good good study

心上焦

a day after the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets plunged more than 7 percent, China’s central bank cut interest rates on Saturday and reduced the reserves that certain banks must hold.

心上焦

Loosening credit standards is an odd way to deflate a credit bubble. But China’s credit market is particularly scary because of its shadow banking system. A change that lets banks lend more could allow sunshine in.

用放松信贷标准来抑制信贷泡沫是一种怪异的做法。但中国的信贷市场因其影子银行体系而格外令人担忧。让银行增加放贷的政策转变可以让阳光照射进来。

心上焦

Late on Wednesday, China’s State Council said that it plans to remove the upper limit on banks’ loan to deposit ratio (LDR). Current rules stop banks from lending once loans reach 75 per cent of the deposit base. Removal of this cap should mean more loans. But most estimates find that the system’s average LDR is between 66 and 72 per cent. So credit has not necessarily been constrained by this policy alone. Slowing economic activity has crimped demand; loan quotas and banks’ risk aversion have capped supply.

周三晚些时候，中国国务院宣布，计划取消银行贷存比上限。现行规定禁止银行在贷款达到存款基础的75%时继续放贷。取消这一上限应该会意味着放贷增加。但多数评估发现，中国银行业平均贷存比处于66%至72%之间。因此，信贷未必只受到这一规定的约束。经济活动放缓减少了贷款需求；贷款额度和银行的避险心理则限制了贷款供应。

心上焦

More interesting is the potential impact on consumers and small businesses. The banks prefer to make loans to state-owned entities. These are easier to securitise, removing them from the LDR measurement. More capacity allows more lending to smaller customers, which source loans expensively in the grey market.
更有意思的是该政策对消费者和小企业的潜在影响。银行倾向于贷款给国有企业。这些贷款更容易证券化，使它们不被纳入贷存比计算之中。银行放贷能力增强，可以向规模较小的客户发放更多贷款，后者通常在灰色市场以较高的成本借贷。

心上焦

Now, with the Federal Reserve preparing to raise interest rates and the Chinese stock market suffering big losses, capital flow trends have taken on even greater importance. Higher US rates are likely to draw capital out of China and other emerging markets, which could place even greater downward pressure on Chinese share prices.

心上焦

Since 2008, China has been the motor of the world. The travails of its stock market add to evidence that this motor is spluttering.

心上焦

Debt issued to fund mergers and acquisitions has reached a record high, as companies look to take advantage of cheap financing ahead of a rise in US interest rates.

为并购融资发行的债券规模达到创纪录高位，原因在于各企业希望在美国加息前利用廉价融资。

心上焦

Low borrowing costs, driven down by central banks’ quantitative easing programmes, provide an opportunity to create a return for shareholders via debt-financed mergers and acquisitions, as well as share buybacks.

央行的量化宽松计划推低了借款成本，这给通过由债券融资的并购以及股票回购为股东创造回报提供了机会。

心上焦

When Professor Randy Pausch took a month off work for his honeymoon, his boss at Carnegie Mellon University insisted that he be reachable. So he recorded a message for when people tried to call. On it he explained that he’d waited until 39 to get married. Then he gave the names of his new in-laws and the town they lived in, so a caller could get their number from directory assistance. Then, lastly: “If you can convince my in-laws that your emergency merits interrupting their only daughter’s honeymoon, they have our number.”

当兰迪波许(Randy Pausch)教授为了度蜜月而休假一个月时，他在卡内基梅隆大学(Carnegie Mellon University)的老板坚持要能联系上他。因此，他为打电话找他的人录了一段语音留言。在留言中，他解释说，自己一直等到39岁才结婚。然后，他说出了自己岳父母的名字及他们居住的小镇，这样来电者可以从查号服务台查到他们的电话号码。最后他说：“如果你能说服我岳父母，你的紧急情况值得打断他们的独女的蜜月，他们有我们的电话。”

心上焦

I was thinking about this clever out-of-office notification as I tried to construct my own in email form. Prof Pausch’s honeymoon message is a story from a more technologically innocent age — it was about 15 years ago, which is at least 100 in internet years. Back then, aside from the hurdles put in place by determined honeymooners, there were also plausible reasons to be out of touch. Now, technology is so good that it’s ruined our favourite excuses for not being reachable. Writing that one has “limited” or “intermittent” access to email is usually no more than a declaration that one intends to be choosy about dealing with it.

