本周,由Manny為大家分析經濟學人的寫作,主要學習常見詞彙在法律英語中的用法以及一些好用短語,大家可以舊詞新學,吃透一些詞彙短語的用法。內容在精不在多,真正掌握要多做積累、多下功夫。話不多說,我們開始今天的學習內容。
美國總統換屆,備受矚目的無外乎調整的相關政策,包括經濟、新冠、對中國採取的措施等等。今天這篇文章主要聚焦拜登政府對於中國政府將採取何種新政策,與川普政府的舉措有何區別。從經濟學人的報導中可以看出,拜登政府對於某些方面的政策,包括留學生、環境保護、新能源、關稅等等都會更加緩和,但是整體上看,拜登政府對於中國將採取更加對立的態度。下面我們來看一下拜登政府和川普政府的對比,並學習相關表達和做出引申。
學習音頻:
文字片段:
Of the many disputes between China and America that have grown more fraught under Mr Trump, trade is among the most bitterly contested. Mr Biden will inherit a smouldering trade war with China that was launched by Mr Trump in a vain attempt to reduce a soaring bilateral trade deficit.
Unlike Mr Trump, America’s leader-in-waiting is no fan of using tariffs to achieve such goals. But he is unlikely to move swiftly to dismantle Mr Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods—even though they are, in effect, a tax that is mostly paid by American consumers.
Some of Mr Biden’s advisers hope that retaining them, at least for now, will give America leverage in negotiations with China over trade and other matters. In the Obama era, Mr Biden supported efforts to forge a trade deal among 12 countries, including America, around the Pacific—hoping it would eventually draw in China and bind it to Western trading norms.
Mr Trump withdrew from that project. There is little chance that Mr Biden will resume interest in it. Winning approval from the Senate for multilateral trade pacts would be daunting, if not impossible.
【原文】
Of the many disputes between China and America that have grown more fraught under Mr Trump, trade is among the most bitterly contested. Mr Biden will inherit a smouldering trade war with China that was launched by Mr Trump in a vain attempt to reduce a soaring bilateral trade deficit.
【參考譯文】
在川普的領導下,中美之間的許多爭端愈演愈烈,貿易是其中最激烈的爭端之一。拜登將接手川普發起的一場醞釀已久的對華貿易戰。川普發起這場貿易戰的目的是減少不斷飆升的雙邊貿易逆差,但沒有成功。
Fraught
文中fraught意為令人焦慮不安的,意譯成愈演愈烈,但是fraught還有一個常見的短語,be fraught with sth.,一般是不好的事物,如problem/difficulties/danger等等,意為充滿了(問題/困難/危險等)我們來看個《傲骨賢妻》的例句:
Marriage is an institution fraught with ironies.
婚姻制度就是如此諷刺。
在表達充滿了(不好的事物)可以用上be fraught with代替be full of/be filled with,後兩個短語還可以表示充滿了(好的事物)。
Smouldering
文中smouldering譯成了醞釀已久,smoulder本身意為悶燒、無火焰地慢慢燃燒,其實就像偷偷憋著火,等待最後爆發一樣。除了這個意思,smoulder還可以引申為人的情緒的鬱積,我們來看個小說《還鄉》中的例句:
Her appearance accorded well with this smouldering rebelliousness, and the shady splendour of her beauty was the real surface of the sad and stifled warmth within her.
她的容貌與這被抑制的反抗情感十分協調,她的美麗有一種幽暗的光彩,是她內心裡悲傷鬱積的熱情的真正外表。
Smoulder後還可以加上with,我們看個例句:
She had spent the evening smouldering with resentment.
她一晚上心裡都憤憤不平。
這個句子也可以用上上面講到的be fraught with,則句子為She had spent the evening fraught with resentment.
【原文】
Unlike Mr Trump, America’s leader-in-waiting is no fan of using tariffs to achieve such goals. But he is unlikely to move swiftly to dismantle Mr Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods—even though they are, in effect, a tax that is mostly paid by American consumers.
【參考譯文】
與川普不同,下一任美國領導人不贊同利用關稅來實現這些目標。但他不太可能迅速廢除川普對中國商品徵收的關稅政策——儘管實際上這些關稅主要是由美國消費者支付的。
leader-in-waiting
leader-in-waiting意即將要上任的總統,一般來說sth-in-waiting指未來的();候選的(),但在上面這個句子的語境中,我們可以理解成下一任,這個表達我們在其他外刊中也能看到,比如下面這個例子:
Germany's Angela Merkel is keen on this idea, and it may win the backing of Britain's leader-in-waiting, Gordon Brown.
德國總理安格拉·默克爾熱衷於此,並且可能得到英國未來首相戈登·布朗的支持。
由此我們也可以自己做個引申,是不是可以用別的詞換掉leader?我們來看個句子:
That someone was John Boehner, then the leader of the Republican minority, and now the speaker in waiting.
當時移交小槌的人是少數派共和黨領袖約翰·博納,正在等待接任的下一屆議長。
這裡的leader換成了speaker議長,所以類似的一些職位(尤指高級職位)也可以用上這組複合詞來替代下一任(職位)。
no fan of
fan我們都知道是粉絲的意思,a fan of我們說是某人的粉絲,也就是支持某人,所以no fan of就是不支持/不贊同/不喜歡某事物,正如文中的意思。我們再來看下NPR中的例子:
Trump is obviously no fan of the Russia investigation.
顯然,川普並不贊同「通俄門」調查。
我們再來看看《怪誕小鎮》中的例句:
I appreciate your discretion, that Stan is no fan of mine.
