自由貿易

　　2023復習正是強化復習階段，在考研英語中占了40分，所以考研英語閱讀是英語科目中重要的一項。名師老師曾建議過考研生需要堅持每天泛讀10-15分鐘的英文原刊。強烈推薦了雜志《經濟學人》.雜志中的文章也是考研英語的主要材料來源.希望考研考生認真閱讀，快速提高考研英語閱讀水平。 　　Free exchange 　　自由貿易 　　Tilted marine 　　傾斜的海運 　　New techniques show the damage done by subsidiesat the heart of global trade 　　新方法表明對航運業的補貼具有危害性 　　THERE is no better symbol of the benefits ofglobalization than the container ship. More than 9 billion tonnes of goods and materials weretransported by sea in 2023, with trade helping to lift global growth rates. Anever-expanding web of links connects rich and poor; developing countries now account foraround 60% of seaborne trade. But ships also show the rotten side of trade: protectionism.In 2006 China enacted a Long and Medium-Term Plan to enlarge its shipping industry by2023. It has been successful . New research shows its attempts to tiltmarkets may be having a bigger impact than previously thought. 　　沒有什么比集裝箱船更能代表全球化帶來的益處。2023年，超過90億噸的物資通過海運運輸，這些貿易加快了全球增長速度。發達地區與貧困地區之間的聯系不斷擴大，如今發展中國家占據了海運貿易的60%。然而，船舶市場依然顯現了貿易的消極一面：保護主義。2006年，中國頒布了一個截至2023年的以鼓勵航運業為目的的中長期規劃。這個計劃目前看來是成功的。近期調查顯示，中國試圖傾斜市場的行為可能比想象中更具沖擊力。 　　Protectionism in shipping is centuries old. In a 1905 study Royal Meeker, an Americaneconomist, explained how a system of subsidies developed under Elizabeth I. Rewards werebased on tonnage of ship, and included bounties paid to fishing boats heading for the NorthSea in search of herring. Adam Smith provided an early economic analysis in The Wealth ofNations, lamenting: It has, I am afraid, been too common for vessels to fit out for the solepurpose of catching, not the fish, but the bounty. The handouts distorted the shipbuildingindustry, resulting in an oversize fishing fleet and a misallocation of resources. 　　航運業保護主義已經有一百年的歷史了。美國經濟學家羅亞爾米克在1905年做的一項研究解釋了伊麗莎白一世在任期間的補貼制度是怎樣制定的。補貼是基于船舶噸位確定的，包括對駛往北海捕獲鯡魚的漁船提供的獎金。亞當斯密在《國富論》中給出了一個早期的經濟分析，他感嘆道：裝配船舶的唯一目的恐怕不是捕魚，而是為了得到津貼。救濟金扭曲了造船業，引致了捕撈船隊過于龐大、資源配置不當。 　　Far from avoiding the distortion Smith spotted, governments have been keen to nurture it.The early logic was military. A strong merchant fleet meant lots of boats that could becommandeered during times of war. One way to bolster shipping has been to grantlucrative contracts for postal delivery: Britain s Cunard lines benefited hugely from such adeal in the 1830s. Another method, used by both America and Japan in the early 1900s, waseasy finance, in the form of cut-price government loans. 　　與斯密所倡導的避免市場扭曲理論相悖甚遠，各國政府一直以來都熱衷于提供補貼。早期，對航運業提供補貼被認為可以為軍事服務。一個強大的商船隊意味著戰爭時期可以征用更多的船舶。鼓勵航運業的一種方法是允許簽訂利潤豐厚的郵遞合同：英國的丘納德航運公司在1830年的一筆郵遞交易中獲利甚多。另一種方法是以廉價政府貸款的形式為航運公司提供便捷的融資，這也是19世紀初美國和日本采取的政策。 　　Modern shipping subsidies are used to build economic heft rather than military might.Governments like shipping due to the knock-on effects of a booming yard. Modern ships arehuge and include up to 30,000 parts. Assembling them is labour-intensive,and so is making the parts that outside suppliers provide to the shipyards. A recent report byAmerica s Maritime Administration estimated that more than 107,000 people work in thecountry s heavily protected shipyards. Adding in the companies supporting the yards, and theshops and services that support these workers, the total ran to 400,000, an employmentmultiplier of 4. So, the idea is, by helping shipping a government indirectly supportsworkers in many other industries. 　　