VOA时事新闻2023 全球食品市场价格下降?

The global market prices of grains, vegetable, milk-based and other agricultural products have been falling.

谷物、蔬菜、牛奶等农产品的全球市场价格一直在下降。

The price drops, however, have not yet made it to everyday buyers around the world.

然而，降价还没有惠及世界各地的普通买家。

Around the world, food prices are staying painfully high.

在世界各地，食品价格居高不下。

Food prices were already high when Russia invaded Ukraine in February of 2022.

2022年2月俄罗斯入侵乌克兰时，食品价格已经很高了。

The invasion caused major problems to the grain and fertilizer trade.

俄罗斯入侵乌克兰给粮食和化肥贸易造成了重大问题。

Food prices rose quickly.

食品价格快速上涨。

But on a global level, that price shock ended a while ago.

但在全球范围内，这场价格冲击在不久前就结束了。

The United Nations says global food prices have fallen for 12 straight months.

联合国表示，全球食品价格已经连续12个月下跌。

Good harvests in places like Brazil and Russia and a wartime agreement that permitted grain shipments¹ out of the Black Sea helped lead to the drop in food prices.

巴西和俄罗斯等地的丰收以及允许从黑海运出粮食的战时协议帮助导致了食品价格的下降。

Yet, prices at food stores are still rising.

然而，食品店的价格仍在上涨。

And that affects people everywhere, from the United States and Europe to struggling countries in the developing world.

这影响了世界各地的人们，包括美国和欧洲以及发展中国家。

Food prices were 19.5 percent higher in the European Union last month compared to a year earlier and 19.2 percent higher in Britain.

上个月欧盟的食品价格同比上涨了19.5%，英国的食品价格同比上涨了19.2%。

Joseph Glauber is former chief economist² at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

约瑟夫·格劳伯是美国农业部前首席经济学家。

He said that the cost of agricultural products is just one reason for the continued high cost of food.

他说，农产品价格上涨只是食品价格持续高企的原因之一。

In the United States, food prices were up 8.5 percent last month compared to one year earlier.

上个月美国的食品价格同比上涨了8.5%。

Glauber said that "75 percent of the costs are coming after it leaves the farm."

格劳伯说，“75%的成本是在它离开农场后产生的。”

He added, "It's energy costs. It's all the processing costs. All the transportation costs. All the labor³ costs."

他补充说，“其中包含能源成本、所有的加工成本、所有的运输成本、所有的劳动力成本。”

Food inflation⁴, Glauber said, "will come down, but it's going to come down slowly, largely because these other factors are still running pretty high."

格劳伯说，食品通胀率“将会下降，但下降速度很慢，这主要是因为这些其他因素的成本仍然很高。”

Another reason for high food prices in the United States, observers say, is a wave of mergers⁵ that have reduced competition in the food industry.

观察人士表示，美国食品价格高企的另一个原因是，一波并购浪潮削弱了食品行业的竞争。

White House officials last year noted⁶ that just four companies control 85 percent of the U.S. beef market.

白宫官员去年指出，仅四家公司就控制了美国牛肉市场85%的份额。

Beef is meat that comes from cows.

牛肉是牛的肉。

Similarly, just four companies control 70 percent of the pork market and 54 percent of the poultry⁷ market.

同样，仅四家公司就控制了70%的猪肉市场和54%的禽肉市场。

Pork meat comes from pigs; poultry is meat from birds including chickens and ducks.

猪肉来自猪；禽肉来自禽类，包括鸡和鸭。

Those companies, critics say, can use their market power to raise prices.

批评人士表示，这些公司可以利用它们的市场力量来提高价格。

Glauber, who is now a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute, is not sure that mergers are the reason for high food prices.

格劳伯现在是国际食物政策研究所的研究员，他不确定合并是否是食品价格高企的原因。

He agreed that big agribusinesses can bring in profits when prices rise.

他同意，当价格上涨时，大型农业综合企业可以赚取利润。

But things usually even out over time.

但随着时间的推移，事情通常会趋于平衡。

And their earnings⁸ go down in other times.

他们的收入在其他时候会下降。

"I couldn't point my finger at the fact that we just have a handful of meat producers," Glauber said.

格劳伯说：“我无法指责我们只有少数几家肉类生产商的事实。”

In other countries, Glauber said, a strong U.S. dollar is to blame for keeping food prices high.

格劳伯说，在其他国家，强势美元是食品价格居高不下的罪魁祸首。

In other high food price times, the dollar was not as strong.

在食品价格高企的其他时期，美元没有那么强势。

Glauber said prices for corn and wheat are given in dollars per ton.

格劳伯说，玉米和小麦的价格是以每吨多少美元计算的。

Because of the strong dollar, people in other countries have not felt the price drops that have shown up in global food markets.

由于强势美元，其他国家的人们没有感受到全球食品市场上出现的价格下跌。

In Hungary, people are increasingly unable to deal with the biggest increases in food prices in the E.U., reaching 45 percent in March.

在匈牙利，人们越来越无法应对欧盟食品价格的最大涨幅，3月，欧盟食品价格涨幅达到45%。

Joszef Varga is a fruit and vegetable seller in Budapest historic⁹ Grand Market Hall.

约瑟夫·瓦尔加是布达佩斯历史悠久的大市场大厅的一名水果和蔬菜销售商。

He said wholesale¹⁰ costs have risen by 20 to 30 percent.

他说，批发价格上涨了20%到30%。

All his buyers have felt the increased prices – some more than others.

他的所有买家都感觉到了价格在上涨——有些人感觉更强烈。

"Those with more money in their wallets buy more, and those with less buy less," he said.

他说：“那些钱包里有更多钱的人买得更多，而那些钱更少的人买得更少”。

In Pakistan, store owner Mohammad Ali said some customers are no longer buying meat.

在巴基斯坦，店主穆罕默德·阿里说，一些顾客不再购买肉类。

They buy more vegetables and beans instead.

相反，他们购买更多蔬菜和豆类。

But even the price of vegetables, beans, rice and wheat are up as much as 50 percent.

但即使是蔬菜、豆类、大米和小麦的价格也上涨了50%。

Sitting in her home outside Pakistan's capital of Islamabad, 45-year-old Zubaida Bibi said, "Our life was never easy, but now the price of everything has increased so much that it has become difficult to live."

45岁的Zubaida Bibi坐在巴基斯坦首都伊斯兰堡郊外的家中说：“我们的生活从来都不轻松，但现在所有东西的价格都上涨了这么多，使得生活变得很困难。”

I'm Gregory Stachel.

格雷戈里·施塔赫尔为您播报。

1 shipments   

船运，水运( shipment的名词复数 )； （从海路、陆路或空运的）一批货物

参考例句：

• The shipments are being expedited as much as possible. 装货速度在尽量加快。
• We received two shipments from Chicago. 我们收到从芝加哥运来的两船货物。

2 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 inflation   

n.胀大，夸张，通货膨胀

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• The inflation of the airbed took several minutes.给空气床垫充气花了几分钟时间。

5 mergers   

n.（两个公司的）合并( merger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Mergers fall into three categories: horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate. 合并分为以下三种：横向合并，纵向合并和混合合并。 来自辞典例句
• Many recent mergers are concentrated within specific industries, particularly in retailing, airlines and communications. 现代许多合并企业集中进行某些特定业务，在零售业、民航和通讯业中更是如此。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

8 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

9 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

10 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。