作者：何姗,兰昌勤等
出版社：石油工业出版社
格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT
商务英语时文鲜读试读：
前言
能阅读并理解地道的英语时文是一名成功的英语学习者应该具备的能力之一。我们编写这本《商务英语时文鲜读》的初衷就是给学习者提供语言地道、内容新颖、信息量大的英语时文，并辅以详尽的讲解、充分的练习和准确的译文，使读者在了解和掌握文章相关主题内容的同时，学习英语语言知识、提高英语阅读能力。
本书所选文章语言地道，具有很强的时效性，大部分选自《中国日报》、《人民日报》、《时代周刊》、《华盛顿邮报》、《经济学人》、《泰晤士报》等中外报刊杂志2007-2010年的最新时文，内容涉及国际贸易、市场营销、电子商务、投资、证券、房市、保险、广告、全球金融危机、国际石油价格、北京奥运与中国经济、汶川地震重建、中国减持美元国债及人民币升值等近年热点话题。全书共13个单元，每单元包括TextA、TextB和TextC。其中TextA和TextB均配有生词表、注释和针对性练习，使读者能够掌握商务报刊文章的特点，提高阅读能力，同时了解国际商务知识；TextC为课外自读课文，生词和难词以括号的形式在文中给出汉语释义。本书配有练习答案、TextA和TextB的全文中文译文，方便读者学习。
本书适合作为经贸相关专业大学本科生及研究生英语阅读教材使用，也可用于大学英语较高阶段语言技能选修课程、英语专业双学士学位报刊阅读课程，还可供商务英语证书考试及考研备考阅读训练使用。同时，本书还可供广大英语爱好者自学及从事国际商务经贸工作的人员参考使用。
由于编者水平有限，书中难免存在错误和不足，望同行及读者不吝指正。编 者Unit 1Text A The Great American Slowdown
The recession may not be as severe as many fear, but the recovery could take longer—and that is dangerous
Americans are unaccustomed to recessions, particularly ones that involve shopping less. During the past quarter-century, the world′s most powerful economy has suffered only two official downturns, in 1990-91 and 2001. Both were short and shallow. In 2001 consumer spending barely skipped a beat; a decade earlier it fell, but only briefly. Supported by rising asset prices and financial innovations that allowed ever more people to tap ever more debt, the collective American wallet has not snapped shut in almost two decades.
That may be about to change. Evidence is mounting that the economy has slipped into recession—and this time consumer weakness is obvious. American shoppers are being affected by four things: the housing bust, the credit crisis, higher fuel and food costs and, most recently, a weaken-ing labour market. The unemployment rate rose to 5.1% in March, while the private sector lost jobs for the fourth month in a row. Feeling poorer and with fewer people prepared to lend them money, consumers are cutting back: witness the slump in car sales. And seeing that consumer spending accounts for 70% of American demand, that hurts, especially when it is coupled with a collapse in the once mighty construction industry. The IMF now officially predicts an American recession in 2008; many at the Federal Reserve think output is contracting.Shallow but lengthy: you could do a lot worse
There are two big questions about this downturn for America and the world: how long? And how deep? On the second count, there is room for cautious optimism: although American recess-ions have usually sent the world economy into despair, this time the slowdown need not be so severe—especially for the emerging world. The economic tests instead may come from the length of this downturn: an America that stays sluggish for several years could cause all sorts of problems.
That is not to imply that a severe global slowdown is out of the question. The IMF reckons that there is a 25% chance of the world economy growing by less than 3% in 2008 and 2009, the equivalent of recession, in its view. The origins of this crisis lie in the biggest asset bubble in hist-ory; financial markets have already suffered arguably their biggest shock for 80 years; and America is not the only developed economy suffering (Britain′s housing market, for instance, is showing the same symptoms as America′s). But so far at least there is little evidence that the world economy is falling off a cliff.
The pace of job losses in America has been mild compared with previous downturns, and there are a couple of reasons to suppose it will stay that way. The first is the activism of American policymakers. Congress started throwing money at the problem early, and a second fiscal stimulus is already being discussed (alongside a drop for the housing market). The Fed has slashed interest rates, promised more cuts if the economy stays weak and—perhaps most important—sharply reduced the odds of financial-market catastrophe by extending its safety net to investment banks.
