2019年经济学人 一周要闻 华为起诉美国政府 美国取消印度普惠待遇 Lyft申请IPO

 

America removed India from its Generalised System of Preferences, which lowers the barriers of entry for trade on certain goods, claiming that India had failed to provide equal access to its markets. Donald Trump¹ has stepped up his complaints against India’s trade practices, notably² its stiff tariffs³ on imports of American motorcycles. Meanwhile, in a blow to Mr Trump, America’s trade deficit⁴ in goods was $891bn in 2018, a record.

美国将印度从其普惠体系中移除，该体系旨在降低某些商品的进入壁垒，美国声称印度未能提供平等的市场准入条件。特朗普加大了对印度贸易行为的抱怨，尤其是对美国摩托车进口征收的严苛关税。与此同时，2018年美国商品贸易逆差达到创纪录的8910亿美元，这对特朗普是一个打击。

Huawei launched a lawsuit⁵ against the American government over its ban on the company’s telecoms equipment from official networks. America says that the Chinese firm represents a security threat, which it denies. In Canada a court heard America’s request for the extradition⁶ of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer.

华为起诉美国政府，原因是美国政府禁止华为电信设备进入官方网络。美国方面称，这家中国企业构成了安全威胁，但华为对此坚决否认。加拿大一家法院听取了美国引渡华为首席财务官孟晚舟的请求。

Be prepared

准备妥当

Mark Carney said that “constructive developments” had reduced the Bank of England’s estimate of the economic damage that would result from a disorderly Brexit. The bank had previously⁷ put the cost to the economy at around 8% of GDP. Mr Carney said that had fallen by about 3.5 percentage points but continued to warn of a “material” shock. The bank also reported that the potential disruption to cross-border financial services had been mitigated⁸ in Britain, but it criticised the EU for a lack of action on its part. Of the thousands of businesses that have spoken to the bank, half are unprepared for a no-deal Brexit. Of the half that do have plans, 50% claim to be “as prepared as we can be”.

马克·卡尼(Mark Carney)表示，“建设性进展”降低了英国央行对无序脱欧可能造成的经济损害的评估。此前，该行估计英国GDP将萎缩8%左右。卡尼表示，这一数字下降了约3.5个百分点，但他继续警告称，可能会迎来“实质性”的冲击。该行还报告称，英国已经减轻了对跨境金融服务的潜在干扰，但它指责欧盟方面缺乏行动。在与英国央行谈话的数千家企业中，约一半没有为“无协议脱欧”做好准备。而已经做好准备的企业中，有50%声称“已经尽力而为”。

Lyft filed for an IPO, overtaking Uber, its bigger rival in the ride-hailing business, in the race to float on the stockmarket. Lyft will probably list in April on the NASDAQ exchange. Uber is expected to launch its IPO later this year.

Lyft申请首次公开募股(IPO)，在这场上市竞争中超过在叫车服务领域称霸一隅的优步(Uber)。Lyft或将于4月份在纳斯达克上市。优步预计将于今年晚些时候启动IPO。

GAP decided⁹ to hive off its Old Navy business into a separately listed company. Old Navy sells a cheaper clothing range than GAP-branded apparel and provides almost half of the GAP company’s sales. GAP became big when it cottoned on to the fashion for pastel colours in the 1980s, but it has struggled recently, announcing more store closures.

GAP决定将旗下的Old Navy业务分离开来，单独上市。Old Navy销售的服装系列较主品牌GAP服装更便宜，占GAP公司近半的销售额。上世纪80年代，GAP主打的色泽柔和的服装畅销，因此业务不断扩大，而最近却举步维艰，宣布关闭更多门店。

Days after defeating the government’s appeal against its takeover of Time Warner, AT&T undertook a broad restructuring of the business. A newly created WarnerMedia Entertainment will house a string of assets, including HBO. The swift departure of Richard Plepler as HBO’s boss spawned¹⁰ comparisons to “Game of Thrones”, one of the channel’s many hits.

在政府对其收购时代华纳的上诉被驳回几天后，AT&T对业务进行了大规模重组。新成立的华纳传媒娱乐公司将获得包括HBO在内的一系列资产。HBO老板理查德·普莱普勒(Richard Plepler)的火速离职被人调侃为现实版《权力的游戏》。《权力的游戏》是HBO众多热门剧集之一。

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 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

3 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。

4 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。

5 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

6 extradition   

n.引渡（逃犯）

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight,awaiting extradition to Britain.这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• He began to trouble concerning the extradition laws.他开始费尽心思地去想关于引渡法的问题。

7 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

8 mitigated   

v.减轻，缓和( mitigate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The cost of getting there is mitigated by Sydney's offer of a subsidy. 由于悉尼提供补助金，所以到那里的花费就减少了。 来自辞典例句
• The living conditions were slightly mitigated. 居住条件稍有缓解。 来自辞典例句

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 spawned   

（鱼、蛙等）大量产（卵）( spawn的过去式和过去分词 )； 大量生产

参考例句：

• The band's album spawned a string of hit singles. 这支乐队的专辑繁衍出一连串走红的单曲唱片。
• The computer industry has spawned a lot of new companies. 由于电脑工业的发展，许多新公司纷纷成立。