China's business climate index falls in Q3

 China's business climate index falls in Q3

BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's business climate index, a major gauge¹ of the country's macroeconomic outlook, continued to fall in the third quarter, according to a latest survey.

The quarterly index dropped to 122.8, 4.1 points lower than in the second quarter. This is a steeper decline compared with the 0.4 dip in the previous quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.

China's economic growth cooled to 7.4 percent in the third quarter, the lowest reading since 2009, as a result of sluggish² exports and overcapacity in the domestic market.

The Q3 index was still above the boom-bust line of 100 and 13.2 points higher than the fourth quarter of 2008 during the financial turmoil³. This indicated that the overall economy was running normally, said the NBS.

The index reflecting entrepreneurs' anticipation⁴ of future operations was 5.1 points higher than the figure indicating their views on the current business situation, the NBS said. This was the result of a survey conducted among 21,000 industrial enterprises.

Businessmen in IT, wholesale⁵ and retail⁶ industries felt most optimistic.

Those in manufacturing industries, entrepreneurs from steel, petroleum⁷ and chemical fibre sectors⁸ felt the worst about their economic operations, with indices under 100.

The index for industrial enterprises in China's central regions was significantly higher than in the eastern or western regions.

The index ranges from zero to 200. A reading of 100 demarcates expansion from contraction⁹.

1 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

2 sluggish   

adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的

参考例句：

• This humid heat makes you feel rather sluggish.这种湿热的天气使人感到懒洋洋的。
• Circulation is much more sluggish in the feet than in the hands.脚部的循环比手部的循环缓慢得多。

3 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

4 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

5 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

6 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

7 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

8 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 contraction   

n.缩略词，缩写式，害病

参考例句：

• The contraction of this muscle raises the lower arm.肌肉的收缩使前臂抬起。
• The forces of expansion are balanced by forces of contraction.扩张力和收缩力相互平衡。