they want to restart the economy. But doing so is far from simple when the pandemic is still raging elsewhere.
對經(jīng)濟快速、強勁復(fù)蘇的預(yù)測更有爭議。隨著幾乎沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)新的“新冠”病例，政府正試圖恢復(fù)正常生活。自2月下旬以來，中共中央政治局已經(jīng)召開了四次會議，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人都宣布希望重啟經(jīng)濟。但是，當(dāng)流行病仍在其他地方肆虐時，這么做絕非易事。
pandemic 英[pæn?dem?k] 美[pæn?dem?k]
n.(全國或全球性) 流行病; 大流行病
adj.（疾?。?大流行的; 普遍的，全世界的
eg.These differences meet the criteria for an influenza pandemic.
這些差異符合關(guān)于確定流感大流行的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。
Reviving growth involves boosting both supply and demand. Officials schooled in Marxist theory, which emphasises production rather than consumption, have naturally turned first to the former, ie, to ensuring that goods are made.
恢復(fù)增長需要同時增加供求。受過馬克思主義理論教育的官員強調(diào)生產(chǎn)而非消費，他們自然會首先轉(zhuǎn)向前者，即確保商品的生產(chǎn)。
The main problem has been a dearth of blue-collar workers, many of whom went to their hometowns for the spring festival just before the lockdown and have not yet returned. Production hubs along the coast have chartered trains and buses to bring them back.
主要的問題是缺乏藍領(lǐng)工人，其中許多人在春節(jié)期間就在停擺前返鄉(xiāng)，到現(xiàn)在還沒有回來。沿海的生產(chǎn)中心已經(jīng)租了火車和巴士把他們接回來。
Fully 98% of all listed companies have resumed work, says the securities regulator. Around the country 89% of big investment projects, from airport expansions to the laying of gas pipelines, are also under way, according to a planning commission. "Roaring Chinese factories in full swing", Xinhua, a state news agency, proclaimed on March 21st.
證券監(jiān)管機構(gòu)稱，98%的上市公司已經(jīng)恢復(fù)營業(yè)。據(jù)規(guī)劃委員會稱，從機場擴建到鋪設(shè)天然氣管道，全國89%的大型投資項目也在進行中。3月21日，國家新聞機構(gòu)新華社宣布：“中國工廠如火如荼”。
investment 英[?n?vestm?nt] 美[?n?vestm?nt]
n. 投資；投入；封鎖
(invest v.)
eg.He said the government must introduce tax incentives to encourageinvestment.
他說，政府必須通過給予稅收利益來鼓勵投資。
Measures aimed at preventing another surge of covid-19 have added to the complexities of manufacturing in China. The German manager of an optical-wire factory in Jiangsu province has divided his workers into ten separate units to minimise the risk of cross-infections. The units are kept apart from each other in the factory, the canteen and their dormitories.
旨在防止“新冠病毒”再次激增的措施，增加了中國制造業(yè)的復(fù)雜性。江蘇省一家光纜廠的德國經(jīng)理將他的工人分成了10個獨立的部門，最大限度地降低交叉感染的風(fēng)險。在工廠、食堂和宿舍里，各個單位是分開的。
Such measures are necessary but cumbersome, he says. Firms are also wary of sending staff around the country because some places still impose 14-day quarantines on outsiders. Travel between cities, whether by plane, train or car, is at less than half its normal level.
他說，這些措施是必要的，但很繁瑣。公司還警惕在全國范圍內(nèi)派遣員工，因為一些地方仍然對外來人員實行14天的隔離。城市間的交通，無論是坐飛機、火車還是汽車，都不到正常水平的一半。
Nevertheless, on the supply side, the overall picture is encouraging. Large companies report that they are fully operational. Foxconn, which makes most of Apple's iPhones in China, has said that it will resume normal production by the end of March. Even many smaller companies are in good shape.
不過，在供應(yīng)方面，整體形勢令人鼓舞。大公司報告說他們已經(jīng)全面運作。在中國生產(chǎn)蘋果大部分iphone的富士康表示，將在3月底前恢復(fù)正常生產(chǎn)。甚至許多較小的公司都處于良好狀態(tài)。
Sean Xie, the general manager in China of Lenze, a German automation company, says that all 260 of its employees had returned to its factory in Shanghai as of March 20th, apart from a couple still stuck in Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak of covid-19 (Wuhan plans to lift its lockdown on April 8th).
德國自動化公司Lenze的中國總經(jīng)理謝恩（Sean Xie）表示，截至3月20日，該公司所有260名員工已返回上海工廠，除了一對夫婦仍留在爆發(fā)“新冠”疫情的中心武漢（武漢計劃在4月8日取消封城）。
lockdown 英[?l?kda?n] 美[?lɑ?kda?n]
n.活動(或行動)限制
封 城
the lockdown of a city / a city is on lockdown
eg.The besieged city of Deraa has been in lockdown for a week.
