BEC阅读练习：欧洲央行宣布无限期维持宽松政策

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　　原文阅读：欧洲央行宣布无限期维持宽松政策

　　The European Central Bank declared that it would maintain an easy monetary policy stance “as long as needed” while the eurozone battles record unemployment and shrinking economic activity.

　　“Our monetary policy will remain accommodative as long as needed,” Mario Draghi, ECB president, said during his monthly press conference.

　　Barclays analysts said in a note: “This commitment to an ‘open-ended’ policy is something new, showing the ECB’s desire to see market rates remain close to zero despite the ongoing improvement in financial markets’ confidence towards the euro area.”

　　The Federal Reserve has said interest rates will remain near zero until US unemployment falls to at least 6.5 per cent. While Mr Draghi described high unemployment as a “tragedy”, the ECB has no mandate to target joblessness.

　　Mr Draghi has consistently struck a gently upbeat tone on the eurozone’s prospects, despite being careful to say repeatedly that the risks to the outlook “remain on the downside”.“The recovery path is by and large unchanged,” he said. “Later in 2013 economic activity should gradually recover, supported by a strengthening of global demand.”

　　However, the bank’s own staff projections paint a gloomy picture. The quarterly forecasts for growth were revised down again. They now predict a contraction of 0.5 per cent this year, from a fall of 0.3 per cent previously. More alarmingly for a central bank whose sole policy target is price stability, the ECB is now forecasting inflation to slow to 1.6 per cent this year and 1.3 per cent next year, short of its “close to, but below” 2 per cent medium-term target.

　　“The get-out-of-jail card for the ECB with these forecasts has been to suggest that they are merely an input for their discussions, so they can go on to ignore them,” Ken Wattret, economist at BNP Paribas, said. “But it is stretching credibility for a central bank with onemandate to ignore its own current inflation projections.”

　　学习指南：

　　1.Word of the day

　　accommodative：willing to adjust to differences in order to obtain agreement 适应的

　　ex: "Highly accommodative monetary policies are fast becoming a threat to price stability," it concluded.

　　例句：报告的结论是："各国非常宽松的货币政策正在迅速地威胁到价格的稳定性。"

　　小编注：accommodative是由accommodate一词衍生而来，有多种意思，比如to adapt, to reconcile适应、调节，就和accommodative含义相似，因此accommodative也能用adaptive来作为近义词。accommodate比较陌生的用法是留宿、收容，即provide housing for。

　　ex1:For your convenience and comfort, we accommodate you in one of the company's villas for foreign visitors.

　　例1：考虑到您的方便和舒适，您可以居住在公司的外宾专用别墅。

　　ex2:Her eyes took a while to accommodate to the darkness.

　　例2：过了一会儿，她的眼睛才能适应黑暗。

　　2.Phrase of the day

　　by and large：For the most part; generally 总体上

　　ex: By and large, this inclination towards optimism is one of America's strengths.

　　例句：总的来说，这种乐观倾向是美国的长处之一。

　　小编注：这是一个很常用的词组，但是很多中国人却并不熟悉。这个词组和generally, in general, on the whole, mostly, usually, as a rule等是近义词，可以增加用词的多样性。

　　3.Sentence of the day

　　However, the bank’s own staff projections paint a gloomy picture.

　　然而，欧洲央行内部人员并不看好欧元区前景。

　　小编注：paint a gloomy picuture这是对“不看好”的一个很形象的表达。比起用not这样的负面词汇，这样的表达不仅形象而且更符合英美文化习惯。同时，gloomy在这里也可以换成其他形容词，比如同样表示悲观情绪的有paint a black/grim/mixed/bleak/disheartening/grey picutre等;表示乐观情绪的有paint a rosy/wonderful/positive/benign picture等;其他还有paint a full/clear/mixed picture等。

　　ex: The most recent Chinese economic data seem to paint a gloomy picture for oil.

　　例句：中国最新的经济数据似乎为其原油需求蒙上了一层阴影。

　　4.Cultural point of the day

　　get-out-of-jail card 出狱卡

　　小编注：这里想说的是另一个和jail有关的词，bailout，这个词在08年美国次贷危机之后，常常出现在各大报纸头条，甚至还成了当年的年度热词，大家并不陌生。bail一词原指保释金，bail sb.out就是保释某人，bailout就是帮助某人脱困，尤指在经济方面。因此，bailout在当年各大报纸中有翻译成“救助”的，更有直接译成“救市”的。

　　5.Translation of the day

　　More alarmingly for a central bank whose sole policy target is price stability, the ECB is now forecasting inflation to slow to 1.6 per cent this year and 1.3 per cent next year, short of its “close to, but below” 2 per cent medium-term target.

