2018年经济学人 美国经济:刺激的涟漪效应(2)

 

Investment has also followed a surge in profits, reflecting stronger GDP growth, as it tends to.

投资也随之出现了一波利润的上涨，反映了GDP增长往往会有的那种越来越强劲。

As workers become scarcer in America's tightening¹ labour market, firms have a greater incentive² to automate³.

随着工人在美国日渐收紧的劳动力市场中变得愈发稀缺，公司有了一种更大的动力进行自动化。

A second boon⁴ of a maturing cycle is higher productivity, which has risen at a snail's pace in all countries since the global financial crisis.

到期周期的第二个好处是越来越高的生产力，而生产力自金融危机以来在所有国家一直都是以蜗牛的速度在增长。

More capital spending by businesses will help.

来自商业的更多的资本开支将会推波助澜。

And in America, in particular, firms are under pressure to reorganise their businesses to meet expanding demand, because low unemployment makes it harder to find additional workers.

同时，尤其是在美国，由于低失业使得找到额外的工人愈发困难，各家公司都处于重组业务以满足扩张需求的压力之下。

America is not about to return to pre-2005 rates of productivity growth, whatever Mr Trump⁵ tweets.

无论特朗普“推”什么，美国都不会重回2005年之前的生产力增长率。

But there are tentative signs that the rate is starting to pick up from its dismal⁶, post-crisis slump⁷.

但是，种种暂时的迹象表明，这一比率正在开始从其惨不忍睹的后危机暴跌中拐头向上。

All expansions eventually come to an end.

所有的扩张终有结束。

Even if America does not inflict⁸ a recession on itself—through ill-judged trade policies, say—a global shock could do the job.

即便美国不是自己给自己造成衰退——比如说，因为欠考虑的贸易政策——某种全球冲击也可能做到这一点。

When that time comes, America's policymakers will end up regretting how government revenues were squandered⁹ on a badly designed tax cut.

届时，美国的决策者会为政府收入怎么会浪费在一次设计拙劣的减税上而懊悔。

The deficits¹⁰ that result will make it politically harder for Congress to agree on a fiscal¹¹ stimulus¹² to combat the next downturn.

由此所导致的赤字会让国会更难于在政治上达成一项财政刺激以抵御下次衰退。

Interest rates will in all likelihood peak at much lower levels than in the past, limiting the scope for big cuts to fight a recession.

利率十有八九会处于一种比过去低很多的水平，限制了大幅减息以应对衰退的余地。

In this, the worrywarts are entirely¹³ correct.

就此而言，居安思危完全正确。

But the immediate¹⁴ outlook is sunny.

但是，眼下的前景是光明的。

The global upswing is still young, and has momentum¹⁵.

全球性的增长仍然朝气蓬勃，势头强劲。

Mr Trump's policies have lifted the spirits of business leaders, who already had reason to be confident.

特朗普的政策提升了商界领袖的斗志，他们早就应该信心十足。对特朗普的批评者而言，这必然是一种难堪。

Galling¹⁶ though it must be to the president's critics, America's economy is well placed for 2018.

但是，对于2018年来说，美国经济是处境良好的。

1 tightening   

上紧，固定，紧密

参考例句：

• Make sure the washer is firmly seated before tightening the pipe. 旋紧水管之前，检查一下洗衣机是否已牢牢地固定在底座上了。
• It needs tightening up a little. 它还需要再收紧些。

2 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

3 automate   

v.自动化；使自动化

参考例句：

• Many banks have begun to automate.许多银行已开始采用自动化技术。
• To automate the control process of the lathes has become very easy today.使机床的控制过程自动化现已变得很容易了。

4 boon   

n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠

参考例句：

• A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便。
• These machines have proved a real boon to disabled people.事实证明这些机器让残疾人受益匪浅。

5 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

6 dismal   

adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的

参考例句：

• That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
• My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。

7 slump   

n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌

参考例句：

• She is in a slump in her career.她处在事业的低谷。
• Economists are forecasting a slump.经济学家们预言将发生经济衰退。

8 inflict   

vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担

参考例句：

• Don't inflict your ideas on me.不要把你的想法强加于我。
• Don't inflict damage on any person.不要伤害任何人。

9 squandered   

v.（指钱，财产等）浪费，乱花( squander的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He squandered all his money on gambling. 他把自己所有的钱都糟蹋在赌博上了。
• She felt as indignant as if her own money had been squandered. 她心里十分生气，好像是她自己的钱给浪费掉了似的。 来自飘（部分）

10 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

11 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

12 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

13 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

14 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

15 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

16 galling   

adj.难堪的,使烦恼的,使焦躁的

参考例句：

• It was galling to have to apologize to a man she hated. 令人恼火的是得向她憎恶的男人道歉。
• The insolence in the fellow's eye was galling. 这家伙的傲慢目光令人恼怒。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