当我试图构思我自己的“不在办公室”自动回复电子邮件时，我脑子里在想的就是这个聪明的“不在办公室”通知。波许教授的蜜月留言是科技还不那么发达时代的故事——发生在大约15年前，如果用互联网年计算，至少相当于100年前。那时候，除了决心度蜜月的新婚夫妇设置的障碍，也有其他貌似合理的理由失去联系。如今，科技如此发达，以至于已经毁掉了我们在希望不被打扰时最喜欢使用的借口。写下自己只能“有限地”或“间歇地”访问电子邮箱，通常无异于宣布你打算有选择性地处理电子邮件。

心上焦

Provided colleagues heeded the warnings, such functionality would be a boon to those of us who have poor self-control when it comes to unplugging from the Matrix. It would also, however, provide the added bonus of making it abundantly clear who the most and least helpful people are when we are attempting down time.

如果你的同事听从了这些警告，这样的功能对于那些难以从旅行中收心、自制力较差的人将是一个福音。然而，它还将提供额外的好处：让你充分认清在你想要休息时，谁是最帮忙的，谁是最添乱的。

心上焦

On Line Planning Education?? Boon or Burden?
在线规划教育：是好处还是负担？

心上焦

Perhaps in the year after the release of a new add-in to Gmail or Outlook that provides this tool, the survey for the 100 Best Companies to Work For could include a Jerk Index measuring the number of out-of-office notices heeded versus overridden.

也许在提供这种工具的Gmail或Outlook新插件发布之后，对100家最佳雇主(Best Companies to Work For)的调查可能包括一项“傻瓜指数”(Jerk Index)——测算 “不在办公室通知”被听从的与被无视的数量之比。

心上焦

If the message says “no access” and the person replies to anything, this system will send them an image of US talk-show host Maury Povich along with the text: “Your out-of-office said that you wouldn’t be replying to emails. The fact that you replied determined that was a lie.”

如果留言说“无法访问”邮箱，而此人又回复所有邮件，该系统将给他们发送一张美国脱口秀主持人莫里波维奇(Maury Povich)的照片，并附上文字：“你的‘不在办公室’留言说你不会回复邮件。而你回复了，说明那是一个谎言。”

As for my own message, I decided on something non-committal. Until technology catches up, I might as well keep my options open. Oh, and I left Person B out of it. He’s not in anyway.

至于我自己的“不在办公室”留言，我决定含糊其辞。在科技手段还不足的时候，我还是保留自己的选择权吧。噢，我也没有设置乙为紧急联系人。反正他也休假了。

心上焦

With the Chinese economy slowing and its stock market bubble bursting, debate is raging inside and outside the country about how to ensure the most populous nation remains the biggest driver of global growth.

随着中国经济放缓和股市泡沫破裂，境内外人士展开了一场激烈辩论，焦点是如何确保这个人口最多的国家继续充当全球增长的最大推动力？

心上焦

Probably the only thing on which all sides agree is that a return to the collectivist totalitarianism of the Maoist era economics would be a bad idea.

各方唯一同意的一点很可能是，回到毛泽东时代的集体主义/极权主义经济范式将是一个馊主意。

But according to research by four prominent economists, maybe Chinese policymakers should not be too quick to rule that out.

但是，根据四位知名经济学家的研究，中国的政策制定者也许不应太快排除这个选项。

心上焦

“Our model is essentially an accounting exercise that allows us to uncover the key factors of growth in China during and after the Mao era,” said Aleh Tsyvinski, a professor of economics at Yale and co-author of the report.

“我们的模型本质上是一次会计练习，让我们能够发现中国在毛时代期间和之后的经济增长的关键因素，”耶鲁大学经济学家、报告的作者之一艾勒奇温斯基(Aleh Tsyvinski)表示。

心上焦

China's central bank devalued its currency Tuesday in what it said was a one-time move to make rates more market-oriented.

中国的中央银行星期二宣布人民币贬值，同时表示这是一次性举措，目的是让人民币汇率更符合市场状况。

心上焦

The yuan is allowed to fluctuate 2 percent above or below a central point set daily by the People's Bank of China (PBOC). The PBOC cut the central rate by 1.9 percent as a result of the change that it said would enhance "the market-orientation and benchmark status of central parity."

