时代周刊:中美之间的一场意志较量(1)

A battle of wills betweent he U.S. and China

中美之间的一场意志较量

One year ago, President Trump¹ welcomed China’s Xi Jinping to his Mar-a-Lago estate.

一年前，特朗普总统在他的马阿拉戈庄园对中国主席习近平致以了热烈的欢迎。

Despite predictions that diferent temperaments² would make for an uneasy encounter,

尽管当时有预言说性格差异会让两人的相遇并不那么愉快，

the meeting helped the nations work closely on North Korea and avoid a trade conflict.

但那次会议还是促进了两国在朝鲜问题上的密切合作，避免了一场贸易冲突的爆发。

Still, this is an election year in the U.S.,

尽管如此，今年到底是美国的选举年，

and Trump wants supporters to see that he’s keeping his promises to get tough on China and trade deficits⁴.

所以，特朗普想让自己的支持者们看到他兑现了自己的承诺，对中国，对贸易逆差如约采取了强硬态度。

After he announced tariffs⁵ on steel and aluminum⁶ imports in March,

特朗普今年3月宣布对进口钢铁和进口铝征收关税后，

he got a lot of pushback—

遭到了许多人的反对——

from U.S. businesses that need cheap steel, allies who export steel as well as Republican governors and lawmakers.

包括需要廉价钢铁的美国企业、出口钢铁的盟友以及多位共和党州长、议员。

The Administration then announced exemptions⁷ from tariffs for Europe and countries including Canada, Mexico, Brazil and South Korea.

随后，特朗普政府又宣布，对欧洲以及加拿大、墨西哥、巴西和韩国等国免征关税。

But not for China, which has alienated⁸ many U.S. businesses by restricting market access and stealing their intellectual property.

但中国除外，因为中国靠限制市场准入和窃取国内企业的知识产权孤立了很多美国企业。

This fight is about more than trade, though.

尽管如此，这场较量却并不只是一场贸易之争。

Not long before Trump announced those tariffs,

因为就在特朗普宣布对中国征收关税之前不久，

he signed into law the Taiwan Travel Act,

他还签署了《台湾旅游法》，

which allows officials at all levels of the U.S. government to travel to Taiwan to meet their Taiwanese counterparts,

允许美国政府各级官员前往台湾跟台湾方面的官员会面，

and for high-level Taiwanese officials to enter the U.S.

台湾高级官员也可前来美国。

Although this move reversed a nearly 40-year-old policy,

尽管这一举措扭转了近40年来的政策，

the story got little play in most American media.

大多数美国媒体却都没怎么报道这件事。

Not so in China, where some state officials saw this open rejection⁹ of the “One China policy”

但在中国的情形就不一样了，因为中国的一些国家官员将这一公开反对“一个中国政策”的举措

as evidence that U.S. trade action is designed not to revive American manufacturing but to block China’s expanding influence.

视为了美国近来的贸易行动并不是为了振兴美国制造业，而是为了阻止中国不断扩大的影响力的证据。

AMID ALL THIS was a divergence¹⁰ on North Korea.

而贯穿在所有这些问题之中的是两国在朝鲜问题上存在的分歧。

Beijing was not happy that Kim JongUn went so directly to Trump with an offer to meet—

北京方面对金正恩如此爽快地接受了特朗普的会面邀请感到不满——

and that there has been no statement that a Chinese representative will be present.

同时也对没有声明邀请中国代表出席一事感到不满。

Meanwhile, Trump declared on March 22 that he intends to impose $50 billion in tariffs, this time targeted directly at China.

再加上，特朗普3月22日宣布，他打算将征税商品的规模增加到500亿美元，这次直接将矛头对准了中国。

Trump says there will be more unless Beijing takes actions that knock $100 billion of the bilateral¹¹ trade deficit³.

川普还说，除非北京方面采取行动，消除1000亿美元的双边贸易逆差，否则他就继续提高对中国的征税商品规模。

1 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。

2 temperaments   

性格( temperament的名词复数 )； （人或动物的）气质； 易冲动； （性情）暴躁

参考例句：

• The two brothers have exactly opposite temperaments: one likes to be active while the other tends to be quiet and keep to himself. 他们弟兄两个脾气正好相反， 一个爱动，一个好静。
• For some temperaments work is a remedy for all afflictions. 对于某些人来说，工作是医治悲伤的良药。

3 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

4 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

5 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。

6 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

7 exemptions   

n.（义务等的）免除( exemption的名词复数 )；免（税）；（收入中的）免税额

参考例句：

• The exemptions for interpretive rules, policy statements, and procedural rules have just been discussed. 有关解释性规则、政策说明和程序规则的免责我们刚刚讨论过。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• A: The regulation outlines specific exemptions for some WPM. 答：该规定概述了某些木质包装材料的特定的例外情形。 来自互联网

8 alienated   

adj.感到孤独的，不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等）

参考例句：

• His comments have alienated a lot of young voters. 他的言论使许多年轻选民离他而去。
• The Prime Minister's policy alienated many of her followers. 首相的政策使很多拥护她的人疏远了她。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

10 divergence   

n.分歧，岔开

参考例句：

• There is no sure cure for this transatlantic divergence.没有什么灵丹妙药可以消除大西洋两岸的分歧。
• In short,it was an age full of conflicts and divergence of values.总之，这一时期是矛盾与价值观分歧的时期。

11 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。