2020年经济学人 一周要闻 石油价格暴跌 英国央行下调利率 航空业遭遇重创

The world this week

本周要闻

Business

商业

Staggering from the effects of coronavirus on business, stockmarkets were also sent reeling by Saudi Arabia's decision to instigate¹ an oil-price war with Russia, as the pair's agreement over production levels broke down. Oil prices plunged² in the sharpest oneday decline since 1991. Saudi Aramco, the state-controlled oil company, is increasing capacity by 1m barrels of oil a day to a record 13m, saturating³ an already over-supplied market. Trading remained volatile⁴; the decade-long bull run in stockmarkets was deemed to be over.

冠状病毒疫情对商业的影响惊人。随着沙特阿拉伯与俄罗斯有关石油产量水平的协议破裂，沙特阿拉伯决定挑起与俄罗斯的石油价格战，股市也受到了打击。油价暴跌，创下1991年以来单日最大跌幅。国有石油公司沙特阿拉伯国家石油公司正将日产量增加100万桶，达到创纪录的1300万桶，使本已供应过剩的市场饱和。交易仍然不稳定；股票市场长达十年的牛市被认为已经结束。

Amid the turmoil⁵ Saudi Aramco saw its stock fall below 32 riyals ($8.50) for the first time, the price at which the shares were offered when they floated on the stockmarket in December.

在这次动荡中，沙特阿拉伯国家石油公司的股票首次跌至32里亚尔(8.50美元)以下，该价格是其股票去年12月上市时的发行价。

The Bank of England made an emergency cut to interest rates, lowering its main rate by half a percentage point to 0.25%. It also extended cheap funding to banks so that they can "bridge a potentially challenging period". The European Central Bank prepared to ease policy and offer a range of supportive actions to companies and banks. The Federal Reserve pumped money into the short-term repo market to support the "smooth functioning of funding markets".

英国央行紧急下调利率，将主要利率下调0.5个百分点至0.25%。它还向银行提供了廉价资金，使它们能够“跨越一个可能具有挑战性的时期”。欧洲央行准备放宽政策，并向企业和银行提供一系列支持性行动。美联储向短期回购市场注入资金，以支持“融资市场的平稳运行”。

一周要闻 石油价格暴跌 英国央行下调利率 航空业遭遇重创.png

The aviation industry is being battered⁶ by the covid-19 outbreak. Boeing lost a fifth of its market value in a day amid reports that it would soon use the remainder of a $13.8bn loan it had only recently secured. Korean Air, which has cancelled 80% of its international flights, said that prolonged disruption threatened its survival. The suspension of many flights, and a general reluctance⁷ to travel, has already led to a collapse⁸ in bookings, which will be compounded by America's ban on flights from Europe. Chinese airlines have been the worst affected⁹. Chinese passenger numbers tumbled by 85% in February compared with February 2019.

航空业正因新冠疫情爆发遭受重创。波音公司的市值在一天内蒸发了五分之一，同时有报道称，该公司很快将动用最近才获得的138亿美元贷款的剩余资金。大韩航空公司已经取消了80%的国际航班。该公司表示，持续的航班中断威胁到它的生存。许多航班停飞，以及人们普遍不愿出行的情况，已经导致了机票预订量的大幅下降，而美国对欧洲航班的禁令将使这一情况雪上加霜。中国航空公司受到的影响最为严重。与2019年2月相比，今年2月中国乘客数量下降了85%。

India's central bank stepped in to rescue Yes, the country's fourth-largest private lender, which is grappling with high debt. The bail-out involves State Bank of India, the biggest government-owned bank, taking a stake in Yes.

印度央行出手救助该国第四大私人银行“Yes银行”，后者正在艰难应对高额债务。印度最大的国有银行印度国家银行将入股“Yes银行”。

Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, had an emergency procedure on his heart, leaving two senior executives in charge until he recovers. Mr Dimon has run the company since 2005, making him the longest-serving CEO of any big American bank.

摩根大通公司首席执行官杰米·戴蒙做了紧急心脏手术。在他康复前，两名高管将负责管理公司。自2005年以来，戴蒙一直掌管着摩根大通，这使他成为美国所有大型银行中任职时间最长的首席执行官。

1 instigate   

v.教唆，怂恿，煽动

参考例句：

• His object was to instigate a little rebellion on the part of the bishop.他的目的是，在主教方面煽起一场小小的造反。
• It would not prove worthwhile to instigate a nuclear attack.挑起核攻击最终是不值得的。

2 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。

3 saturating   

浸湿，浸透( saturate的现在分词 )； 使…大量吸收或充满某物

参考例句：

• In the last days before the vote, both sides are saturating the airwaves. 选举前最后几天，竞选双方占用了所有的广播电台和电视台。
• A saturating rain was expected to end the drought. 只盼下场透雨，解除旱情。

4 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

5 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

6 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

7 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

8 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。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。