心上焦

Beginning Tuesday, the PBOC said the central point would reflect the previous day's closing price "in conjunction with demand and supply condition in the foreign exchange market and exchange rate movement of the major currencies."

中国人民银行说，从星期二开始，人民币中间价将反映上一天的收盘价，并综合考虑外汇市场的供求状况以及各主要货币汇率的浮动情况。

心上焦

drop in the yuan will make China's exports cheaper overseas. Tuesday's move follows the announcement that July exports were down more than 8 percent from the same time last year.

人民币贬值将使中国出口产品的价格更低。在中国人民银行星期二决定人民币贬值之前，中国公布的数据显示7月份出口额比去年同期减少8%以上。

囡囡爸

这个英文把青梅竹马的意思都翻译错了。

心上焦

囡囡爸 发表于 2015-8-12 13:53
这个英文把青梅竹马的意思都翻译错了。

应该怎么翻？有破有立才好嘛。

囡囡爸

心上焦 发表于 2015-8-12 13:54
应该怎么翻？有破有立才好嘛。

“竹马”翻译成了木马，竹马其实就是一根竹竿，小孩子夹在两腿中间当马骑。“床”是指围栏，扶手，或者带扶手的东西，这里翻译成椅子不是最合适，围栏更加合适。“弄”应该翻译成get。

心上焦

有一种床叫胡床。

心上焦

好像我拿到了一个烂题目，给出了个好答案。

心上焦

China has sharply weakened the renminbi, moving the currency almost 2 per cent in a one-off move that in theory will make the tightly managed currency more responsive to market movements.

中国大幅调降了人民币汇率，通过一个一次性举措让人民币贬值了近2%。理论上说，这一举措将使受到严格管制的人民币汇率能对市场走势作出更灵敏的反应。

心上焦

The central bank’s move pushed the renminbi’s “daily fix” to Rmb6.2298 against the dollar, compared with a Rmb6.1162 rate the day before. The 1.9 per cent move was its biggest one-day change in the decade since China abandoned its tight currency peg for a managed float.

中国央行此举将人民币“汇率中间价”压低至1美元兑6.2298元人民币。而此前一天的汇率中间价为1美元兑6.1162元人民币。自中国放弃人民币严格盯住美元的汇率制度、转向有管理的浮动以来，这一达1.9%的调整幅度是这十年中最大的单日调增幅度。

心上焦

Before Tuesday the biggest shift this year had been a 0.16 per cent adjustment.

本周二前，今年最大的单日调整幅度也不过才0.16%。

心上焦

While currency markets were looking for the renminbi to weaken, Tuesday’s move caught traders off guard.

尽管外汇市场存在人民币贬值的预期，但中国央行周二的举措还是令交易员们措手不及。

心上焦

If yesterday’s devaluation of the renminbi was China’s entry to the currency wars, it brought a knife to a gunfight. The currency fell 1.9 per cent against the dollar, which is the biggest daily fall since 1994 but barely makes a scratch in its rise of a fifth against both the yen and the euro since last summer.

如果昨日的人民币贬值表明中国进入货币战，那么这一举动无异于拿着匕首参加枪战。人民币兑美元中间价贬值1.9%，为自1994年以来的最大单日跌幅，但与自去年夏以来人民币对日元与欧元20%的升幅相比，显得微不足道。

心上焦

Traders are probably wrong to expect a series of government devaluations. People’s Bank of China policymakers may be part of a repressive autocracy, but they are not stupid: they know devaluations should be big one-off events, not a run of small cuts which encourage capital flight.

交易员如果预期中国政府会让人民币连续贬值，他们很可能会犯错。中国央行的政策制定者或许是压制性专制体制的一部分，但他们绝不愚蠢：他们清楚，贬值应该是较大幅的一次性举动，而不是连续多次小幅贬值，否则会导致资本外逃。

心上焦

Understanding China's consumer culture is a good starting point for understanding the nation itself, as it races toward superpower status. Though the country's economy and society are evolving rapidly, the underlying cultural blueprint has remained more or less constant for thousands of years. China is a Confucian society, a quixotic combination of top-down patriarchy and bottom-up social mobility. Citizens are driven by an ever-present conflict between standing out and fitting in, between ambition and regimentation. In Chinese society, individuals have no identity apart from obligations to, and acknowledgment by, others. The clan and nation are the eternal pillars of identity. Western individualism—the idea of defining oneself independent of society—doesn't exist。

