2021年经济学人 乔·拜登提名杰罗姆·鲍威尔连任美联储主席

The world this week -- Business

本周国际要闻——商业

Joe Biden nominated Jerome Powell for a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

乔·拜登提名杰罗姆·鲍威尔连任美联储主席。

Left-wing Democrats¹ had sought to boot Mr Powell out of the job; Elizabeth Warren, a fiery² senator, had described him as “a dangerous man” because of his past support for financial deregulation.

左翼民主党人曾试图将鲍威尔赶下台；脾气暴躁的参议员伊丽莎白·沃伦曾将他描述为“一个危险的人”，因为他过去曾支持放松金融管制。

Their preferred candidate for the top job at the central bank, Lael Brainard, was promoted to vice-chairwoman.

他们青睐的央行最高职位候选人莱尔·布雷纳德被提升为副主席。

That could produce some differences of opinion on bank regulation and Fed polices focused on climate change; Ms Brainard wants more of both.

这可能会在银行监管和专注气候变化方面的美联储政策上产生一些不同意见；布雷纳德想要两者兼得。

America’s prices were 5% higher in October than they were a year earlier, according to the personal consumption expenditures³ index, which the Fed uses to measure inflation.

根据美联储用来衡量通货膨胀的个人消费支出指数，美国10月份的物价比去年同期上涨了5%。

Excluding food and energy, prices rose by 4.1%, still more than double the Fed’s long-run inflation target of 2%.

食品和能源不算在内，物价上涨了4.1%，仍然是美联储2%长期通胀目标的两倍多。

Both measures were higher than they were in September; neither has been so high at any point in the past three decades.

这两个指标都高于9月份的水平；在过去30年中的任何时候，这两个指标都没有这么高过。

New Zealand’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, to 0.75%.

新西兰央行将基准利率上调0.25个百分点，至0.75%。

It was the second increase in as many months, with predictions of more to come amid a buoyant economy and rocketing housing market.

这是两个月来的第二次加息，在经济繁荣和房地产市场飙升的背景下，预计还会有更多加息。

Under pressure over soaring petrol prices, the White House announced that it would intervene in oil markets by releasing 50m barrels from America’s strategic oil reserve in the hope that the additional supply will cause prices to drop.

在油价飙升的压力下，白宫宣布将从美国战略石油储备中释放5000万桶石油，对石油市场进行干预，希望额外的供应能够使油价下跌。

In a co-ordinated effort, Britain, India, Japan and South Korea are also releasing oil and China “may do more as well”.

在协同努力下，英国、印度、日本和韩国也在释放石油，中国“也可能会释放更多石油”。

Some questioned whether America’s extra 50m barrels, equivalent to less than three days of American oil consumption, were enough.

一些人质疑美国额外释放的5000万桶石油是否足够，这相当于不足三天的美国石油消耗。

KKR, a private-equity firm, made a bid worth 33bn euroes ($37bn) for Telecom Italia, in what could be Europe’s biggest-ever buy-out.

私募股权公司KKR出价330亿欧元（370亿美元）收购意大利电信，这可能是欧洲有史以来最大的一笔收购。

Italy’s legacy⁴ telecoms firm is crippled by debt, hampering⁵ efforts to expand broadband in the country.

意大利的传统电信公司因债务而陷入瘫痪，这阻碍了它在该国扩展宽带的努力。

If the board agrees to a takeover, the government will then decide whether it is in the national interest and should be allowed to go ahead.

如果董事会同意收购，政府随后将决定这是否符合国家利益，以及收购是否应被允许进行。

The Turkish lira plunged⁶ again against the dollar, euro and other currencies, before recovering somewhat.

土耳其里拉对美元、欧元和其他货币价格再次骤跌，随后有所回升。

The latest run on the currency is the worst in decades, taking its loss for the year so far to 40%.

最近的一次货币贬值是几十年来最严重的，使其今年迄今的跌幅达到40%。

The rout⁷ intensified⁸ when Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, defended interest-rate cuts despite the fact that inflation is running near 20%.

土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安不顾通货膨胀已接近20%的事实，为降息辩护，这加剧了土耳其的溃退。

Mr Erdogan has piled pressure on the nominally⁹ independent central bank to cut rates—it has taken four percentage points off its main rate since September—even though monetary¹⁰ policy is tightening¹¹ around the world.

埃尔多安向名义上独立的中央银行施加压力，要求其降息——自9月以来，中央银行已将主要利率下调4个百分点——尽管全球货币政策都在收紧。

1 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》

2 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

3 expenditures   

n.花费( expenditure的名词复数 )；使用；（尤指金钱的）支出额；（精力、时间、材料等的）耗费

参考例句：

• We have overspent.We'll have to let up our expenditures next month. 我们已经超支了，下个月一定得节约开支。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The pension includes an allowance of fifty pounds for traffic expenditures. 年金中包括50镑交通费补贴。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

5 hampering   

妨碍，束缚，限制( hamper的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• So fraud on cows and development aid is seriously hampering growth. 因此在牛问题上和发展补助上的诈骗严重阻碍了发展。
• Short-termism, carbon-trading, disputing the science-are hampering the implementation of direct economically-led objectives. 短效主义，出售二氧化碳，进行科学辩论，这些都不利于实现以经济为主导的直接目标。

6 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。

7 rout   

n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮

参考例句：

• The enemy was put to rout all along the line.敌人已全线崩溃。
• The people's army put all to rout wherever they went.人民军队所向披靡。

8 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 nominally   

在名义上，表面地； 应名儿

参考例句：

• Dad, nominally a Methodist, entered Churches only for weddings and funerals. 爸名义上是卫理公会教徒，可只去教堂参加婚礼和葬礼。
• The company could not indicate a person even nominally responsible for staff training. 该公司甚至不能指出一个名义上负责职员培训的人。

10 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

11 tightening   

上紧，固定，紧密

参考例句：

• Make sure the washer is firmly seated before tightening the pipe. 旋紧水管之前，检查一下洗衣机是否已牢牢地固定在底座上了。
• It needs tightening up a little. 它还需要再收紧些。