2020年经济学人 一周要闻 惠普总部搬至得州 英两大零售巨头倒闭 埃克森美孚被"踢出"道指

ExxonMobil wrote down $20bn-worth of assets in natural gas. The energy company was the world’s biggest by market capitalisation seven years ago. It has yet to report a profit this year and was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average in August.

埃克森美孚(ExxonMobil)减记了价值200亿美元的天然气资产。七年前，这家能源公司是全球市值最大的公司。该公司今年迄今尚未公布盈利，并于8月份被道琼斯工业平均指数扫地出门。

Turkey’s economy grew by 15.6% in the third quarter over the previous three months, and by 6.7% compared with the same quarter last year. The spurt¹ in growth was fuelled by government-backed credit. However, with exports falling, a widening current-account deficit² could spell more trouble for the lira.

土耳其第三季度的经济较前三个月增长了15.6%，较去年同期增长了6.7%。由政府支持的信贷推动了经济的迅猛增长。然而，随着出口下降，不断扩大的经常账户赤字可能会给里拉带来更多麻烦。

India’s economy is still struggling, contractingby 7.5% in the three months ending September, year on year. Still, that was an improvement on the previous quarter, when GDP shrank by 24%.

印度经济仍在苦苦挣扎，截至9月份的三个月里，经济同比收缩了7.5%。尽管如此，与上一季度GDP缩水24%相比，已经是有所改善了。

The OECD’s latest outlook forecast that global GDP will return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of next year, if outbreaks of COVID-19 are under control and vaccines³ are widely available. It forecasts the world economy will grow by around 4% in both 2021 and 2022. The recovery will be uneven⁴, however. China and other non-oecd countries will chalk up faster growth rates than developed ones.

经合组织最新的展望报告预测，如果新冠肺炎疫情得到控制，疫苗得到广泛供应，全球GDP将在明年年底恢复到疫情爆发前的水平。该报告预测，2021年和2022年世界经济将增长4%左右。然而，经济复苏将出现不平衡。中国和其他非经合组织国家的增长率将高于发达国家。

In Britain, the pandemic pushed more long-struggling retailers⁵ to the wall. Arcadia, which owns a string of high-street clothing brands, such as Topshop and Burton, fell into administration. That led the firm behind a potential rescue of Debenhams to pull out of its deal; the department-store chain now faces liquidation⁶. The collapse⁷ of both retailers puts 25,000 jobs at risk.

在英国，疫情导致更多长期挣扎的零售商面临绝境。阿卡迪亚（Arcadia）拥有一系列商业街服装品牌，如Topshop和Burton，该公司已被纳入接管。这导致这家原本可能挽救Debenhams的公司退出了交易；这家百货连锁店现在面临清算。两家零售商的倒闭使2.5万个工作岗位岌岌可危。

Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which provides computer servers and IT services, decided⁸ to move its headquarters from Silicon⁹ Valley to Houston. In 2015 HPE split from the pc-and-printer business that was Hewlett Packard, a computing¹⁰ pioneer born in Silicon Valley and often synonymous with the famous tech cluster. HP computers is still based there, though the region’s high living costs and terrible traffic have made Texas a tempting¹¹ location for many tech companies.

提供计算机服务器和IT服务的惠普企业(Hewlett Packard Enterprise)决定将总部从硅谷迁至休斯顿。2015年，惠普企业从个人计算机和打印机业务中独立出来。惠普是诞生于硅谷的计算机先驱，通常是著名科技集群的代名词。尽管加州的高物价和糟糕的交通状况迫使许多科技公司搬往得州，但惠普电脑公司仍将保留旧园区。

1 spurt   

v.喷出；突然进发；突然兴隆

参考例句：

• He put in a spurt at the beginning of the eighth lap.他进入第八圈时便开始冲刺。
• After a silence, Molly let her anger spurt out.沉默了一会儿，莫莉的怒气便迸发了出来。

2 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

3 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

4 uneven   

adj.不平坦的，不规则的，不均匀的

参考例句：

• The sidewalk is very uneven—be careful where you walk.这人行道凹凸不平—走路时请小心。
• The country was noted for its uneven distribution of land resources.这个国家以土地资源分布不均匀出名。

5 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

6 liquidation   

n.清算，停止营业

参考例句：

• The bankrupt company went into liquidation.这家破产公司停业清盘。
• He lost all he possessed when his company was put into liquidation.当公司被清算结业时他失去了拥有的一切。

7 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。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

10 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

11 tempting   

a.诱人的, 吸引人的

参考例句：

• It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
• It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。