　　对于唯一政策目标在于稳定物价的欧洲央行来说，更令人担忧的是，该行预测欧元区今年通胀率将降至1.6%，明年为1.3%，低于“接近但低于”2%的中期通胀目标。

　　小编注：这是一句长难句的翻译。分析句子结构会发现，第一句是从句，但是在从句中还嵌了一句从句，第二句是主句，第三句又是一句从句。因此在翻译时要先理清关系，一句句解套。先把第二层从句(whose sole policy target is price stability)给翻译出来，即“欧洲央行的唯一政策目标是稳定物价”，然后再依次翻译即可。

　　参考翻译：

　　The European Central Bank declared that it would maintain an easy monetary policy stance “as long as needed” while the eurozone battles record unemployment and shrinking economic activity.

　　欧元区正与创纪录的失业率和经济萎缩抗争，欧洲央行(ECB)宣布将维持宽松货币政策，“延续时间视需要而定”。

　　“Our monetary policy will remain accommodative as long as needed,” Mario Draghi, ECB president, said during his monthly press conference.

　　欧洲央行行长马里奥•德拉吉(Mario Draghi)在每月一次的新闻发布会上表示：“我们将维持宽松货币政策，延续时间视需要而定。”

　　Barclays analysts said in a note: “This commitment to an ‘open-ended’ policy is something new, showing the ECB’s desire to see market rates remain close to zero despite the ongoing improvement in financial markets’ confidence towards the euro area.”

　　巴克莱(Barclays)在一份研究报告中表示：“欧洲央行承诺实施一项‘无明确终止时间的’政策是一件新事物，这表明，尽管眼下金融市场对欧元区的信心正在回升，该行仍希望看到市场利率处于接近于零的水平。”

　　The Federal Reserve has said interest rates will remain near zero until US unemployment falls to at least 6.5 per cent. While Mr Draghi described high unemployment as a “tragedy”, the ECB has no mandate to target joblessness.

　　美联储(Fed)曾表示，联邦基金利率将维持在接近于零的水平，直到失业率至少下降到6.5%时为止。尽管德拉吉将高失业率称为一场“悲剧”，但欧洲央行无权设定失业率目标。

　　Mr Draghi has consistently struck a gently upbeat tone on the eurozone’s prospects, despite being careful to say repeatedly that the risks to the outlook “remain on the downside”.“The recovery path is by and large unchanged,” he said. “Later in 2013 economic activity should gradually recover, supported by a strengthening of global demand.”

　　德拉吉一直在发表对欧元区的谨慎乐观看法，不过他小心地重申，欧元区“仍未摆脱下滑风险”。他表示：“在全球需求扩大的支撑下，2013年下半年欧元区经济应会逐渐复苏。”

　　However, the bank’s own staff projections paint a gloomy picture. The quarterly forecasts for growth were revised down again. They now predict a contraction of 0.5 per cent this year, from a fall of 0.3 per cent previously. More alarmingly for a central bank whose sole policy target is price stability, the ECB is now forecasting inflation to slow to 1.6 per cent this year and 1.3 per cent next year, short of its “close to, but below” 2 per cent medium-term target.

　　然而，欧洲央行内部人员并不看好欧元区前景，季度增长预期再度向下调整。他们预测，今年欧元区经济将收缩0.5%，先前预测的收缩幅度为0.3%。对于唯一政策目标在于稳定物价的欧洲央行来说，更令人担忧的是，该行预测欧元区今年通胀率将降至1.6%，明年为1.3%，低于“接近但低于”2%的中期通胀目标。

　　“The get-out-of-jail card for the ECB with these forecasts has been to suggest that they are merely an input for their discussions, so they can go on to ignore them,” Ken Wattret, economist at BNP Paribas, said. “But it is stretching credibility for a central bank with one mandate to ignore its own current inflation projections.”

　　法国巴黎银行(BNP Paribas)经济学家肯•瓦特瑞特(Ken Wattret)表示：“做出上述预测的欧洲央行向来有一张‘出狱卡’，那就是声明预测数据仅供讨论之用，因此可以继续不予理会。但是，如果一家唯一政策目标是稳定物价的央行不重视自家目前的通胀率预期，它的信誉不免受损。”