2021年经济学人 通胀“恶魔降临”,美国企业发出警报(1)

Business

商业版块

Inflation in America Inc

美国企业的通胀

Businesses contend with a long-forgotten problem

企业面临着一个被遗忘已久的问题

Property insurers price policies today but face payouts a year from now. That makes their profits hostage to inflation. As swathes of America’s economy have begun rapidly reopening for business in recent weeks, thanks to falling rates of covid19 infections and rising ones of vaccination¹, William Berkley has been paying close attention to prices of building materials and anything found inside homes, from lamps to laptops. The replacement² value of a home in America may have leapt by 20%, year on year, Mr Berkley thinks. Since the founder³ of WR Berkley launched his insurance firm over half a century ago, he has never witnessed a time like the past year— not even in the inflationary 1970s.

财产保险公司今天为保单定价，但一年后将面临赔付。这使得他们的利润受制于通货膨胀。得益于新冠感染率的下降和疫苗接种率的上升，美国经济的大部分领域近几周来已经开始迅速恢复营业，威廉·伯克利一直在密切关注建筑材料以及灯具和笔记本电脑等所有家庭用品的价格。伯克利认为，美国房屋的重置价值可能同比增长了20%。自WR Berkley的创始人在半个多世纪前创立了保险公司以来，他从未经历过像去年那样的时刻，即使是在通货膨胀的20世纪70年代也没有过。

Economists⁴ debate whether the rapid climb in consumer prices, which rose at an annual rate of 4.2% in April, the fastest since September 2008, will prove as enduring as 50 years ago. Input⁵ prices for producers shot up by 6.2%.

美国消费价格4月份的年增长率为4.2%，这是自2008年9月以来攀升最快的一次，但经济学家们为消费价格的快速攀升是否会像50年前一样持久而争论不休。生产商的投入品价格飙升了6.2%。

The Federal Reserve insists that higher inflation will be “transitory”. Partly for that reason, chief executives of many big American companies are wary⁶ of discussing inflation in public. When Darius Adamczyk, who heads Honeywell, a huge industrial conglomerate⁷, mentioned during an earnings⁸ call in May that inflation “is here and it is probably a lot more pronounced that people think”, his comment went viral among financial types on the internet.

美联储坚持认为，更高的通胀将是“暂时的”。部分原因是，许多美国大公司的首席执行官对在公开讨论通货膨胀持谨慎态度。大型工业集团霍尼韦尔Honeywell的掌门人达吕斯·阿达姆奇克在五月的一次财报电话会议上提到，通货膨胀“已经到来，而且可能比人们想到的要更加明显”，他的此番评论在金融业网民中迅速传开。

1 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

2 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

3 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

4 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。

6 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

7 conglomerate   

n.综合商社，多元化集团公司

参考例句：

• The firm has been taken over by an American conglomerate.该公司已被美国一企业集团接管。
• An American conglomerate holds a major share in the company.一家美国的大联合企业持有该公司的大部分股份。

8 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。