The second is the changing structure of the world economy. The dynamism and resilience of emerging markets mean that America does not matter as much as it once did. The IMF expects global growth to fall from 4.9% in 2007 to 3.7% this year—hardly fatal. Moreover, these foreigners can now do a bit to alleviate the blow for Americans: already global demand, coupled with a weak dollar, is boosting American exports. Meanwhile, some losses from America′s housing bust have been borne abroad, although not without pain.
With these props, America can avoid a deep slump, but don′t expect a vigorous recovery. Spending will be supported by tax cuts in the second half of the year, but the hangover from the housing collapse will linger much longer. Judging by the experience of other rich countries that have suffered financial crises made by housing collapse, such as Sweden and Norway in the early 1990s, weak balance sheets will weigh on consumers′ spending for years rather than months. The 2008 recession may be mild, but the 2009 recovery will be feeble.Beware the slithering snail
If the world economy′s biggest problem turns out to be America remaining snail-like for longer than most people expect, many will breathe a sigh of relief. Given the scale of the financial mess, it could be a lot worse. You can even argue that after five years of breakneck growth, a steadier global expansion would be no bad thing: it would reduce inflationary pressures in the emerging world, and weaker domestic demand should shrink America′s gaping external deficit—already down from above 6% of GDP to below 5%.
But that is about as far as optimism can take you. The main fear is that the rest of the world proves less resilient than now seems likely: commodity exporters, say, may rely on American demand less than they did, but are hardly cut off from it. The weak dollar also causes problems. Importing America′s loose monetary policy will become harder to sustain for countries, such as the Gulf States, that peg their currencies to the greenback. They will need to let their exchange rates rise.
Politics too can do plenty of damage. A sluggish America next year will be a hard inheritance for the next president. With the budget deficit rising, big domestic reforms, such as expanding health-care coverage, will become more difficult; with a fragile economy, the Democrats, if they get in, may have to rethink their plan to roll back George Bush′s tax cuts. The great American slowdown may be less calamitous than many people fear; but it is full of dangers.
http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11016333Notes
1. IMF (International Monetary Fund 国际货币基金组织): 政府间国际金融组织，职责是通过监察货币汇率和各国贸易情况，以及提供技术和资金协助，确保全球金融制度运作正常。1945年12月27日正式成立，总部设在华盛顿。
2. the Federal Reserve (The Federal Reserve System) :美国联邦储备系统，简称美联储，是美国的中央银行。美国联邦储备系统由位于华盛顿特区的中央管理委员会和12家分布全国各主要城市的地区性的联邦储备银行组成。美联储的主要任务是：管理及规范银行业；通过买入及售出美国国债来执行货币政策；维持一个坚挺的支付系统；美联储不能发行美国国债。Vocabulary
recession 衰退, 不景气
accustom 使习惯
downturn 低迷时期
shallow 短暂的，轻微的
not skip a beat 没有停止
innovation 改革, 创新
snap 砰地关上(打开)
mount 增加，上升
collapse 倒塌, 崩溃
mighty 强大的, 有力的
predict 预计，估计
contract 缩小，紧缩
optimism 乐观
sluggish 经济不景气，萧条的
equivalent 等价物（的）, 相等物（的）
reckon 估计, 断定
activism 积极精神，能动性
fiscal 财政的
stimulus 刺激
slash 大量削减
odds 可能的机会
catastrophe 大灾难, 大祸
dynamism 精力, 活力
resilience 恢复能力
emerging 新兴的
fatal 致命的, 重大的，毁灭性的
alleviate 减轻(痛苦等), 缓和 (情绪)
boost 推进，加强，促进
prop 支撑，支持
slump 大幅下跌，萧条，衰退
vigorous 有力的, 强健的
hangover 残留(影响)
feeble 虚弱的, 无力的
slither 慢慢地滑动的
breakneck 快速的，高速的（增长）
shrink 收缩, （使）皱缩, 缩短
commodity 商品
monetary 货币的，金钱的
sustain 维持，保持，持续
peg 钉住汇率（将本国货币按一个固定比率同一种外币或金价挂钩）
greenback 美钞
inheritance 遗留物，遗产，继承物
fragile 脆弱的, 虚弱的Exercises
Ⅰ. Comprehension: Answer the following questions briefly.