感謝你的謹慎行事 斯坦那傢伙可不待見我。
這裡的no fan of即為不喜歡/不待見之意。
Dismantle
這裡的dismantle意為廢除(關稅)政策,dismantle還可以表示廢除某種制度或者組織等,來看一下經濟學人中的例句:
Eastern European countries employed it later to dismantle command economies.
後來,東歐國家也實施了私有化,那是因為他們想擺脫計劃經濟。
除了廢除,dismantle的最根本意思為拆卸,如:
Chris dismantled the bike in five minutes.
克裡斯五分鐘內就把自行車給拆了。
【原文】
Some of Mr Biden’s advisers hope that retaining them, at least for now, will give America leverage in negotiations with China over trade and other matters. In the Obama era, Mr Biden supported efforts to forge a trade deal among 12 countries, including America, around the Pacific—hoping it would eventually draw in China and bind it to Western trading norms.
【參考譯文】
拜登的一些顧問希望,至少在目前,保留這些席位將使美國在與中國的貿易和其他事務談判中具有影響力。在歐巴馬時代,拜登支持包括美國在內的12個國家在太平洋地區達成貿易協議,希望這最終能吸引中國並將其約束在西方貿易規範之下。
Retaining
Retain有「保留,存儲,記住」之意,可與keep替換,我們來看幾個例句:
The state wants to retain control of food imports.
這個州想保留對食品進口的控制權。
A lot of information can be retained in your computer.
你的計算機裡可以儲存很多信息。
I find it very difficult to retain facts.
我覺得具體事實很難記住。
除了「保留」的相關意思,retain還可以是「聘請(律師、專家)」之意。我們來看個例句:
He has retained a lawyer to challenge the court's decision.
他聘請了一名律師質疑法庭的判決。
leverage
leverage的用法很多,文中是做名詞用,意為影響力,作名詞時還有「槓桿作用、槓桿力量」的意思。做動詞時,我們在疫情期間的領導人講話或是官媒中都經常看到leverage a synergy,意為齊心協力(/發揮協同作用),這裡的leverage的意思其實是「利用(資源)」,我們再看個VOA的例句:
A solution simply leverages on that existing infrastructure.
解決方案只是利用現有的基礎設施。
TED中的例子:
How do you leverage that information?
你怎樣利用這些信息?
除了以上幾個意思,leverage在法律英語中還有負債係數之意,也稱leverage ratio,我們再來看幾個leverage的短語:leverage contract遠期商品合同、leverage effects槓桿效果(用貸款生產獲益)、leverage fund雙重投資資金等等。
Forge
Forge一般是締結/形成某種關係,如forge an alliance等。在法律英語中有「偽造/假冒(尤指文書、籤名)」之意,如:a forged passport,我們再來看個例句:
Someone stole my credit card and forged my signature.
有人偷了我的信用卡,並假冒我的籤名。
此處forge可等同於counterfeit。
此外,forge與介詞搭配還有幾個好用短語,如forge through/into,意為穩步前進;forge ahead=to make progress,especially quickly取得進展。
bind
bind在文中的意思意為約束,這裡還可以變成China is bound by Western trading norms。除了約束,我們說裝訂的時候,用到的也是bind。bind做名詞的時候意為窘境,困境,我們來看個經濟學人的例句:
And yet the SPD is in a terrible bind.
但社民黨處於可怕的窘境中。
在法律英語中,bind over意為使具結候審/交押候審/取保候審,我們來看個例句:
The demonstrators were bound over to keep the peace.
遊行示威者被責令具結保證不再鬧事。
在法律英語中bind還有一些短語:bind oneself to (do)sth立約做某事、the contracts binds the parties合同對雙方當事人具有約束力等等。
【原文】
Mr Trump withdrew from that project. There is little chance that Mr Biden will resume interest in it. Winning approval from the Senate for multilateral trade pacts would be daunting, if not impossible.
【參考譯文】
川普退出了這個項目。拜登恢復對此興趣的可能性微乎其微。要想獲得參議院對多邊貿易協定的批准,即便不是不可能,也是一件不太明朗的事情。
Pacts
Pact指的就是條約,協定,協議。常用的短語為make / sign a pact,我們來看一下《絕望的主婦》中的例句:
I'm sorry.I wanted to tell you, but we made a pact.
對不起 我想告訴你的 但我們有約定。
所以,pact除了協定、條約,還可以做「約定」使用。
這篇節選體現了拜登政府和川普政府對中國政策的差別,同學們可以再通讀一下無解析版本,回憶剛才所講到的表達和用法。
Of the many disputes between China and America that have grown more fraught under Mr Trump, trade is among the most bitterly contested. Mr Biden will inherit a smouldering trade war with China that was launched by Mr Trump in a vain attempt to reduce a soaring bilateral trade deficit.
Unlike Mr Trump, America’s leader-in-waiting is no fan of using tariffs to achieve such goals. But he is unlikely to move swiftly to dismantle Mr Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods—even though they are, in effect, a tax that is mostly paid by American consumers.
Some of Mr Biden’s advisers hope that retaining them, at least for now, will give America leverage in negotiations with China over trade and other matters. In the Obama era, Mr Biden supported efforts to forge a trade deal among 12 countries, including America, around the Pacific—hoping it would eventually draw in China and bind it to Western trading norms.
Mr Trump withdrew from that project. There is little chance that Mr Biden will resume interest in it. Winning approval from the Senate for multilateral trade pacts would be daunting, if not impossible.
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