現在的航運補貼更多的則是為了加強經濟實力，而非軍事力量。各國政府青睞航運業是因為建造船廠能夠帶來一系列連鎖效應。現代船舶船型巨大，可囊括零部件多達3萬個。供應商制造向船廠提供的零部件，以及組裝這些部件都是勞動密集型的工作。根據美國海事局最近做的一份報告估計，超過10.7萬人在政府強烈保護的造船廠工作。加上這些造船廠的供應商，以及這些工人產生的商品和服務消費需求，總共拉動了40萬人的就業，就業乘數為4。因此，這樣一來通過加強航運業，政府間接拉動了其他行業的就業。 　　Yet economists views on subsidies have hardened over time. China s policy providessubsidies both for the construction of ships themselves and for the building or expansion ofshipyards. These interferences can distort trade, resulting in inefficient production. Indeciding whether a subsidy flouts trade rules the World Trade Organisation uses aprice gap approach. The idea is simple: if a country is producing and selling something at abig discount to what others are charging, there is probably something fishy going on. 　　然而，經濟學家們對政府補貼的態度越來越堅定。中國的政策是同時對建造船舶和建造、擴大船塢提供補貼。這些干預會扭曲貿易，導致生產效率低下。世界貿易組織用價格差的方法判定一項補貼是否違反貿易規則。道理很簡單：如果一國生產并出售某產品的價格遠低于其他國家的要價，這其中可能就有問題。 　　Price gaps provide a quick warning system, but are a poor way to judge the full extent ofsubsidies, according to a 2023 book by Usha and George Haley, of West Virginia Universityand the University of New Haven. It is a static approach, ignoring how demand for eachshipyard s differentiated products varies over time. It also fails to account for variations inefficiency. Whereas Chinese workers may be relatively cheap, large South Korean orJapanese shipyards exploit economies of scale that smaller Chinese yards cannot. Thebalance of all these factors, in addition to subsidies, should influence a shipyard s costs andprices. 　　根據烏莎和喬治海利在2023年發表的一本書，價格差提供了一個直觀警示機制，但它卻不能很好的判斷補貼的真實程度。價格差是個靜態方法，忽視了每個造船廠的不同產品的需求隨時間的變動。并且它也不能解釋生產效率的變動。雖然中國的勞動力可能相對更廉價，但韓國和日本的大型造船廠相對中國的小型造船廠擁有規模效應。除了補貼，這些因素的綜合作用也影響著造船廠的成本和定價。 　　Recognising this, a 2023 working paper by Myrto Kalouptsidi of Princeton University providesa new way to spot subsidies and measure their impact. Using detailed quarterly data onfactors like a shipyard s age, size, capacity and staffing levels Ms Kalouptsidi estimates costfunctionsthe relationship between a yard s output and its cost of productionfor 192 yardsacross China, Japan, South Korea and Europe. By analysing data between 2001 and 2023, shecan isolate the impact of China s 2006 policy. 　　鑒于上述原因，普林斯頓大學的學者Myrto Kalouptsidi于2023年在一份研究手稿中提出了一種考察補貼并衡量其影響的新方法。使用造船廠年齡、規模、容量、員工配備水平等因素的詳細季度數據，Kalouptsidi估計出了中國、日本、韓國以及歐洲的192個造船廠的成本函數。通過分析2001年到2023年的數據，她排除了中國2006年鼓勵航運業的政策的影響。 　　The results are striking. A simple price-gap approach shows that Chinese ships cost 7.3%less than rivals . Controlling for quality differencesChinese ships are seen as lower qualityand so should be around 3.5% cheaper, even in the absence of subsidiesgives a 4% gap,hardly justification for WTO rage. But Ms Kalouptsidi s estimates show this is just part of thestory. Government help artificially lowered Chinese firms costs by between 15-20%. The aidwill have included explicit subsidies and hidden benefits, such as tolerating losses atstate-owned yards. China s market share jumped as the policy was introduced . 　　結果是驚人的。