2016年经济学人 中国的消费大军 依旧活跃(上)

 

China's consumers

中国的消费大军

Still kicking

依旧活跃

Despite China's economic slowdown, consumption is resilient

尽管中国经济放缓，消费仍旧具备活力

IF YOU believe that China's economy is in trouble and that Chinese consumers are clinging tightly to their yuan, a visit to a local car dealership¹ may make you think again. China has roared past America already to become the world's biggest car market. In March sales of passenger cars zoomed² again, by nearly 10% year on year. Shiny sport-utility vehicles (SUVs), the hottest, shiniest items at this week's biennial³ Beijing Auto⁴ Show (pictured), did even better: sales jumped by 46% in March from a year earlier. The car market is forecast to keep growing briskly for the rest of this decade (see chart).

如果你认为中国经济正身处困境，中国的消费者也正紧握手中的人民币不放，那么拜访一家当地的汽车销售商，有可能使你再作思考。中国早已超越美国，成为全球最大的汽车市场。在3月，小轿车的销量再次急速上升，年同比销售增长将近10%。在本周举行的两年一度的北京车展中，多功能车（SUV)是最热门、最闪耀的产品，它的表现更佳：与去年3月相比，销售量同比增长46%。据预测，汽车市场将在未来4年继续保持增长。

The Chinese consumer is flashing his wallet elsewhere, too. China's box-office revenues shot up by nearly 50% on a year earlier in 2015, to $6.8 billion. Cinema operators led by Wanda Group, an ambitious local conglomerate⁵ that recently bought Hollywood's Legendary⁶ Entertainment, have poured money into expansion; the number of screens across China has been rising at 36% a year since 2011.

中国消费者同时也在别的方面进行消费。与2015年相比，中国的票房收入同比暴增将近50%，现已达68亿美元。万达集团——一个雄心勃勃的地方企业巨头，近期收购了好莱坞传奇娱乐，它旗下的影院经营商已斥资扩张；自2011年开始，中国的荧幕数量已增加了36%。

After years of expansion, the smartphone market is peaking. Some firms still thrive: China's Huawei, a telecoms giant, predicts that revenues from its consumer-devices division will rise by about 50% this year. But Xiaomi, an innovative⁷ electronics firm once seen as China's answer to Apple, is losing steam. Apple itself announced weaker results on April 26th (see article). Revenues from sales in greater China fell by 26% year on year. As the market for devices matures, however, consumer spending is shifting to services: data usage has grown at triple-digit rates since 2012.

经过数年扩张之后，智能手机市场也正趋于顶峰状态。部分公司仍在茁壮成长，作为电信巨头的中国华为作出预测，其消费类电子设备收入将于本年增加近50%。然而，曾一度被视作中国版苹果的创新电子企业小米则渐渐失去动力。在4月26日，苹果对外宣告其不甚令人满意的状况（另见文）。苹果在大中华地区的年销售收入同比下跌26%。随着电子设备市场的成熟，消费者的支出也正转向服务方面：从2012年开始，数据流量使用一直保持三位数的增长率。

The unrelenting march of e-commerce continues. In 2010 online shopping accounted for only 3% of total private consumption, but it now makes up 15%. Alibaba, which processes more sales on its e-commerce platforms than eBay and Amazon combined, saw annual Chinese revenues grow to 63 billion yuan ($9.7 billion) in 2015, a rise of nearly 40% compared with a year earlier.

电商仍在不懈地进行着它的发展历程。在2010年，网购消费仅占个人消费总量的3%，而如今已达15%。阿里巴巴，其电商平台的销售收入高于eBay和亚马逊之和，2015年年收入已增长至630亿人民币（97亿美元），年同比增长将近40%。

1 dealership   

n.商品特许经销处

参考例句：

• The car dealership has a large inventory of used cars. 这家汽车经销商拥有数量庞大的二手车。
• A key to this effort is the experience in the dealership. 达到这个成果的关键是销售的体验。

2 zoomed   

v.（飞机、汽车等）急速移动( zoom的过去式 )；（价格、费用等）急升，猛涨

参考例句：

• Traffic zoomed past us. 车辆从我们身边疾驰而过。
• Cars zoomed helter-skelter, honking belligerently. 大街上来往车辆穿梭不停，喇叭声刺耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 biennial   

adj.两年一次的

参考例句：

• The workers were strongly against the biennial election.工人们强烈反对两年一次的选举。
• His is a biennial,and one of the most useful pasture plants we have.这是两年生植物，也是我们最有用的牧草之一。

4 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。

5 conglomerate   

n.综合商社，多元化集团公司

参考例句：

• The firm has been taken over by an American conglomerate.该公司已被美国一企业集团接管。
• An American conglomerate holds a major share in the company.一家美国的大联合企业持有该公司的大部分股份。

6 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

7 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。