1. Why did not American consumer spending fall severely in the past twenty years?
2. What make consumers cut back on shopping now?
3. What have American policymakers done to solve the problem of job losses?
4. Why will many breathe a sigh of relief according to the text?
5. Why will the sluggish America be a hard inheritance for the next president?
Ⅱ. Vocabulary: Use the following words to complete the sentences. Change the form if necessary.
accustom,recession,collapse,predict,alleviate,optimism,reckon,equivalent,shrink,fragile
1. Most of the casualties were caused by landslides and buildings.
2. Shakespeare has us to a mixture of humor and tragedy in the same play.
3. By mid-1988 there were clear indications of the extreme of the Right-wing coalition.
4. He was unwilling to make a about which team would win in the coming year.
5. The country is sliding into the depths of a deep economic .
6. We want to help offer special loans to poverty among the disabled.
7. We that sitting in traffic jams costs us around 9 billion a year in lost output.
8. Bankers are cautiously about the country′s economic future.
9. Due to the spreading disease, the number of students of this school has .
10. I had no dollars, but offered him an amount of sterling.
Ⅲ. Translation:
Section A: Translate the following phrases into Chinese.
1.official downturn
2.housing bust
3.asset price
4.labour market
5.unemployment rate
6.private sector
7.construction industry
8.asset bubble
9.financial market
10.fiscal stimulus
11.tax cuts
12.balance sheet
13.inflationary pressure
14.external deficit
15.monetary policy
Section B:Translate the following sentences into Chinese.
1.Supported by rising asset prices and financial innovations that allowed ever more people to tap ever more debt, the collective American wallet has not snapped shut in almost two decades.
2.On the second count, there is room for cautious optimism: although American recessions have usually sent the world economy into despair, this time the slowdown need not be so severe—especially for the emerging world.
3.The Fed has slashed interest rates, promised more cuts if the economy stays weak and—perhaps most important—sharply reduced the odds of financial-market catastrophe by extending its safety net to investment banks.
4.If the world economy′s biggest problem turns out to be America remaining snail-like for longer than most people expect, many will breathe a sigh of relief.
5.Importing America′s loose monetary policy will become harder to sustain for countries, such as the Gulf States, that peg their currencies to the greenback.Text B Inflation EverywhereBy Daniel Gross
Globalization used to drive down prices. Not anymore.
The conventional wisdom on inflation can turn on a nickel—and on copper, zinc, and gold. Trading data from the New York Mercantile Exchange and the Markets section of the Financial Times record the continuous rise in commodity prices. Copper (more than ＄7,000 a ton), nickel (＄20,000 a ton), and zinc (＄3,385 a ton) have all recently hit record prices. Gold is above 600, while oil trades hands for ＄72 a barrel. Rates on the 10-year U.S. government bond have spiked above 5.10 percent, hitting levels not seen since 2002, largely because of fears that inflation is picking up. And it is. The consumer price index rose at a 4.3 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2006, compared with 3.4 percent for all of 2005.
Ironically, one of the chief causes of today′s inflation—and today′s fear of inflation—is the same source that has kept inflation low for much of the last two decades: globalization.
It′s long been an article of faith among economists that the increasing integration of national economies contributed heavily to the global decline in inflation. As then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan noted in this May 2004 speech, globalization affords Americans access to goods and services that are produced more cheaply abroad in places where large labor forces work for less money (e.g., China and India). Charles Fishman reported in Fast Company that Wal-Mart—one of the biggest single contributors to American productivity growth in the 1990s—in 2002 accounted for "nearly 10% of all Chinese exports to the United States." Globalization also allows domestic companies to hold down labor costs—via outsourcing, or via the threat of outsourcing.
