美国国家公共电台 NPR--Russia is now the most sanctioned nation in the world. How is it coping?

Russia is now the most sanctioned nation in the world. How is it coping?

Transcript¹

The more than 5,000 sanctions against Russia are tanking the ruble and hurting everyday Russians. There are worries that a recession is looming².

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

What happens when your country abruptly³ is unplugged from the global economy? Russia is finding out. The value of the ruble has crashed, and sanctions affect all parts of the economy there. From the team at NPR's Planet Money, Erika Beras spoke⁴ with an economist⁵ who says a recession is looming.

ERIKA BERAS, BYLINE⁶: For most of his life, Sergei Guriev lived in Russia. He's an economist who is now in Paris. Three weeks ago, before Russia invaded Ukraine, he called his parents in Moscow.

SERGEI GURIEV: I told them that I think there will be a major assault on ruble, and they should also take dollars out of the bank.

BERAS: He was worried about the ruble losing value, so he told them, exchange your rubles for euros or dollars.

GURIEV: I also told them that they need to think about buying medicines because those may not be imported anymore. Precisely⁷, we were talking about insulin. My mother has diabetes⁸, and so she needs insulin every day. It's a vital issue for my mother.

BERAS: His parents took his advice, and then what Sergei feared would happen did. Russia invaded, sanctions followed, the ruble dropped.

GURIEV: Nobody would have predicted 2022 because it's just beyond belief what's happening.

BERAS: Sergei knew what to tell his parents to do because Russia has experienced currency collapse⁹ before, twice in the '90s and then again in 2014. That was right around the time Sergei was politely encouraged to leave Russia for speaking out against President Vladimir Putin. For each of those collapses¹⁰, it was better to hold foreign currency. Another option - storing money in goods that would hold value better than the ruble.

GURIEV: They bought iPhones. They bought cars. Richer people bought real estate. You can buy a toaster or a dishwasher, right? Today, you see that you can protect your cash, which is losing value every day.

BERAS: After the sanctions kicked in, Russian people lined up at ATMs. The Russian government started limiting how much people could withdraw in foreign currency. And to try to head off bank runs, the Russian central bank doubled interest rates to 20%, essentially¹¹ telling people keep your money in your savings¹² account. It'll make more interest.

GURIEV: The central bank is worried that Russians will run away from rubles to dollars, so the banks are now taking your rubles and give you 20% per year instead of 10 like they have before.

BERAS: But high interest rates have other effects, too. Say you want to borrow money to buy a house or you're a small business owner. You're not going to want to pay 20% on a loan, so chances are you decide not to borrow. And just like that, money stops moving. The economy flattens¹³. That leads to recession. By one estimate, Russia's economy could shrink by 35% this quarter.

How do you feel watching this happen?

GURIEV: First and foremost, of course, I feel the human tragedy, which is happening on the ground in Ukraine.

BERAS: He says it's a tragedy for regular people in Russia, too.

GURIEV: There will be not just low growth, there will be recession and lower quality of life. And in that sense, I feel sad as an economist.

BERAS: When Sergei called his parents a couple weeks ago, he wasn't just checking in on their supplies of insulin and dollar bills. He also bought them one-way plane tickets out of Russia.

Erika Beras, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF PATTY LARKIN'S "BOUND BROOK")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

3 abruptly   

adv.突然地，出其不意地

参考例句：

• He gestured abruptly for Virginia to get in the car.他粗鲁地示意弗吉尼亚上车。
• I was abruptly notified that a half-hour speech was expected of me.我突然被通知要讲半个小时的话。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

8 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

9 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

10 collapses   

折叠( collapse的第三人称单数 )； 倒塌； 崩溃； （尤指工作劳累后）坐下

参考例句：

• This bridge table collapses. 这张桥牌桌子能折叠。
• Once Russia collapses, the last chance to stop Hitler will be gone. 一旦俄国垮台，抑止希特勒的最后机会就没有了。

11 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

12 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

13 flattens   

变平，使（某物）变平( flatten的第三人称单数 )； 彻底打败某人，使丢脸； 停止增长（或上升）； （把身体或身体部位）紧贴…

参考例句：

• After Oxford the countryside flattens out. 过了牛津以远乡村逐渐平坦。
• The graph flattens out gradually after a steep fall. 图表上的曲线突降之后逐渐趋于平稳。