经济学人:埃塞俄比亚的商品交易所:高科技,低影响(1)

 　　Finance and Economics

　　财经

　　The Ethiopia’s Commodity Exchange: High-tech¹, low impact

　　埃塞俄比亚的商品交易所：高科技，低影响

　　A state-of-the-art commodity exchange struggles with the basics.

　　该国最先进的商品交易所仍在基础层面挣扎前行。

　　ON THE walls of the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) in Addis Ababa, the capital, hang glossy² black-and-white photographs of provincial³ market towns and rustic⁴ life.

　　在亚的斯亚贝巴（埃塞俄比亚首都）埃塞俄比亚商品交易所的墙上，悬挂着平滑的地方城镇集市和乡村生活的黑白相片。

　　For the merchants and brokers⁵ striding across its high-tech trading floor they serve as a reminder⁶ that the ECX, sub-Saharan Africa’s most modern commodity exchange outside Johannesburg, exists for a simple, practical purpose: to transform Ethiopian agriculture.

　　商人和经纪人快步走过高科技的交易大厅，他们令人意识到商品交易所（亚撒哈拉地区除约翰内斯堡外现代化程度最高的商品交易市场）的存在是为了一个简单而实际的目的，即让埃塞俄比亚的农业转型。

　　埃塞俄比亚商品1.jpeg

　　It has some way to go.

　　它仍有一些路要走。

　　By connecting smallholder farmers to global markets, the exchange, launched with a fanfare⁷ in 2008, was supposed to help reduce hunger.

　　在2008年，交易所高调宣告将小农与全球市场连接起来，期望可以帮助减少饥荒。

　　The hope was it would reduce price volatility⁸ and incentivise farmers to plant crops.

　　也希望可以帮助减少价格波动和鼓励农民种庄稼。

　　But staple⁹ foods such as haricot beans today account for less than 10% of its trade.

　　但主要农产品比如扁豆如今却占了不到10%的贸易。

　　Its annual turnover¹⁰—worth about $1bn—is dominated instead by two export crops, coffee and sesame seeds.

　　它的年营业额—大约价值10亿美元—是由占主导地位的咖啡豆和芝麻带来的。

　　In 2015, despite a dire¹¹ drought, Ethiopia did avoid famine, but the ECX played little role: its maize¹² and wheat contracts had lapsed¹³ by then because of concerns that exports would jeopardise domestic food supplies.

　　2015年，尽管出现了干旱，埃塞俄比亚也避免了饥荒，但交易所几乎没有起到作用：由于担心粮食出口会危及国内粮食供应使得玉米和小麦的合约在那时已经失效。

　　Cutting out middlemen seems not to have done much for smallholders: studies suggest that the share of international prices received by coffee farmers has barely budged¹⁴ over the past decade.

　　减少中间商似乎并没有给小农带来太多（帮助）：研究表明，国际咖啡价格中咖啡农的分成在过去十年几乎没有变动。

　　Exporters complain about government price-meddling.

　　出口商抱怨政府干预价格。

　　The ECX’s founder¹⁵, Eleni Gabre-Madhin, who left the exchange in 2012, worries that momentum¹⁶ has been lost.

　　这个交易所的创始人，Eleni Gabre-Madhin，在2012年离开了交易所，她担心势头已经过了。

　　The exchange remains¹⁷ restricted to simple spot-trading.

　　交易所仍局限于简单的现货交易。

　　Futures¹⁸ contracts, which help traders manage price fluctuations¹⁹, were supposed to be introduced within five years, but are still some way off.

　　可以帮助交易商避免价格波动的期货合约，应该会在五年内引入，但仍有一定的距离。

　　1.serve as 担任；充当

　　例句:He volunteered to serve as the manager of our department store.

　　他自荐当我们商场的经理。

　　2.Cut out 切断；删去

　　例句:He will have his work cut out to get into the team.

　　他要进入该队困难重重。

　　3.sesame seed 芝麻

　　例句:Sesame seed is eatable and can be used as oil plants.

　　芝麻既可食用又可作为油料。

　　4.account for 对...负责人；对...作出解释

　　例句:How do you account for the company's alarmingly high staff turnover?

　　你怎么解释这家公司高得令人忧虑的人员流动率？

1 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

2 glossy   

adj.平滑的；有光泽的

参考例句：

• I like these glossy spots.我喜欢这些闪闪发光的花点。
• She had glossy black hair.她长着乌黑发亮的头发。

3 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

4 rustic   

adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬

参考例句：

• It was nearly seven months of leisurely rustic living before Michael felt real boredom.这种悠闲的乡村生活过了差不多七个月之后,迈克尔开始感到烦闷。
• We hoped the fresh air and rustic atmosphere would help him adjust.我们希望新鲜的空气和乡村的氛围能帮他调整自己。

5 brokers   

n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• The firm in question was Alsbery & Co., whiskey brokers. 那家公司叫阿尔斯伯里公司，经销威士忌。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• From time to time a telephone would ring in the brokers' offices. 那两排经纪人房间里不时响着叮令的电话。 来自子夜部分

6 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

7 fanfare   

n.喇叭；号角之声；v.热闹地宣布

参考例句：

• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide.这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King.嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。

8 volatility   

n.挥发性，挥发度，轻快，（性格）反复无常

参考例句：

• That was one reason why volatility was so low last year.这也是去年波动性如此低的原因之一。
• Yet because volatility remained low for so long,disaster myopia prevailed.然而，由于相当长的时间里波动性小，灾难短视就获胜了。

9 staple   

n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类

参考例句：

• Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
• Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。

10 turnover   

n.人员流动率，人事变动率；营业额，成交量

参考例句：

• The store greatly reduced the prices to make a quick turnover.这家商店实行大减价以迅速周转资金。
• Our turnover actually increased last year.去年我们的营业额竟然增加了。

11 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

12 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

13 lapsed   

adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He had lapsed into unconsciousness. 他陷入了昏迷状态。
• He soon lapsed into his previous bad habits. 他很快陷入以前的恶习中去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 budged   

v.（使）稍微移动( budge的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）改变主意，（使）让步

参考例句：

• Old Bosc had never budged an inch--he was totally indifferent. 老包斯克一直连动也没有动，他全然无所谓。 来自辞典例句
• Nobody budged you an inch. 别人一丁点儿都算计不了你。 来自辞典例句

15 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

16 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

17 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

18 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

19 fluctuations   

波动，涨落，起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table. 他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• There were so many unpredictable fluctuations on the Stock Exchange. 股票市场瞬息万变。