In addition, globalization forced the world′s central bankers to raise their game to ensure that their countries can attract capital and investment. In a recent study, economists Richard Fisher and W. Michael Cox of the Dallas Federal Reserve found that "the more globalized nations tend to pursue policies that achieve faster economic growth, lower inflation, higher incomes and greater economic freedom."
But now globalization′s deflationary run may be declining. In its "World Economic Outlook," released earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund displays charts that clearly show how inflation has generally declined around the globe in the last two decades—although the charts conveniently end in 2004, when inflation began to rise again. But as in investing, the past is not necessarily a guide to future performance when it comes to macroeconomics. The migration of U.S. manufacturing to China in the 1990s surely played an important role in moderating inflat-ion. But that can′t be repeated. Once a factory is in China, its managers will have difficultly finding a place where labor costs one-fifth as much. And, indeed, there are signs that wages for skilled factory workers in China are on the rise. Meanwhile, the service sector, which dominates the U.S. economy, will likely have difficulty realizing the same type of productivity gains as manufacturing has thanks to globalization.
Then there′s the matter of timing. In the early part of this decade, the global economy was in a deflationary post-bubble environment, characterized by excess capacity. Since then, however, we′ve had four straight years of global synchronous growth. So, there are no weak markets to keep import prices down.
There′s another risk to inflation: the recent commodity boom, propelled by the rise of emerging economies. Globalization doesn′t just mean that American companies gain access to cheap labor in the developing world, or that the cheap labor in those markets gains access to our rich markets. It means that people living in those places gain access to the infrastructure and products and services that we take for granted—like McDonald′s or Chevrolets. China is one of the few bright spots for General Motors—last week the company reported that vehicle sales in China were up 76 percent in the most recent quarter. In the coming years, car sales in China and India are likely to continue to grow rapidly.
Such growth is boosting demand (and prices) for steel, as well for rubber and other car components. But it′s also boosting demand for gas—and raising concerns about the world′s oil supplies. As Shai Oster noted in the Wall Street Journal, China is already the "second-biggest oil consumer after the U.S.," gulping about 7 million barrels per day. (The United States uses about 21 million barrels per day.) This forecast from the Energy Information Administration suggests that Chinese oil consumption will double in a dozen years.
In other words, the rise of a massive consuming class in China and, to a lesser degree, India, is making gas more expensive for everyone. A look at the most recent CPI report reveals that inflation is concentrated in energy. But when energy costs remain increased for long periods of time, the higher costs start to spill over into other sectors. The cost of transportation has risen 5.1 percent in the last 12 months. And if the fuel surcharges tacked on in recent weeks by my garbage collection and lawn-care companies are any guide, the high cost of oil is being passed on.
Globalization means people all over the globe have a greater ability to share common experiences, whether it′s watching the World Cup, buying lattes at Starbucks, or wearing clothes made in China. It may soon mean that we all have the ability to share the common experience of inflation.
http://www.slate.com/id/2140617/Notes
1. the New York Mercantile Exchange: 纽约商业交易所，简称NYMEX，又称纽约商品期货交易所，成立于1882年，是全球最大规模的商品期货交易场所，为能源和金属提供期货和期权交易，其中以能源产品和金属为主，产生的价格是全球市场上的基准价格。
2. the Financial Times: 英国《金融时报》，简称FT，是一份国际性大开型报章，公信力享誉全球，是英国金融资本的晴雨表。