随着中国迅速迈向超级大国，理解其消费文化是理解这个国家的良好开端。尽管这个国家的经济和社会正经历急速演变，但根本的文化底蕴却经历数千年基本没变。 中国是儒家社会，是自上而下的家长[微博]制度与自下而上的社会流动性匪夷所思的结合体。在中国，彰显个性总是与适应融入相冲突，野心勃勃与严守克己相矛盾，中国 人就是被这些矛盾驱动着。在中国社会，除了对他人的义务以及他人对自己的认可，个人是没有特性的。集体和国家是个人身份的永恒支柱。西方的个人主义，即赋予个人独立于社会之外意义的概念，在中国是不存在的。

心上焦

Various youth subtribes intermittently bubble to the surface—see the recent rise of "vegetable males" (Chinese metrosexuals) and "Taobao maniacs" (aficionados of the auction website Taobao). But self-expression is generally frowned upon, and societal acknowledgment is still tantamount to success. Liberal arts majors are considered inferior to graduates with engineering or accounting degrees. Few dare to see a psychologist for fear of losing "face"—the respect or deference of others—or being branded sick. Failure to have a child is a grave disappointment。

各种各样的青年群体时不时地浮出水面，看看“都市玉男”以及“淘宝狂人”的兴起就知道了。但自我表达一般都会遭到反感，社会认可仍等同于“成功”。文科生被认为不如拥有工程或财会学位的毕业生。因为担心“丢脸”或被打上有病的标签，很少人敢去看心理医生。不能生孩子是令人失望的严重问题。

心上焦

Emperor Akihito has expressed “deep remorse” for Japan’s wartime actions, marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war with language that deviated from previous years.

日本明仁天皇(Emperor Akihito)对日本的战时行为表示“深刻反省”。天皇在纪念第二次世界大战结束70周年时所用的措辞与往年有所不同。

心上焦

The 81-year-old emperor‘s words of regret were delivered following a minute’s silence at noon. At the same moment in 1945, his father Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender.

在正午默哀一分钟后，现年81岁的天皇发表了表示悔意的讲话。1945年的此时此刻，他的父亲裕仁天皇(Hirohito)宣布日本投降。

心上焦

“Reflecting on our past and bearing in mind the feelings of deep remorse over the last war, I earnestly hope that the ravages of war will never be repeated,” the emperor said on Saturday. The ceremony in Tokyo to remember the war dead was also attended by Empress Michiko and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

“在回顾过去、对先前战争深刻反省的基础上，我殷切期盼战争惨祸不再重演，”天皇在上周六表示。美智子皇后(Empress Michiko)和安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)首相也出席了在东京举行的纪念战死者的仪式。

心上焦

Every year on Aug 15, the emperor has stuck to the same script using the phrase “deep sorrow.” But it is believed to be the first time that he used the word “remorse” for the annual speech. His statement was also longer this year with new wording on the public’s commitment to peace.

每年8月15日，天皇都在讲话中使用“深深悲痛”这个措辞。但据信这是他第一次在年度演讲中使用“反省”一词。今年他的演讲篇幅也更长，在日本公众向往和平这一点上有新的表述。

心上焦

“Seventy years have passed since the end of the war, and our country today enjoys peace and prosperity, thanks to the ceaseless efforts made by the people of Japan towards recovery from the devastation of the war and towards development, always backed by their earnest desire for the continuation of peace,” the emperor said.

“战争结束已经过去了70年，今天我们的国家享有和平与繁荣，这要归功于日本人民对于战后重建、对于发展作出的不懈努力，支撑他们坚持下去的始终是他们对于保持和平的真诚愿望，”天皇表示。

心上焦

While the emperor is forbidden by constitution from having a political role, he has on several occasions expressed remorse for the war and used language that appeared to be more conciliatory to China and South Korea.

尽管宪法禁止天皇扮演任何政治角色，但明仁天皇已几次对战争表示反省，并使用看起来对中国和韩国更为安抚性的措辞。

心上焦

In his statement, Mr Abe did not refer directly to the suffering of so-called comfort women who were forced into prostitution by Japan’s army during the war, but he did make a fresh acknowledgment of the sexual violence that accompanied the war.

