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Economist 2020 July#

目录#

1. Finance#

1.1. Trade without trust#

  • Summary

America and Britain do not trust Huawei's devices because they think those devices were subsidized and designed to aid spying. However, China is too big to break up with in business. So, America and those countries who have the same concern need to figure out a new way that they can cooperate with China with the so-called safety.

  • Vocabulary:

  • pioneer

n. 先锋；拓荒者

vt. 开辟；倡导；提倡

vi. 作先驱

Eg: TikTok could be a pioneer.

  1. gear

n. 档位；齿轮；设备；装备；衣物

v. 使适合

  1. confine

vt. 限制；监禁

n. （尤指某个地方限制行动自由的）边界；（尤指学科或活动领域的）范围；约束；限制

Eg: Britain, which works closely with America on intelligence, created a "cell" of cyber-expert to monitor Huawei's gear in 2010 and, later, confined it to less sensitive parts of the network.

  1. regime

n. 政权，政体；社会制度；管理体制

Eg: Instead a new trade regime is needed that acknowledges China's nature.

  1. autonomy

n. 人身自由；自治；自治权

  1. subsidiary

adj. 辅助的，次要的；附属的；子公司的

n. 子公司；辅助者

复数：subsidiaries

Eg: Chinese firms should also be required to accept open governance of their big subsidiaries in the West, including local shareholders, foreign directors and managers with real autonomy.

1.2. Blessed are the rich in spirit#

  • Summary

The richer you are, the better life you may have. The correlation between GDP per person and Gallup's measures of well-being is obvious.

  • Vocabulary

  • gauge

n. 厚度, 直径

测量仪表

规格, 尺度

vt. 计量, 度量

估计, 判断

Eg: GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP), the most common gauge of national prosperity, has taken a lot of flak in recent years.

  1. leisure

n. 闲暇；空闲；安逸

adj. 空闲的；有闲的；业余的

Eg: They also note that GDP ignores other aspects of development, including personal health, leisure time and happiness.

  1. correlate

vt. & vi. 有相关性

Eg: These criticisms probably exaggerate GDP's failure to capture the wealth of nations. Gallup, a pollster, has asked people in 145 countries about various aspects of well-being. Many of these correlate strongly with GDP per person.

  1. extent

n. 长度, 面积, 范围

程度, 限度

Eg: Scholars disagree over the extent to which national wealth itself causes contentment.

对于国家财富本身能在多大程度上带来满足感，学者们意见不一。

  1. paradox

n. 似非而是的论点；悖论，反论；自相矛盾的人或事

Eg: Some countries' citizens have remained glum even as GDP per person has risen, a paradox noted by Richard Easterlin, an American economist.

  1. recession

n. 经济衰退; 不景气

后退; 撤退; 撤回

Eg: Studies of the previous global recession in 2009 suggest that economic hardship does indeed lead to emotional woe.

  1. staple

n. 主要产品；钉书钉；主题；主食

vt. 用钉书钉钉住；把……分级

adj.主要的，大宗生产的；常用的；纺织纤维的

Eg: Adam Mayer of Colorado State University found that among Europeans of similar wealth and education, those who had recently become unemployed and struggled to buy staple foods (主食) had the worst outlook on life.

  1. probe

n. 探针；调查

vi. 调查；探测

vt. 探查；用探针探测

Eg: Covid-19 will allow economists to probe this pattern further.

  1. toll

vt. 征收；敲钟

n. 通行费；代价；钟声

vi. 鸣钟；征税

The virus's human toll is therefore vast in terms of deaths and dollars.

因此，就死亡人数和经济损失而言，该病毒造成的人员损失是巨大的。

  1. endure

vt. 忍耐；容忍

vi. 忍耐；持续

Eg: But given the correlation between GDP per person and Gallup's measures of well—being, it may have an enduring impact on the world’s quality of life too.

2. Business#

2.1. E-shopping frenzy#

  • Summary

China's E-shopping frenzy has spawned TAMP, refers to Tencent, Alibaba, Meituan, and Pinduoduo, which may take place of BAT, the former top internet companies.

  • Vocabulary

  • bust

v. 打破；炸破；猛烈打击；突击搜捕

n. 胸围；半身像；经济萧条；逮捕；没价值的事物

adj. 坏的；破产的

Eg: Yet in the eyes of many it remains "BAT or bust", to cite a saying among jobseekers from the country's elite universities.

