2023年经济学人 美国汽车业大罢工赢得涨薪25%

 

美国汽车业大罢工赢得涨薪25%

The world this week--Business

本周国际要闻--商业

The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate on hold again, at a range of between 5.25% and 5.5%. 美联储再次将基准利率维持在5.25%至5.5%的区间内。

Inflation has slowed, but uncertainty¹ remains² over the sell-off in the bond market, the oil price and the tight labour market. 通货膨胀已经放缓，但石油价格、债券市场的抛售和紧缺的劳动力市场仍存在不确定性。

The central bank left the door open to a rate rise at its next meeting in December.

美联储为12月下次会议的加息敞开了大门。

America’s stockmarkets all lost ground in October, the third consecutive³ month of declines and the longest losing streak⁴ since the start of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020. 美国股市在10月份全部下跌，这是连续第三个月下跌，也是自2020年新冠肺炎疫情爆发以来持续时间最长的一次下跌。

The S&P 500 slid by 2.2% during the month, the NASDAQ composite by 2.8% and the Dow Jones industrial average by 1.4%. 标准普尔500指数本月下跌2.2%，纳斯达克综合指数下跌2.8%，道琼斯工业平均指数下跌1.4%。

Investors⁵ are adapting to a world of higher interest rates, which reduce the present value of future earnings⁶.

投资者正在适应一个利率上升的世界，利率上升会降低未来收益的现值。

The Bank of Japan relaxed its policy of capping long-term interest rates for the second time in three months. 日本央行在三个月内第二次放松了长期利率上限政策。

It will now allow the yield on ten-year Japanese government bonds to rise above 1%, treating this level as “a reference” rather than a strict ceiling. 日本央行现将允许十年期日本政府债券的收益率上调到1%以上，将这一水平作为“参考”，而不是严格的上限。

Ueda Kazuo, the bank’s governor, attributed the decision to the sharp rise in American Treasury⁷ yields. 日本央行行长植田和男将这一决定归因于美国国债收益率的大幅上升。

The BOJ remains the world’s only central bank to have a negative policy interest rate, of -0.1%.

日本央行仍然是世界上唯一一家实行负利率政策的央行，利率为-0.1%。

The euro area’s GDP grew by just 0.1% in the third quarter, year on year. 欧元区第三季度国内生产总值（GDP）同比仅增长0.1%。

Over the previous three months it shrank by 0.1%, dragged down by Germany’s economy, which also contracted by 0.1%.

欧元区第三季度国内生产总值环比萎缩0.1%, 这受到了德国经济的拖累，德国经济也萎缩了0.1%。

That was in part a result of reduced household spending, but also of subdued⁸ global demand for Germany’s industrial goods. 这在一定程度上是家庭支出减少的结果，但也是全球对德国工业品需求低迷的结果。

There was also some good news for the currency bloc⁹, though. 不过，欧元区也有一些好消息。

Annual inflation tumbled to 2.9% in October, from 4.3% in September.

欧元区年通胀率从9月份的4.3%降至10月份的2.9%。

The United Auto¹⁰ Workers union ended its six-week strike after reaching pay deals with Ford¹¹, General Motors and Stellantis, the parent company of Fiat-Chrysler. 全美汽车工人联合会在与福特、通用汽车和Stellantis公司(Fiat-Chrysler的母公司)达成薪酬协议后，结束了为期六周的罢工。

All three Detroit carmakers have agreed to increase workers’ pay by 25% over a four-year contract. 底特律的这三家汽车制造商都同意在一份为期四年的合同中将工人的工资提高25%。

Ford said recently that the stoppage cost it $1.3bn in operating earnings, GM reckoned it was losing $200m a week, and Stellantis said it lost $3.2bn in revenue.

福特近期称停工使其损失了13亿美元的运营利润，通用汽车估计其周亏损达到2亿美元，而Stellantis表示其收入损失为32亿美元。

Meanwhile GM’s self-driving car business, Cruise, decided¹² to halt all its robotaxi operations after California suspended the service in the state because of safety concerns. 与此同时，通用汽车的自动驾驶汽车业务Cruise决定停止所有机器人出租车业务，此前，加利福尼亚州出于安全考虑暂停了该州的服务。

Cruise’s other markets include Dallas, Houston, Miami and Phoenix¹³.

Cruise的其他市场包括达拉斯、休斯顿、迈阿密和菲尼克斯。

1 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。

2 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。

3 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

4 streak   

n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动

参考例句：

• The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.印第安人过去常用颜料在脸上涂条纹。
• Why did you streak the tree?你为什么在树上刻条纹？

5 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

6 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

7 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。

8 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

9 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

10 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

11 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

12 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。

13 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。