遭圍困的德拉城已被封鎖了一周之久。
Resuscitating demand is proving more difficult. It involves two things that are harder for the government to manage: global growth and public anxiety about the disease.
事實證明，復(fù)蘇需求更加困難。這涉及兩件對政府來說更難管理的事情:全球增長和公眾對疾病的焦慮。
"All the wheels started spinning very quickly here, but the orders aren't there," says a chemicals executive who oversees a factory in the city of Wuxi.
一位無錫工廠的化學(xué)品負責(zé)人說：“所有的輪子在這里開始告訴運轉(zhuǎn)，但是沒有訂單。”
China can take some solace in the fact that it relies less on exports than it did during the global financial crisis of 2007-09. But domestic consumption is now far more central to the economy than exports ever were, and it is much curtailed. Retail sales plunged, unsurprisingly, when just about everyone was cooped up at home.
與2007-09年全球金融危機期間相比，中國對出口的依賴程度有所下降，這讓中國感到些許安慰。但與出口相比，國內(nèi)消費現(xiàn)在對經(jīng)濟的重要性要大得多，而且受到了很大的限制。不出所料，當(dāng)幾乎所有人都被關(guān)在家里時，零售銷售額大幅下降。
People now can move more freely, but many still avoid large crowds. Shops and restaurants are quiet. Covid-19 has cut people's incomes, so few seem willing to splurge yet on big-ticket items. Queues outside Apple stores—open in China but closed everywhere else—are deceptive. Apple strictly limits the number of customers to ensure a safe distance between them.
人們現(xiàn)在可以更自由地活動，但許多人仍然避開人群。商店和餐館都很安靜。Covid-19已經(jīng)削減了人們的收入，因此似乎很少有人愿意花大價錢購買大型物品。蘋果專賣店外的長隊是騙人的，這些專賣店在中國是開著的，但在其他地方都是關(guān)著的。蘋果嚴格限制客戶數(shù)量，確保客戶之間的安全距離。
A good proxy for the state of consumption in China is urban traffic. Some thus welcome the return of traffic jams: congestion has reached about 90% of its normal level. But a closer look is less comforting. Some people who used to take subways to work are using cars instead, to limit contact with others.
衡量中國消費狀況的一個好指標(biāo)是城市交通。因此，一些人歡迎交通擁堵的回歸:擁堵已經(jīng)達到了正常水平的90%。但仔細觀察就不那么令人欣慰了。一些曾經(jīng)乘地鐵上班的人現(xiàn)在開車上班，以減少與他人的接觸。
Passenger numbers on subways are down by roughly two thirds in big cities. Unusually, there is no road congestion at the weekend. The occupancy rate of a posh international hotel chain is in the single digits, says the company's boss in China. Bao Wenjun, who owns a restaurant in Shanghai selling cheap and tasty noodles, says that his revenues are down by nearly three-quarters.
在大城市，地鐵乘客數(shù)量下降了大約三分之二。不同尋常的是，周末沒有交通堵塞。一家豪華國際連鎖酒店的入住率只有個位數(shù)，該公司在中國的老板說。鮑文君(音)在上海開了一家餐館，出售便宜而美味的面條。他說，自己的收入下降了近四分之三。
occupancy rate
英[??kj?p?nsi re?t] 美[?ɑ?kj?p?nsi re?t]
入住率, 租用率, 居住率, 占用率eg.The average hotel occupancy rate increased threefold to over 60 per cent this month.
酒店的平均入住率上升三倍，本月已達百分之六十以上。
For consumption to recover, people must feel confident. Most provinces have reduced their emergency-alert levels. Even Hubei, the worst-hit, has started to let people (other than residents of Wuhan, the capital) travel elsewhere.
消費要想恢復(fù)，就必須有信心。大多數(shù)省份已經(jīng)降低了緊急警戒級別。即使是受災(zāi)最嚴重的湖北，也已經(jīng)開始允許人們(除了首都武漢的居民)前往其他地方。
But anxiety abounds. Except in a few remote regions, schools are into their second month of closure. Only about 500 of the country's 11,000 cinemas have re-opened. The government has tightened border controls because many travellers—541 at last count—have tested positive for the virus after arriving from abroad.
但是焦慮比比皆是。除少數(shù)偏遠地區(qū)外，學(xué)校進入停課第二個月。全國1.1萬家電影院中，只有大約500家重新開業(yè)。政府已經(jīng)加強了邊境管制，因為許多從國外入境的旅客（最新統(tǒng)計為541人），在病毒檢測中呈陽性。
In the past China has often been quick to unleash stimulus measures to counteract economic slowdowns. Its spending splurge in response to the global financial crisis was crucial to the world’s recovery. This time China has been uncharacteristically restrained.
