2021年经济学人 总能逆风翻盘的欧盟怎么折在了疫情上?(4)

This lack of urgency is a symptom of a much bigger problem: the neglect of the underlying¹ health of Europe’s economies. Even with its new money, the EU budget will account for just 2% of GDP in the next seven-year fiscal² period. At the national level, where governments typically spend about 40% of GDP, Europeans have been culpably³ overcautious.

这种紧迫感的缺乏是更大问题的征兆：对欧洲潜在经济健康状况的忽视。即使有了新的资金，欧盟预算在未来七年财政期间也只占其GDP的2%。在国家层面，政府支出通常占GDP的40%左右，欧洲国家的谨慎是罪魁祸首。

The consequences will be profound. By the end of 2022, America’s economy is expected to be 6% larger than it was in 2019. Europe, by contrast, is unlikely to be producing any more than it did before the pandemic. True, Joe Biden’s $1.9trn stimulus⁴ after nearly $4trn in the Trump⁵ era risks overheating the economy, but Europe lies at the other extreme. Its budget deficits⁶ for 2021 average perhaps half of what America is planning. After the combination of the financial crisis and covid-19, the EU’s output will be 20%, or 3trn euros, smaller than if it had kept up the growth it managed in 2000-07. The EU has suspended its deficit-limiting fiscal rules. Thanks in part to the ECB’s monetary⁷ activism, European governments have the fiscal space to do more. They should use it.

后果很严重。到2022年底，美国经济预计将比2019年增长6%。相比之下，欧洲的经济总量不大可能超越疫情之前。诚然，紧随特朗普时代的近4万亿美元经济刺激方案之后的拜登的1.9万亿美元法案有可能导致经济过热，但欧洲则处于另一个极端。其2021年的平均预算赤字可能是美国计划的一半。在金融危机和新冠疫情双重夹击下，欧盟产出将比其保持2000-2007年的涨势下的经济产出低20%，即3万亿欧元。欧盟暂停了限制赤字的财政规定。在一定程度上要感谢欧洲央行的货币积极性，欧洲各国政府才有了更多的财政空间。他们应该用这个空间。

Europe can take comfort from the fact that the vaccination⁸ programme will catch up over the summer. Across the continent, Euroscepticism has been in decline during the pandemic, and politicians who used to flirt⁹ with leaving, like Matteo Salvini or Marine¹⁰ Le Pen, have changed their tune¹¹. But, inexorably, the EU is falling behind China and America because it fails to grapple competently with each successive crisis. In a dangerous and unstable¹² world, that is a habit it needs to change

疫苗接种计划将在夏季赶上的事实可能会让欧洲感到安慰。在整个欧洲大陆，欧洲怀疑主义在疫情期间一直在下降，像马特奥·萨尔维尼或玛丽娜·勒庞这样一直有离开的念头的政客们也改变了他们的态度。但是，欧盟落后于中美是不可避免的，因为它从未出色应对每一次连续的危机。在危机四伏且动荡不安的世界里，欧盟需要改掉这个习惯。

1 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

2 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

3 culpably   

adv.该罚地，可恶地

参考例句：

4 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

5 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。

6 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

7 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。

8 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

9 flirt   

v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者

参考例句：

• He used to flirt with every girl he met.过去他总是看到一个姑娘便跟她调情。
• He watched the stranger flirt with his girlfriend and got fighting mad.看着那个陌生人和他女朋友调情，他都要抓狂了。

10 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

11 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

12 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。