  1. fusion

n. 融合；熔化；熔接；融合物；[物] 核聚变

  1. ascent

n. 上升；上坡路；登高

Eg: Central to the firm's ascent is the concept of social shopping, which it describes as a fusion of Costco and Disneyland.

  1. ferry

n. 渡船；摆渡；渡口

vt. （乘渡船）渡过；用渡船运送；空运

vi. 摆渡；来往行驶

Eg: Similarly to eBay but not many e-commerce giants, Pinduoduo does not hold inventory or operate its own logistics network, relying on merchants to ferry products to buyers.

  1. perpetually

adv. 永恒地，持久地

Eg: Uber, which also matches sellers (drivers) with buyers (riders), has been perpetually loss-making.

  1. therapy

n. 治疗，疗法

Eg: The pandemic appears to have done it no harm; cooped-up Chinese consumers have turned to the firm for necessities and, sometimes, a dose of retail therapy.

  1. negligible

adj. 微不足道的，可以忽略的

Eg: With negligible business outside China, it is, like Meituan, shielded from the Sino-American tech war making life difficult for TikTok, with it mostly non-Chinese users, or Huawei, China's telecoms champion.

  1. expel

vt. 驱逐；开除

  1. exchanges

n. 交易所， 票据交换总额；市场，外币兑换（exchange 复数形式）

Eg: White House threats to expel Chinese firms from American exchanges have not dampened investors' enthusiasm.

  1. embody

vt. 体现，使具体化；具体表达

Eg: Ultimately, both firms embody the excitement over digital China's bright prospect.

2.2. The battle for low-Earth orbit#

  • Summary

If Starlink plan finally succeed, it may share a market worth from $50bn to $120bn or more.

  • Vocabulary

  • spectacle

n. 景象；场面；奇观；壮观；盛大的演出；（复）眼镜

Eg: In the past few years a new spectacle has appeared, in the form of the Satrlink satellites.

  1. resemble

vt. 类似，像

Eg: Launched in batches by SpaceX, an American rocketry firm founded by Elon Musk, the tech billionaire behind Tesla's electric cars, they resemble nothing else in the heavens, floating like a train of white dots in tight formation.

  1. stagnant

adj. 停滞的；不景气的；污浊的；迟钝的

Eg: The market for launches is small and stagnant.

  1. beam

n. 横梁；光线；电波；船宽；[计量] 秤杆

vt. 发送；以梁支撑；用…照射；流露

vi. 照射；堆满笑容

Eg: Those satellites visible from Schumpeter's garden are the vanguard (先锋) of a planned constellation (星座) of over 1,000, designed to beam the internet to every corner of the globe.

  1. village

n. 村庄；村民；（动物的）群落

  1. rural

adj. 农村的，乡下的；田园的，有乡村风味的

Eg: It could serve poorly connected villages in rural Africa (or rural America for that matter), as well as oil rigs or cargo ships at sea.

  1. descendant

n. 后裔，子孙；（由过去类似物发展来的）派生物；（机器等）后继型产品

adj. 下降的；祖传的

The first call on its network was between Al Gore, then America's vice-president, and a distant descendant of Alexander Graham Bell.

  1. swamp

n. 沼泽，低地，水洼；湿地；（用于强调）某地的浸水程度；进退两难的困境

v. 使不堪承受，使疲于应对，使应接不暇；淹，淹没；（船）被水吞没，沉没；使陷入困境

Eg: Nine months later the firm went bust, swamped by th upfront capital costs of launching satellites.

  1. sophisticated

adj. 复杂的；精致的；久经世故的；富有经验的

v. 使变得世故；使迷惑；篡改（sophisticate的过去分词形式）

Britain has long tried to nurture its small but sophisticated space sector and OneWeb is notionally a British firm.

  1. dubious

adj. 可疑的；暧昧的；无把握的；半信半疑的

Eg: A bombastic (浮夸的) promise to build an al-British replacement, at a cost of ￡5bn($6.3bn) or more, looks dubious.

  1. spur

n. 马刺；鞭策；山嘴；（公路或铁路的）支线；骨刺

v. 用踢马刺驱马前进；激励；促进；紧贴主干剪短（副梢）

  1. monopoly

n. 垄断；垄断者；专卖权

Eg: In the meantime, competition from OneWeb would spur innovation and prevent SpaceX from settling into a celestial monopoly.