3. the consumer price index: 消费者物价指数，简称CPI，是反映与居民生活有关的产品及劳务价格统计出来的物价变动指标，通常作为观察通货膨胀水平的重要指标。它可以用于分析市场价格的基本动态，是政府制定物价政策和工资政策的重要依据。
4. Alan Greenspan: 艾伦·格林斯潘, 美国著名经济学家, 1926年3月6日生于纽约市，1977年获经济学博士学位，1987年8月被里根总统任命为联邦储备委员会主席，之后五次续任联储局局长。
5. Wal Mart: 沃尔玛公司, 美国人山姆·沃尔顿1962年成立，目前世界上最大的连锁零售企业。
6. Chevrolets: 美国雪佛兰牌汽车，亦作雪佛莱或雪福兰，美国雪佛兰汽车公司是由美国人威廉·杜兰特与瑞士赛车手、工程师路易斯·雪佛兰于1911年在美国底特律创立。
7. General Motors: 美国通用汽车公司，是全球最大的汽车制造公司，其核心汽车业务及子公司遍及全球。通用汽车公司是由威廉·杜兰特于1908年9月在别克汽车公司的基础上发展起来的，成立于美国的汽车城底特律。现总部仍设在底特律。
8. the Wall Street Journal: 《华尔街日报》，道琼斯公司的旗舰报纸，该报连同各种语言的专版在全球发行量超过1200万份，是全球最具影响的财经报纸。
9. the Energy Information Administration: 美国能源信息管理局，是美国能源部独立的统计和分析机构。
10. Starbucks: 星巴克，美国一家连锁咖啡零售公司，1971年成立，为全球最大的咖啡连锁店，其总部坐落美国华盛顿州西雅图市。Vocabulary
conventional wisdom 传统观点/观念
nickel 镍
copper 铜
zinc 锌
government bond 政府债券
spike 高涨 激增
ironically 讽刺地
integration 一体化，整合
outsourcing 外购
deflationary 通货紧缩
chart 图表
macroeconomics 宏观经济学
migration 移往, 移动
moderate 缓和
dominate 主宰，主导
timing 时机
excess capacity 产能过剩
synchronous 同时的
propel 推动
infrastructure 基础设施
massive 巨大的，庞大的
fuel surcharge 燃油附加费
tack 附加Exercises
Ⅰ. Comprehension: Answer the following questions briefly.
1. What are the reflections of inflation according to trading data from the New York Mercantile Exchange and the Financial Times?
2. How did globalization contribute to the global decline in inflation?
3. Why cannot the migration of U.S. manufacturing to China moderate inflation any more?
4. What does the author want to explain by citing the example of General Motors?
5. Why is the gas price soaring?
Ⅱ. Translation: Translate the following paragraph into Chinese.
In other words, the rise of a massive consuming class in China and, to a lesser degree, India, is making gas more expensive for everyone. A look at the most recent CPI report reveals that inflation is concentrated in energy. But when energy costs remain increased for long periods of time, the higher costs start to spill over into other sectors. The cost of transportation has risen 5.1 percent in the last 12 months. And if the fuel surcharges tacked on in recent weeks by my garbage collection and lawn-care companies are any guide, the high cost of oil is being passed on.Text C Viewpoint: Anatomy of a MeltdownBy Stephen Roach
A year ago, there was barely an inkling of what was about to happen in the global economy and world financial markets. There were some early warning signs that all was not well in the subprime sector of the U.S. mortgage market. But as was the case in early 2000 at the end of the dotcom bubble, when few thought a crash in Internet stocks could cause widespread economic pain, problems within the subprime sector were widely judged to be of little consequence for the big picture. Most felt that the global boom of the preceding four years was very much intact.
Alas, another postbubble business cycle has turned. Annual global GDP growth, which averaged close to 5% from 2004 through 2007 — the strongest four consecutive years of growth since the early 1970s — now seems headed back down into the 3.5% range. While hardly a disaster, there can be no mistaking the abrupt downshift now at hand.A Crippled U.S. Consumer
The interplay between financial markets and the real economy holds the key to the global outlook over the next few years. Much depends upon how events unfold in three distinct phases of the adjustment process:
The credit crisis. Sparked by the subprime meltdown in the summer of 2007, an unprecedented financial contagion has broken out. It is more lethal than the cross-border contagion of the Asian crisis 10 years ago because, while toxic financial products were made in America, they were distributed to investors around the world — so the current affliction includes both cross-product and cross-border viruses. U.S. financial institutions generally have been quick to mark down the value of distressed securities, suggesting that the process of digesting all of the bad debt is about 65% complete. However, as underscored by the recent shakeouts at Lehman Bros. (美国雷曼兄弟公司，美国第四大投资银行，北京时间2008年9月15日宣布申请破产) and Merrill Lynch (美林集团，世界最著名的证券零售商和投资银行之一，总部
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