2020年经济学人 拉丁美洲的悲剧(1)

Where covid-19 strikes, it reveals hard truths.

新型冠状病毒肺炎所到之处，揭示了残酷的事实。

In recent weeks Latin America has become the centre of the pandemic, responsible for over half of daily deaths.

在近几周，拉丁美洲成为了疫情的中心，一半以上的每日死亡人数都来自这里。

The region's acute health crisis is accompanied by an economic decline unrivalled in the developing world.

该地区严重的健康危机还伴随着一场发展中世界的其他国家所无法比拟的经济衰退。

The IMF forecasts that output in the region will shrink by 9.4% in 2020,

国际货币基金组织（IMF）预测，2020年，该地区的产出将萎缩9.4%，

more than three times the contraction¹ of 3% projected for emerging economies as a whole.

是整个新兴经济预测收缩的三倍多。

The economic and social devastation² wreaked³ by the pandemic is all the more painful for coming on the heels of two underwhelming decades.

在未来普通的20年里，疫情所造成的经济和社会灾难更加痛苦。

Investors⁴ had waxed enthusiastic about Latin America's prospects⁵

在2000年到2019年的新兴市场繁荣时期，

during the great emerging-market boom of the 2000s and the 2010s, only to be disappointed.

投资者曾对拉丁美洲的前景充满热情，而现在只剩失望。

The few gains that were made seem almost certain to be reversed. The economies of Latin America are far from homogeneous.

取得的少数进展似乎肯定会逆转。拉美国家的经济体远达不到同质化。

Many share characteristics, however, that have conspired⁶ to make the region among the hardest hit in the world.

然而，很多这些共同的特点使该地区成为全球受创最严重的地区之一。

In some places lockdowns have been stringent⁷:

在一些地方，封锁一直很严格：

Peru, for example, took the extraordinary step of closing its mines, the foundation of its economy,

例如，秘鲁采取了不同寻常的措施，关闭了作为其经济基础的矿山，

contributing to the IMF's grim forecast of a decline in output of 14% this year.

导致IMF做出了其今年产出下降14%的悲观预测。

But big and dense⁸ cities, with high rates of poverty and substantial segments of the population in informal work,

但人口密集的大城市，其高贫困率以及大量人口没有正式工作，

have limited the effectiveness of lockdowns. The large informal sector⁹, together with weak state capacity,

限制了封锁的有效性。大型非正式部门，以及薄弱的国家能力

has also undermined the reach of government relief and exacerbated¹⁰ the economic collapse¹¹.

也削弱了政府救济的范围，加剧了经济崩溃。

Populist blowhards with little time for experts govern the region's biggest economies, compounding its problems.

民粹主义信口开河的自吹自擂使该地区最大的几个经济体面临的问题更加复杂。

The bleakness¹² of 2020 in Latin America also owes much to the condition of its economies before the coronavirus spread.

2020年拉丁美洲的惨淡景象在很大程度上也要归咎于其在冠状病毒传播之前的经济状况。

Many limped into the new decade.

很多国家挣扎着走进新的十年。

Growth across the continent—even excluding Venezuela, whose economy collapsed¹³ catastrophically in recent years—

整个大陆的经济增长——甚至不包括近年来经济灾难性崩溃的委内瑞拉——

was just 1.8% in 2018 and 0.8% in 2019.

2018年仅为1.8%，2019年为0.8%。

By the start of this year, Argentina and Mexico were already in recession; many other countries were stagnating—including Brazil,

今年年初，阿根廷和墨西哥已经陷入衰退；很多其他国家经济停滞——包括巴西

which enjoyed only the briefest of respites¹⁴ after a serious political and economic crisis in 2015 and 2016.

在2015年和2016年间一场严重的政治和经济危机后，巴西经济只得到了短暂的喘息。

These woes¹⁵ fit a longer-running pattern of Latin America falling behind.

这些困境符合拉美洲长期落后的模式。

The turn of the millennium¹⁶ marked the start of a great surge in the fortunes of the emerging world,

世纪之交标志着新兴世界财富大幅增长的开始，

and a departure from the usual state of affairs, in which poorer countries only rarely caught up to rich-world incomes in sustained fashion.

这与通常情况不同，在通常情况下，较贫穷国家的收入很少能以持续的方式赶上富裕国家。

Trade grew explosively, commodity prices boomed and the developing world asserted itself more confidently on the world stage.

贸易呈爆炸性增长，商品价格大幅上涨，发展中世界在世界舞台上更加自信。

In the 2000s real output per person across the emerging world (on a purchasing-power-parity basis) rose at an astonishing clip of 4.6% per year,

在本世纪头10年，新兴国家人均实际产出（以购买力平价为基础）以每年4.6%的惊人速度增长，

or four times the pace achieved by rich economies.

这一速度是发达国家的四倍。

The great gaps in income between advanced countries and the rest that opened during the 20th century seemed destined¹⁷ to narrow and close in the 21st.

发达国家与20世纪开放的其它国家之间的巨大收入差距，似乎注定会在21世纪不断缩小。

1 contraction   

n.缩略词，缩写式，害病

参考例句：

• The contraction of this muscle raises the lower arm.肌肉的收缩使前臂抬起。
• The forces of expansion are balanced by forces of contraction.扩张力和收缩力相互平衡。

2 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 wreaked   

诉诸（武力），施行（暴力），发（脾气）( wreak的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The earthquake wreaked havoc on the city. 地震对这个城市造成了大破坏。
• They have wreaked dreadful havoc among the wildlife by shooting and trapping. 他们射杀和诱捕野生动物，造成了严重的破坏。

4 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

5 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

6 conspired   

密谋( conspire的过去式和过去分词 )； 搞阴谋； （事件等）巧合； 共同导致

参考例句：

• They conspired to bring about the meeting of the two people. 他们共同促成了两人的会面。
• Bad weather and car trouble conspired to ruin our vacation. 恶劣的气候连同汽车故障断送了我们的假日。

7 stringent   

adj.严厉的；令人信服的；银根紧的

参考例句：

• Financiers are calling for a relaxation of these stringent measures.金融家呼吁对这些严厉的措施予以放宽。
• Some of the conditions in the contract are too stringent.合同中有几项条件太苛刻。

8 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

9 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

10 exacerbated   

v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The symptoms may be exacerbated by certain drugs. 这些症状可能会因为某些药物而加重。
• The drugs they gave her only exacerbated the pain. 他们给她吃的药只是加重了她的痛楚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

12 bleakness   

adj. 萧瑟的, 严寒的, 阴郁的

参考例句：

• It forgoes the bleakness of protest and dissent for the energizing confidence of constructive solutions. 它放弃了bleakness抗议和持不同政见者的信心，激发建设性的解决办法。
• Bertha was looking out of the window at the bleakness of the day. 伯莎望着窗外晦暗的天色。

13 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

14 respites   

v.延期（respite的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• A Party member is expected to have no private emotions and no respites from enthusiasm. 对于党员，不要求他有私人的感情，也不允许他有热情的减退。 来自英汉文学

15 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

16 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

17 destined   

adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的

参考例句：

• It was destined that they would marry.他们结婚是缘分。
• The shipment is destined for America.这批货物将运往美国。