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外刊阅读20240422｜如何削减政府债务

考研英语外刊阅读 · 公众号 · · 2024-04-22 07:59

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词数：433 words

难度：★★★☆☆

小贴士：

本篇文章专业词汇很多，大家不用过度纠结，通常不会考含专业词汇这么多的文章，仅做常识性积累即可。

——大橙子留

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上期划线句答案

The rankings provide countries with a way to measure national success — and develop policies that enhance well-being — beyond economic measures like gross domestic product, which encourages more growth than the planet can handle .

排名不仅为各国提供了一个除了国民生产总值这类经济指标（这种指标会鼓励超出地球可承受能力的增长）之外的衡量国家成功与否的方式，还促使各国制定了提高幸福水平的政策。

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本期内容

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双语阅读

Para.1

The question of how to squash government debt is about as fresh as a pickled turnip . And given rising interest rates and feeble growth, the answers are about as sour. But a new working paper crunches through the extraordinary case of Jamaica, which halved its government debt-to-gross domestic product ratio from 144 per cent between 2012 and 2023. What could others learn from it?

如何解决政府债务的难题，就像酸腌萝卜一样，是个老生常谈的话题。而随着利率上升和经济增长乏力，这个问题的答案也一样棘手。然而，一份新的研究报告深入探讨了牙买加的独特案例，该国在2012年至2023年间成功将政府债务与国内生产总值的比率从144%下降了一半。其他国家能从中获得什么启示呢？

1.squash

/skwɒʃ/

v. 压扁，压碎; (使)挤进，(把……)塞进; 打断，制止，去除; 控制，抑制(情绪)

n. (软式)墙网球，壁球; 南瓜属植物(如南瓜); 拥挤的环境(或处所); (生)(供显微镜观察用的)软化组织薄片，压片; 咯吱声

2.pickled turnip 酱萝卜；腌制大头菜

3.feeble

/ˈfiːbəl/

adj. 衰弱的，虚弱的; (光线或声音)微弱的; 软弱的; 无效的，不佳的

4.crunch

/krʌntʃ/

n. 压碎声，碎裂声; 艰难局面(the crunch); 不足，短缺; 仰卧起坐

v. 嘎吱嘎吱地嚼; (使)发出碎裂声; 嘎吱嘎吱地行进; (大量地)处理(数字)

Para.2

The obvious answer is: not much. As American policymakers refuse to grapple with their fiscal position, they are not about to take advice from a hurricane-prone country with GDP per person of about $6,000, a population smaller than that of Wales, and exports dominated by tourism and aluminium oxide . Even other smaller countries with high debt loads will face their own special circumstances.

显而易见的答案是：能学到的不多。由于美国政策制定者不愿努力解决自身的财政状况，他们不太可能听取一个容易受到飓风侵袭、人均国民生产总值大概6000美元、人口规模比英国威尔士还少、出口主要以旅游和氧化铝为主的国家的建议。即便是其他负债累累的小国，也将面临着各自独特的挑战。

1.grapple with 努力应对

2. dominated

英 [ˈdɒmɪneɪtɪd] 美 [ˈdɑːmɪneɪtɪd]

adj. 占主导地位的；强势的；受控的

v. 控制，支配；处于支配地位

3.aluminium oxide

氧化铝：无机化学中的固体物质，化学式为Al2O3

4. debt loads

负债负担：指个人或企业所承担的债务总额，通常用于衡量偿还能力和财务状况

5.hurricane-prone

adj．容易受到飓风侵袭的：指某个地区或地方容易受到飓风的影响。

Para.3

But squint and there are lessons to glean . One is simply that old fashioned belt-tightening is possible. Poorer countries tend to rely on a mixture of growth and inflation to squash their government debt-to-GDP ratios. But Jamaica did it through sustained primary surpluses (an excess of revenues over spending, excluding debt interest payments). It is worth stressing just how extreme this was. In the 2010s, the Greeks howled about crushing conditions imposed by the Troika — the IMF, European Central Bank and European Commission — and eventually managed a primary surplus of about 4 per cent of GDP. After an IMF programme agreed in 2013, Jamaica’s exceeded 7 per cent of GDP for seven straight years.

但是，如果定睛一看，就会发现一些值得学习的教训。其中一个简单的教训就是，传统的紧缩开支的政策是可行的。更贫困的国家往往依靠经济增长和通货膨胀的组合来减少政府债务与国民生产总值的比率。但牙买加通过持续的基本财政盈余（即财政收入超过支出，不包括债务利息支出）来实现这一目标。值得强调，这种情况有多么极端。在21世纪10年代，希腊曾怒声抗议由国际货币基金组织、欧洲央行和欧洲委员会组成的三驾马车施加的沉重条件，最终仅实现了大约占国民生产总值4%的财政盈余。在2013年通过国际货币基金组织的计划后，牙买加的财政盈余连续七年超过了国民生产总值的7%。

1.squint

/skwɪnt/

vi. 眯眼看；斜视；窥视；偏移

n. 斜视；斜孔小窗；一瞥

adj. 斜视的；斜的

2.glean

/ɡliːn/

vt. 收集(资料)；拾(落穗)

3.belt-tightening

n. 紧缩开支

4.primary surpluses 基本财政盈余

5.howl

/haʊl/

n. (狗、狼等)嗥叫，长嚎; (痛苦、愤怒、快乐的)嚎叫，咆哮; (狂风的)怒号，呼啸; 颤噪效应

v. (狗、狼等)嗥叫，长嚎; (因疼痛、愤怒、开心等)大声叫喊; (风)怒号，呼啸; 怒吼，怒声要求; 嚎哭

6.Troika

/ˈtrɔɪkə/

n. 三驾马车；三头政治

Para.4

How did they do it? Circumstances, perhaps. At its outset , Jamaica’s path looked highly unlikely. A reputation for fiscal mismanagement meant that in 2012 the government was desperate, cut off from international markets and facing the cold shoulder from the IMF. Peter Blair Henry of Stanford University and one of the study’s authors, gives some credit to strong leadership. In an earlier study, Henry’s co-authors, Serkan Arslanalp of the IMF and Barry Eichengreen of the University of California, Berkeley, found hints of a more general lesson. Divided government seems to make primary surpluses less likely, presumably as it makes politicians more likely to bicker over who should bear the burden of spending cuts or tax rises.

他们是怎么做到的？也许是情况所迫。一开始的时候，牙买加（削减政府债务）的道路看起来非常不可能。因财政管理不善而声名狼藉，使得2012年政府陷入绝境，被国际市场隔绝，同时遭受国际货币基金组织的冷遇。斯坦福大学的彼得·布莱尔·亨利是这项研究的作者之一，他把一些成绩归因于强有力的领导力。亨利的合著者、国际货币基金组织的塞尔坎·阿尔斯拉纳尔普和加州大学伯克利分校的巴里·艾森格林在早前的一项研究中，发现了一些更普世的教训。翻译划线句，在文末留言打卡，答案下期公布~

1.outset

/ˈaʊtˌsɛt/

n. 开始，开端

2.cold shoulder 冷落；冷遇

3.bicker over 为…争吵

Para.5

外刊阅读20240422｜如何削减政府债务

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