過去，中國常常迅速采取刺激措施來抵消經(jīng)濟放緩的影響。為了應(yīng)對全球金融危機，中國大舉支出，這對全球經(jīng)濟復(fù)蘇至關(guān)重要。這一次，中國一反常態(tài)地保持克制。
Britain has pledged to make loans to firms worth 15% of GDP and America is working on a support package worth nearly 10% of its output. But China's fiscal measures—mainly tax and fee cuts—so far add up to little more than 1% of its GDP. Whereas America has slashed its interest rates to zero, China has barely trimmed its own.
英國已承諾向占GDP的15％的公司提供貸款，美國正在制定占其產(chǎn)出近10％的支持計劃。但到目前為止，中國的財政措施（主要是減稅和減稅）總計僅占其GDP的1％。美國將利率降低至零，而中國幾乎沒有削減利率。
What explains the frugality? One reason is that China has no need to replicate some of the other countries’ actions. Take the struggling airline industry. The American programme includes $58bn in aid for it. Britain may take direct stakes in its airlines. The Chinese government already owns the country's biggest airlines.
如何解釋這種節(jié)儉? 原因之一是中國無需重復(fù)其他國家的某些行動。以陷入困境的航空業(yè)為例。美國計劃包括580億美元的援助。英國可能直接入股其航空公司。中國政府已經(jīng)擁有該國最大的航空公司。
State-owned firms account for about three-quarters of corporate debt in China. The government need not spell out that it stands behind them. Investors know that. Whereas corporate-bond prices have fallen sharply in the West—reflecting concerns about firms' solvency—they have only inched down in China. In the Lingang free-trade zone, Mr Gu goes out of his way to note that the official subsidies are mainly aimed at private businesses, which have a harder time obtaining loans than state firms do.
國有企業(yè)約占中國企業(yè)債務(wù)的四分之三。政府不必說出它背后的立場。投資者知道這一點。西方公司債券價格大幅下跌（反映出對公司償付能力的擔(dān)憂），而在中國卻微跌。在臨港自由貿(mào)易區(qū)，顧先生特別指出，官方補貼主要針對私營企業(yè)，他們比國有企業(yè)更難獲得貸款。
國有企業(yè) State-owned enterprise/firm
民營企業(yè) Private enterprise
外資企業(yè) Foreign-invested enterprise
合資企業(yè) Joint venture
自主創(chuàng)業(yè) Self-employed
For officials the most worrying trend is a sharp rise in joblessness. The unemployment rate in urban areas jumped nearly a full percentage point to 6.2% in February, the highest on record. And this rate fails to capture the tens of millions of migrants who are still in their hometowns, waiting for the economy to perk up before returning to cities for work. So the government is cautiously rolling out some stimulus. On March 20th it pledged to increase financial support for the unemployed.
對于官員而言，最令人擔(dān)憂的趨勢是失業(yè)率急劇上升。2月份，城市地區(qū)的失業(yè)率躍升了近一個百分點，至6.2％，創(chuàng)歷史新高。而這一比例并沒有將仍在家鄉(xiāng)等待經(jīng)濟回暖再返回城市工作的數(shù)千萬農(nóng)民工計算在內(nèi)。因此，政府正在謹慎地推出一些刺激措施。3月20日，政府承諾增加對失業(yè)者的財政支持。
More help may be on the way. The government has given provinces more leeway to raise funds for such things as infrastructure and buildings. Spending of this kind has been a cornerstone of China's past stimulus packages.
更多的援助可能即將到來。政府給了各省更多的空間來為基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施和建筑等項目籌集資金。這類支出一直是中國過去經(jīng)濟刺激計劃的基石。
infrastructure
英[??nfr?str?kt??(r)] 美[??nfr?str?kt??r]
n.(國家或機構(gòu)的) 基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施，基礎(chǔ)建設(shè)
eg. Second, as China did in 1998, how infrastructure investment can both create jobs butcreate the foundation for future growth.
第二，正如中國1998年所做的，基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施投資既能創(chuàng)造就業(yè)，也能為未來增長打下基礎(chǔ)。
But now it is proceeding gingerly. It fears that unleashing more of it could push up debt levels, which are already dangerously high. Most crucially, for all their talk about restarting the economy, China's leaders are wary of letting growth rip until they are certain that a boom in business will not also bring a resurgence of covid-19. "We want to reduce risk to the absolute minimum and will not count the cost of that," says Mr Gu. The economic rebound can wait.
但現(xiàn)在它正小心翼翼地進行著，擔(dān)心釋放更多的資本會推高已經(jīng)處于危險高位的債務(wù)水平。最重要的是，盡管中國領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人一直在談?wù)撝貑⒔?jīng)濟，但在他們確信商業(yè)繁榮不會帶來“新冠病毒”的復(fù)蘇之前，他們對放任經(jīng)濟增長保持謹慎。顧先生說：“我們希望將風(fēng)險降低到最低限度，而不考慮其成本。” 經(jīng)濟復(fù)蘇可以等待。
