2019年经济学人 美国的大规模干扰性武器(1)

 

Leaders

来源于《社论》版块

Weapons of mass disruption

大规模干扰性武器

America is aggressively deploying¹ a new economic arsenal² to assert its power. That is counterproductive—and dangerous

美国正在积极部署新的经济武器，以彰显其实力。这一危险举动会适得其反。

When Donald Trump³ arrived in the Oval Office he promised to restore America’s might. His method has turned out to be a wholesale⁴ weaponisation of economic tools. The world can now see the awesome⁵ force that a superpower can project when it is unconstrained by rules or allies. On May 30th the president threatened crippling tariffs⁶ on Mexico after a row over migration⁷. Markets reeled, and a Mexican delegation⁸ rushed to Washington to sue for peace. A day later preferential trading rules for India were cancelled. Its usually macho government did not put up a fight and promised to preserve “strong ties”. China faces a ratcheting up of tariffs soon, and its tech giant, Huawei, has been severed⁹ from its American suppliers. The country’s autocratic leaders are enraged¹⁰, but on June 2nd they insisted they still seek “dialogue and consultation”. A tighter embargo¹¹ on Iran, imposed over European objections, is strangling its economy.

唐纳德?特朗普入主白宫椭圆形办公室时，承诺恢复美国的实力。事实证明，他的方法是将经济工具大规模武器化。世界各国现在可以看到一个超级大国在不受规则或盟友约束的情况下所能展现出的惊人力量。5月30日，特朗普总统威胁要对墨西哥征收惩罚性关税。市场动荡不安，墨西哥代表团赶赴华盛顿要求和平。一天后，印度的优惠贸易规则被取消。通常刚强的印度政府没有反抗，并承诺保持“牢固的关系”。中国很快将面临关税上调，其科技巨头华为也被切断了与美国供应商的联系。这个国家的领导人被激怒了，但是在6月2日他们坚持仍然寻求“对话和协商”。特朗普还不顾欧洲的反对，对伊朗实施了更严格的禁运，正在扼杀伊朗的经济。

President Trump must view this scene with satisfaction. Nobody takes America for granted any more. Enemies and friends know that it is prepared to unleash¹² an economic arsenal to protect its national interest. America is deploying new tactics—poker- style brinkmanship—and new weapons that exploit its role as the nerve centre of the global economy to block the free flow of goods, data, ideas and money across borders. This pumped-up vision of a 21st-century superpower may be seductive for some. But it could spark a crisis, and it is eroding¹³ America’s most valuable asset—its legitimacy¹⁴.

特朗普总统看到这一幕一定很满意。没有人再认为美国是理所当然的了。敌人和朋友都知道，中国准备动用经济武器来保护国家利益。美国正在部署新的策略——扑克式的边缘政策——以及利用其作为全球经济神经中枢的角色来阻止商品、数据、思想和资金跨境自由流动的新武器。对一些人来说，这种对21世纪超级大国的雄心壮志可能是诱人的。但它可能引发一场危机，并正在侵蚀美国最宝贵的资产——其合法性。

1 deploying   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的现在分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Provides support for developing and deploying distributed, component-based applications. 为开发和部署基于组件的分布式应用程序提供支持。
• Advertisement, publishing, repair, and install-on-demand are all available when deploying your application. 在部署应用程序时提供公布、发布、修复和即需即装功能。

2 arsenal   

n.兵工厂，军械库

参考例句：

• Even the workers at the arsenal have got a secret organization.兵工厂工人暗中也有组织。
• We must be the great arsenal of democracy.我们必须成为民主的大军火库。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

5 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

6 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

7 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

8 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

9 severed   

v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂

参考例句：

• The doctor said I'd severed a vessel in my leg. 医生说我割断了腿上的一根血管。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We have severed diplomatic relations with that country. 我们与那个国家断绝了外交关系。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 enraged   

使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤

参考例句：

• I was enraged to find they had disobeyed my orders. 发现他们违抗了我的命令，我极为恼火。
• The judge was enraged and stroke the table for several times. 大法官被气得连连拍案。

11 embargo   

n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商）

参考例句：

• This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
• During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间，他们禁止与敌国通商。

12 unleash   

vt.发泄，发出；解带子放开

参考例句：

• They hope to create allies to unleash against diseases,pests,and invasive species.他们希望创造出一些新群体来对付疾病、害虫和一些有侵害性的物种。
• Changing water levels now at times unleash a miasma of disease from exposed sewage.如今，大坝不时地改变水位，从暴露的污水释放出了疾病瘴气。

13 eroding   

侵蚀，腐蚀( erode的现在分词 )； 逐渐毁坏，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• The coast is slowly eroding. 海岸正慢慢地被侵蚀。
• Another new development is eroding the age-old stereotype of the male warrior. 另一个新现象是，久已形成的男人皆武士的形象正逐渐消失。

14 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。