2020年经济学人 一周要闻 特朗普给字节跳动设最后期限 特朗普封禁微信 英国推就餐补助

The world this week

世界国际要闻

Business

经济

Britain’s economy plunged¹ into recession in the second quarter, as GDP contracted by a record 20.4% compared with the previous three months. In the first half of 2020 the British economy was hit twice as hard as America’s and fared worse than Germany, Italy and France. There was a sliver² of positive news—growth picked up again in June. That will be of little comfort to those facing the end of furlough. Figures also showed a huge drop in the number of people in employment, and redundancies are at a seven-year high. The government’s job-retention scheme will soon start to wind down, though millions still depend on it.

英国经济在第二季度陷入衰退，国内生产总值与前三个月相比下降了创纪录的20.4%。2020年上半年，英国经济遭受的打击是美国的两倍，比德国、意大利和法国的情况更糟。好消息是——6月份经济增长再次回升。对于那些即将结束休假的人来说，并不会得到什么宽慰。数据还显示，就业人数大幅下降，裁员人数达到7年来的最高水平。政府的工作保留计划将很快结束，尽管仍有数百万人依赖这一计划。

Come dine with me

跟我一起用餐吧

The hospitality industry in Britain has been missing all those absent workers. A government scheme to help the industry by subsidising meals in restaurants, pubs and cafés during August was used by 10.5m diners in its first week. Each customer gets up to 10 pounds ($13) deducted³ from his meal on Mondays to Wednesdays; the restaurant claims the money back from the Treasury⁴.

英国酒店餐饮业的员工在流失。为了帮助餐饮业，政府推出了一项8月份在餐馆、酒吧和咖啡馆就餐的补贴计划，该计划在第一周就吸引了1050万的顾客用餐。周一至周三用餐，每人将优惠10英镑（13美元），餐饮店将向政府财政部提出补贴申请。

America’s unemployment rate fell again in July, to 10.2%. Employers created 1.8m jobs, fewer than the 4.8m that were added to the payrolls⁶ in June, when lockdowns eased.

美国的失业率在7月份再次下降到10.2%。雇主们创造了180万个工作岗位，少于6月份封锁措施放松时新增的480万个就业岗位。

With Democrats⁷ and Republicans at loggerheads over a new stimulus⁸ package, Donald Trump⁹ issued an executive order that, among other things, would reinstate the additional unemployment benefits that ceased in July (though at $400 a week rather than $600) and defer¹⁰ the collection of payroll⁵ taxes. The order’s intent may be to concentrate minds; the extra benefits depend on contributions from cash-strapped states.

由于民主党人和共和党人就一项新的刺激方案上争执不下，特朗普发布了一项行政命令，其中包括恢复7月份停止的额外失业福利（每周400美元，而不是600美元），并推迟征收工资税。该命令的目的可能是集中思路；额外失业福利取决于资金短缺的州的贡献程度。

Mr Trump also issued orders banning ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, from America within 45 days and a similar decree curtailing¹¹ American firms from doing business with WeChat. As with many of Mr Trump’s dictums, the legality of the president’s latest orders is questionable¹², though they undoubtedly¹³ create uncertainty¹⁴ for the companies involved. The share price of WeChat’s parent company, Tencent, was hammered following his pronouncement.

特朗普还下令，限TikTok的中国公司所有者字节跳动(ByteDance)45天后离开美国市场，并颁布了类似的法令，限制美国公司与微信开展业务。与特朗普的许多裁决一样，总统最新命令的合法性令人生疑，尽管该令无疑会给相关公司带来了不确定性。在他发表声明后，微信母公司腾讯的股价大幅下挫。

1 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

2 sliver   

n.裂片，细片，梳毛；v.纵切，切成长片，剖开

参考例句：

• There was only one sliver of light in the darkness.黑暗中只有一点零星的光亮。
• Then,one night,Monica saw a thin sliver of the moon reappear.之后的一天晚上，莫尼卡看到了一个月牙。

3 deducted   

v.扣除，减去( deduct的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The cost of your uniform will be deducted from your wages. 制服费将从你的工资中扣除。
• The cost of the breakages will be deducted from your pay. 损坏东西的费用将从你的工资中扣除。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

5 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

6 payrolls   

n.（公司员工的）工资名单( payroll的名词复数 )；（公司的）工资总支出，工薪总额

参考例句：

• Indices of employment, payrolls, and production steadied in February 1931931年2月，就业、工资额和生产指数稳定。 来自辞典例句
• Wall Street responded to the payrolls figures with gusto. 华尔街对就业数据作出了积极的反应。 来自互联网

7 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 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。

9 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。

10 defer   

vt.推迟，拖延；vi.(to)遵从，听从，服从

参考例句：

• We wish to defer our decision until next week.我们希望推迟到下星期再作出决定。
• We will defer to whatever the committee decides.我们遵从委员会作出的任何决定。

11 curtailing   

v.截断，缩短( curtail的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They will be curtailing the discussions at two thirty. 他们将把讨论缩短至两点半。 来自互联网
• Individually, banks are acting rationally by retaining their capital and curtailing lending. 此外，银行们正在合理地保留其资本和减少贷款。 来自互联网

12 questionable   

adj.可疑的，有问题的

参考例句：

• There are still a few questionable points in the case.这个案件还有几个疑点。
• Your argument is based on a set of questionable assumptions.你的论证建立在一套有问题的假设上。

13 undoubtedly   

adv.确实地，无疑地

参考例句：

• It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
• He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。

14 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。