簡單的價格差方法顯示中國船舶的生產成本相對其競爭對手低7.3%。考慮質量差異中國船舶被認為質量低下，即使沒有補貼也應該便宜將近3.5%最終產生了4%的價格差，這并不足以讓WTO動怒。但是Kalouptsidi的估測表明，這僅僅是表面現象。政府人為地援助中國企業將成本降低了15%到20%。這些援助包括顯性補貼和隱性福利，例如容許國有造船廠虧損經營。自從這種政策出臺，中國的市場份額顯著躍升。 　　As in Smith s day, this has shifted resources. By comparing the costs and productivity of theshipyards in her sample, Ms Kalouptsidi forecasts how the market might have developed inthe absence of China s subsidies. Her analysis points to a big resource reallocation: absentthe meddling, Japan s market share would have been around 30 percentage points higher.Since many South Korean or Japanese yards are more efficient than China s, it means thatthe true cost of ship production may well have risen. Bloated by subsidy, China s yards haveturned out a surfeit of vessels, often poorly matched to customers demands. 　　如同在斯密的時代，這種政策轉移了資源。Kalouptsidi女士通過比較她選取的樣本中的不同造船廠的成本和生產率，預測出了在中國不提供補貼的情況下市場的發展狀況。她分析提出了一個大幅變動的資源重置：如果沒有干預，日本的市場份額應該比現在高出大概30%。由于許多韓國和日本的造船廠比中國生產效率更高，這意味著船舶的真實生產成本可能已經抬高了。受到補貼的鼓勵，中國造船廠過度生產，常常與客戶需求不匹配。 　　All this suggests the WTO and other trade-watchers may need to refine their tools to helpidentify the full extent of subsidies. Other markets are ripe for this kind of analysis. Theglobal glut of solar panels owes much to protectionism, according to the Hayleys book.Steel markets are badly distorted by subsidies to producers, says the WTO. Subsidised solarpanels being exported aboard subsidised ships made from subsidised steel show just how farthose that seek free trade have to go. 　　這些都表明了WTO和其他的貿易研究者可能需要改進方法，以更好地判斷補貼的嚴重程度。其他市場已經具備使用上述分析方法的條件。根據海利的書，太陽能電池板在全球范圍內的供給過剩是由保護主義造成的。WTO認為，鋼材市場因為生產補貼而嚴重扭曲。用補貼的鋼材建造補貼的船舶，運輸出口補貼的太陽能電池板，看來那些追求自由貿易的人還有很長一段路要走。 　　詞語解釋 　　1.account for 對負有責任;對做出解釋 　　Jack could not account for his foolish mistake. 　　杰克無法解釋自己的愚蠢錯誤。 　　He has to account to the chairman for all the moneyhe spends. 　　他必須向主席說明他所花掉所有錢的去向。 　　2.attempt to 嘗試，企圖 　　These books attempt to explain why that is, and what, if anything, should be done about it. 　　這些書試圖解釋為什么會那樣，如果能做的話應該做什么。 　　We shall attempt to answer it in this book,he wrote. 　　我們將試圖在這本書中回答這個問題，他說道。 　　3.head for 前往;出發 　　He headed for me after I called him. 　　叫了他一聲之后，他朝我走過來了。 　　Then she headed for the Broadway. 　　然后，她便把目標定在了百老匯。

　　2023復習正是強化復習階段，在考研英語中占了40分，所以考研英語閱讀是英語科目中重要的一項。名師老師曾建議過考研生需要堅持每天泛讀10-15分鐘的英文原刊。強烈推薦了雜志《經濟學人》.雜志中的文章也是考研英語的主要材料來源.希望考研考生認真閱讀，快速提高考研英語閱讀水平。 　　Free exchange 　　自由貿易 　　Tilted marine 　　傾斜的海運 　　New techniques show the damage done by subsidiesat the heart of global trade 　　新方法表明對航運業的補貼具有危害性 　　THERE is no better symbol of the benefits ofglobalization than the container ship. More than 9 billion tonnes of goods and materials weretransported by sea in 2023, with trade helping to lift global growth rates. Anever-expanding web of links connects rich and poor; developing countries now account foraround 60% of seaborne trade. But ships also show the rotten side of trade: protectionism.In 2006 China enacted a Long and Medium-Term Plan to enlarge its shipping industry by2023. It has been successful . New research shows its attempts to tiltmarkets may be having a bigger impact than previously thought. 　　沒有什么比集裝箱船更能代表全球化帶來的益處。2023年，超過90億噸的物資通過海運運輸，這些貿易加快了全球增長速度。