安倍晋三在他的讲话中没有直接提及慰安妇的苦难（这些妇女在战争期间被日本军队强迫提供性服务），但他确实对战争期间的性暴力作出了新的承认。

心上焦

The International Monetary Fund has decided that China’s currency will not be included in a basket of reserve currencies for at least a year, delaying a move some had expected to take place as soon as January even as it took pains to stress the decision was largely procedural.

国际货币基金组织(IMF)已决定，至少在一年内，人民币不会被纳入其储备货币篮子，尽管它竭力强调这一决定在很大程度上是出于程序上的原因。有些人曾预期IMF最早在明年1月就会把人民币纳入储备货币篮子，IMF的上述决定让这一天的到来向后推迟了。

心上焦

The bid for SDR inclusion is also among the factors cited by observers as being behind last week’s move by the People’s Bank of China to allow a greater role for markets in setting the daily trading band for the renminbi, which prompted the two biggest daily swings in the currency since the 1990s.

此外，观察人士指出，上周中国央行允许市场在设定人民币汇率的过程中发挥更大作用，背后的动机之一也是要推动将人民币纳入SDR货币篮子。中国央行上周的举措导致人民币汇率出现了自上世纪90年代以来的两个最大单日跌幅

心上焦

Seoul has accused Pyongyang of duplicity by strengthening its military posture this weekend even as negotiators from the two Koreas try to reverse a rise in tensions.

韩国指责朝鲜表里不一，称后者于上周末在两国谈判人员努力阻止紧张局势升级之际加大了军事部署。

心上焦

Senior officials on Sunday afternoon resumed bilateral talks that ran late into Saturday night without agreement, and which were prompted by a rare exchange of artillery fire this week.

上周，朝韩发生了罕见的相互炮击事件，两国为此举行了谈判，但直至上周六深夜仍未达成任何协议。上周日下午，两国高级官员再次举行谈判。

心上焦

Senior officials from both sides met on Saturday evening at the truce village of Panmunjeom, which straddles the inter-Korean border, to discuss measures to repair relations. At 4.15am the negotiators agreed to adjourn the talks and resume on Sunday afternoon.

上周六晚间，两国高级官员在位于朝韩边境的板门店“和平之家”会晤，讨论修复两国关系的举措。上周日凌晨4时15分，两国谈判人员同意暂时休会，并于当日下午重启谈判。

心上焦

Pyongyang instigates crises approximately twice per year, ratcheting up tensions, grabbing headlines and then fading away until the next bizarre or bellicose incident,” Christian Whiton, a former US envoy for North Korean human rights, wrote on Saturday for CNN. “Unfortunately, North Korea is getting better at creative aggression.”

美国前朝鲜人权问题特使克里斯蒂安惠顿(Christian Whiton)上周六为美国有线电视新闻网(CNN)撰稿时指出：“平壤方面几乎每年都会有两次挑起危机，加剧紧张局势，抢占新闻头条，随后偃旗息鼓，直至下一起古怪或挑衅的事件发生。遗憾的是，朝鲜对创造性挑衅越来越得心应手。”

心上焦

The bragging rights. The needlessly expensive bikes. The Lycra. What is there for a middle-aged man not to love about Ironman Triathlons?

吹牛的资本。过分昂贵的自行车。莱卡紧身衣。中年男人有什么理由不爱铁人三项呢？

心上焦

But can a company that runs a few races (even 141-mile ones) really be worth $650m? There are no publicly available figures for sales or profits.

但是，一家运营一些比赛项目（即使是长达141英里的赛跑）的公司真的值6.5亿美元吗？目前没有关于该公司销售或利润的公开数据。

心上焦

For anyone watching all this exertion from afar, there are two lessons. First, Mr Wang is still a big believer in the growth of the Chinese middle-class (even if stock market investors are starting to have their doubts). Second, do not underestimate the business potential of live events. They have helped to save the music business when many were predicting its demise.

当人们远观这一切努力时，可以从中学到两点。第一，王健林仍然对中国中产阶级的崛起深信不疑（即使股市投资者对此已经开始有所怀疑）。第二，不要低估现场活动的商业潜力。当很多人预测音乐产业即将终结时，是现场音乐(live music)帮助拯救了它。

Even in the age of mobile phones, tablets and smart watches, not all entertainment takes place via a screen.

即便是在手机、平板电脑和智能手表的时代，也并不是所有的娱乐活动都通过屏幕来进行。