  1. entrepreneur

n. 企业家；承包人；主办者

形容词：entrepreneurial

adj. 企业家的，创业者的；中间商的

Eg: The politest description of its entrepreneurial record is "spotty" -- just ask owner of clunkers (破车) such as an Austin Allegro or Morris Marina, produced after the partial nationalisation (国有化) in 1968 of British Leyland.

  1. keep (one) on (one's) toes

(使）保持警惕；集中注意力

To force someone to stay active, alert, and focused on something or someone.

Eg: But if OneWeb keeps Mr Musk on his toes even for a little while, their loss may turn out to be global consumers' gain.

3. Technology#

3.1. Maching, learning#

  • Summary

The cost to train an AI model is rising rapidly in recent years. KPMG reckons the market for specialized AI chips, which is more effective in training AI, worth around $10bn, and could reach $80bn by 2025. With Moore's law's failing, existing computing power may not satisfy the booming needs of AI.However, there are two solutions to solve it, Quantum computing and biology computing technologies.

  • Vocabulary

  • balloon

vi. 激增；膨胀如气球

n. 气球

vt. 使像气球般鼓起；使激增

adj. 像气球般鼓起的

Eg: A combination of ballooning complexity and competition means costs at the cutting edge are rising sharply.

  1. fold

vt. 折叠；合拢；抱住；笼罩

n. 折痕；羊栏；信徒

vi. 彻底失败；折叠起来

Eg: By 2018, the computer power used to train big models had risen 300,000-fold, and was doubling every three and a half months.

  1. scarce

adj. 缺乏的, 罕见的

Eg: Deep and steep Computing power used in training AI systems are scarce.

  1. flush

vt. & vi. 冲刷, 清除

面红耳赤; (使)脸红

adj. 齐平的, 同高的

(尤指钱)充裕的, 富裕的

n. 冲洗, 清洗

脸红; 激动; 喜悦

  1. pinch

vt. 捏；勒索；使苦恼；掐掉某物，修剪

n. 匮乏；少量；夹痛

vi. 夹痛；节省

Eg: Those less flush with cash are feeling the pinch.

那些现金没那么充裕的公司就感到肉痛了。

  1. chip

n. 碎片

缺口

炸马铃薯条

集成电路片

vt. & vi. (使)切掉碎片

Eg: The growing demand for computing power has fuelled a boom in chip design and specialized devices that can perform the calculations used in AI efficiently.

  1. reckon

vt. 猜想; 估计

〈非正〉思忖; 设想

考虑; 认为

〈正〉计算

Eg: Alfonso Marone at KPMG reckons the market for specialized AI chips is already worth around $10bn, and could reach $80bn by 2025.

  1. opine

vt. 以为；想

vi. 以为；想；表示意见

Eg: Last year Jensen Huang, Nvidia's founder, opined bluntly that "Moore's law isn’t possible any more".

  1. exotic

adj. 由外国引进的, 非本地的

奇异的, 醒目的, 吸引人的

Eg: Other researchers are therefore looking at more exotic ideas.

  1. brute

adj. 无理性的；残忍的

n. 畜生；残暴的人

Eg: Another idea is to take inspiration from biology, which proves that current brute—force (暴力破解) approaches are not the only way.

  1. foresee

vt. 预知；预见

形容词： foreseeable

Eg: That means that, for the foreseeable future, AI researchers will have to squeeze every drop of performance from existing computing technologies.

  1. analogy

n. 类似, 相似

类推, 类推法

Eg: To quantify the nascent field's progress, he offers an analogy with video games: "We're past Pong,” he says.

  1. intuitive

adj. 有直觉力的;凭直觉获知的

  1. counter

n. 柜台, 柜台式长桌

计数器

vt. & vi. 对抗, 反驳

adv. 反方向地, 对立地

Eg: One is quantum computing, which uses the counter-intuitive (adj. 反直觉的；违反语感的) properties of quantum mechanics to provide big speed-ups for some sorts of computation.

  1. diameter

n. 直径

放大率

Eg: Chips are usually made in batches, with dozens or hundreds etched onto standard silicon wafers 300mm in diameter.

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