發達地區與貧困地區之間的聯系不斷擴大，如今發展中國家占據了海運貿易的60%。然而，船舶市場依然顯現了貿易的消極一面：保護主義。2006年，中國頒布了一個截至2023年的以鼓勵航運業為目的的中長期規劃。這個計劃目前看來是成功的。近期調查顯示，中國試圖傾斜市場的行為可能比想象中更具沖擊力。 　　Protectionism in shipping is centuries old. In a 1905 study Royal Meeker, an Americaneconomist, explained how a system of subsidies developed under Elizabeth I. Rewards werebased on tonnage of ship, and included bounties paid to fishing boats heading for the NorthSea in search of herring. Adam Smith provided an early economic analysis in The Wealth ofNations, lamenting: It has, I am afraid, been too common for vessels to fit out for the solepurpose of catching, not the fish, but the bounty. The handouts distorted the shipbuildingindustry, resulting in an oversize fishing fleet and a misallocation of resources. 　　航運業保護主義已經有一百年的歷史了。美國經濟學家羅亞爾米克在1905年做的一項研究解釋了伊麗莎白一世在任期間的補貼制度是怎樣制定的。補貼是基于船舶噸位確定的，包括對駛往北海捕獲鯡魚的漁船提供的獎金。亞當斯密在《國富論》中給出了一個早期的經濟分析，他感嘆道：裝配船舶的唯一目的恐怕不是捕魚，而是為了得到津貼。救濟金扭曲了造船業，引致了捕撈船隊過于龐大、資源配置不當。 　　Far from avoiding the distortion Smith spotted, governments have been keen to nurture it.The early logic was military. A strong merchant fleet meant lots of boats that could becommandeered during times of war. One way to bolster shipping has been to grantlucrative contracts for postal delivery: Britain s Cunard lines benefited hugely from such adeal in the 1830s. Another method, used by both America and Japan in the early 1900s, waseasy finance, in the form of cut-price government loans. 　　與斯密所倡導的避免市場扭曲理論相悖甚遠，各國政府一直以來都熱衷于提供補貼。早期，對航運業提供補貼被認為可以為軍事服務。一個強大的商船隊意味著戰爭時期可以征用更多的船舶。鼓勵航運業的一種方法是允許簽訂利潤豐厚的郵遞合同：英國的丘納德航運公司在1830年的一筆郵遞交易中獲利甚多。另一種方法是以廉價政府貸款的形式為航運公司提供便捷的融資，這也是19世紀初美國和日本采取的政策。 　　Modern shipping subsidies are used to build economic heft rather than military might.Governments like shipping due to the knock-on effects of a booming yard. Modern ships arehuge and include up to 30,000 parts. Assembling them is labour-intensive,and so is making the parts that outside suppliers provide to the shipyards. A recent report byAmerica s Maritime Administration estimated that more than 107,000 people work in thecountry s heavily protected shipyards. Adding in the companies supporting the yards, and theshops and services that support these workers, the total ran to 400,000, an employmentmultiplier of 4. So, the idea is, by helping shipping a government indirectly supportsworkers in many other industries. 　　現在的航運補貼更多的則是為了加強經濟實力，而非軍事力量。各國政府青睞航運業是因為建造船廠能夠帶來一系列連鎖效應。現代船舶船型巨大，可囊括零部件多達3萬個。供應商制造向船廠提供的零部件，以及組裝這些部件都是勞動密集型的工作。根據美國海事局最近做的一份報告估計，超過10.7萬人在政府強烈保護的造船廠工作。加上這些造船廠的供應商，以及這些工人產生的商品和服務消費需求，總共拉動了40萬人的就業，就業乘數為4。因此，這樣一來通過加強航運業，政府間接拉動了其他行業的就業。 　　Yet economists views on subsidies have hardened over time. China s policy providessubsidies both for the construction of ships themselves and for the building or expansion ofshipyards. These interferences can distort trade, resulting in inefficient production. Indeciding whether a subsidy flouts trade rules the World Trade Organisation uses aprice gap approach. The idea is simple: if a country is producing and selling something at abig discount to what others are charging, there is probably something fishy going on. 　　然而，經濟學家們對政府補貼的態度越來越堅定。中國的政策是同時對建造船舶和建造、擴大船塢提供補貼。