商业报道:Japan in a tailspin日本经济陷入混乱

New data shows that Japan's industrial output has fallen 10%, setting a new record, while consumers are reluctant to spend.

This latest economic data provides a snapshot of the world's second largest economy from the big picture down to the individual.

Let's begin with the big picture: industrial output.

According to Japan's government, in January as compared to the year before, industrial output fell 10 percent, that is a record. Industrial output tells us about all the items Japan makes--cars and electronics. When you zoom¹ in on what's happening with cars, automobile² production according to Japan's automobile industry, fell 41 percent for the month of January as compared to the year prior.

January is also the month that there were numerous cuts announced by Toyota, Nissan and Honda. Household spending fell 5.9 percent in January as compared to the year before. This is the highest fall, the biggest fall since Japan slipped into recession. And this number tells us about the consumer, how reluctant the consumer is to go out there and spend any money as far as anything in the house. Unemployment remained virtually unchanged from January to December. December, it was 4.3, January, 4.1 percent. But analysts³ say it's not because more people are actually working.

“People are starting to give up, in a place like Japan. People are thinking we have the highest rate of bankruptcies⁴, we saw since 2001, 2002. There are no jobs, all my friends are getting fired, this is a terrible world, forget it, I'm just not even gonna bother. So I think that the number is a distorted number and that what you’ll see is more people walking the streets literally⁵ as time goes by. ”

All this result of the global economic slowdown as demand falls through Japan's exports, what happens is that companies have to react, cutting costs, slashing⁶ jobs, that is having a true impact overall on this export-driven economy.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Tokyo

词汇注释:

1 economic data 经济资料/数据

2 snapshot: a piece of information that quickly gives you an idea of what the situation is like at a particular time n.简要印象

3 industrial output n.工业产值

4 zoom in on: examine closely; focus one's attention on给…以特写,把镜头移近在...处

5 slip into vt.溜进 滑到

6 reluctant: Unwilling⁷; disinclined adj.不情愿的

7 distorted adj.扭歪的，受到曲解的

8 walk the streets v. 闲逛，流落街头，无家可归

1 zoom   

n.急速上升；v.突然扩大，急速上升

参考例句：

• The airplane's zoom carried it above the clouds.飞机的陡直上升使它飞到云层之上。
• I live near an airport and the zoom of passing planes can be heard night and day.我住在一个飞机场附近，昼夜都能听到飞机飞过的嗡嗡声。

2 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

3 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

4 bankruptcies   

n.破产( bankruptcy的名词复数 )；倒闭；彻底失败；（名誉等的）完全丧失

参考例句：

• It's a matter of record that there were ten bankruptcies in the town last year. 去年这个城市有十家破产是事实。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Business bankruptcies rose 50 percent over the previous year. 破产企业的数量比前一年增加５０％。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

5 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

6 slashing   

adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Slashing is the first process in which liquid treatment is involved. 浆纱是液处理的第一过程。 来自辞典例句
• He stopped slashing his horse. 他住了手，不去鞭打他的马了。 来自辞典例句

7 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。