這些干預會扭曲貿易，導致生產效率低下。世界貿易組織用價格差的方法判定一項補貼是否違反貿易規則。道理很簡單：如果一國生產并出售某產品的價格遠低于其他國家的要價，這其中可能就有問題。 　　Price gaps provide a quick warning system, but are a poor way to judge the full extent ofsubsidies, according to a 2023 book by Usha and George Haley, of West Virginia Universityand the University of New Haven. It is a static approach, ignoring how demand for eachshipyard s differentiated products varies over time. It also fails to account for variations inefficiency. Whereas Chinese workers may be relatively cheap, large South Korean orJapanese shipyards exploit economies of scale that smaller Chinese yards cannot. Thebalance of all these factors, in addition to subsidies, should influence a shipyard s costs andprices. 　　根據烏莎和喬治海利在2023年發表的一本書，價格差提供了一個直觀警示機制，但它卻不能很好的判斷補貼的真實程度。價格差是個靜態方法，忽視了每個造船廠的不同產品的需求隨時間的變動。并且它也不能解釋生產效率的變動。雖然中國的勞動力可能相對更廉價，但韓國和日本的大型造船廠相對中國的小型造船廠擁有規模效應。除了補貼，這些因素的綜合作用也影響著造船廠的成本和定價。 　　Recognising this, a 2023 working paper by Myrto Kalouptsidi of Princeton University providesa new way to spot subsidies and measure their impact. Using detailed quarterly data onfactors like a shipyard s age, size, capacity and staffing levels Ms Kalouptsidi estimates costfunctionsthe relationship between a yard s output and its cost of productionfor 192 yardsacross China, Japan, South Korea and Europe. By analysing data between 2001 and 2023, shecan isolate the impact of China s 2006 policy. 　　鑒于上述原因，普林斯頓大學的學者Myrto Kalouptsidi于2023年在一份研究手稿中提出了一種考察補貼并衡量其影響的新方法。使用造船廠年齡、規模、容量、員工配備水平等因素的詳細季度數據，Kalouptsidi估計出了中國、日本、韓國以及歐洲的192個造船廠的成本函數。通過分析2001年到2023年的數據，她排除了中國2006年鼓勵航運業的政策的影響。 　　The results are striking. A simple price-gap approach shows that Chinese ships cost 7.3%less than rivals . Controlling for quality differencesChinese ships are seen as lower qualityand so should be around 3.5% cheaper, even in the absence of subsidiesgives a 4% gap,hardly justification for WTO rage. But Ms Kalouptsidi s estimates show this is just part of thestory. Government help artificially lowered Chinese firms costs by between 15-20%. The aidwill have included explicit subsidies and hidden benefits, such as tolerating losses atstate-owned yards. China s market share jumped as the policy was introduced . 　　結果是驚人的。簡單的價格差方法顯示中國船舶的生產成本相對其競爭對手低7.3%。考慮質量差異中國船舶被認為質量低下，即使沒有補貼也應該便宜將近3.5%最終產生了4%的價格差，這并不足以讓WTO動怒。但是Kalouptsidi的估測表明，這僅僅是表面現象。政府人為地援助中國企業將成本降低了15%到20%。這些援助包括顯性補貼和隱性福利，例如容許國有造船廠虧損經營。自從這種政策出臺，中國的市場份額顯著躍升。 　　As in Smith s day, this has shifted resources. By comparing the costs and productivity of theshipyards in her sample, Ms Kalouptsidi forecasts how the market might have developed inthe absence of China s subsidies. Her analysis points to a big resource reallocation: absentthe meddling, Japan s market share would have been around 30 percentage points higher.Since many South Korean or Japanese yards are more efficient than China s, it means thatthe true cost of ship production may well have risen. Bloated by subsidy, China s yards haveturned out a surfeit of vessels, often poorly matched to customers demands. 　　如同在斯密的時代，這種政策轉移了資源。Kalouptsidi女士通過比較她選取的樣本中的不同造船廠的成本和生產率，預測出了在中國不提供補貼的情況下市場的發展狀況。她分析提出了一個大幅變動的資源重置：如果沒有干預，日本的市場份額應該比現在高出大概30%。由于許多韓國和日本的造船廠比中國生產效率更高，這意味著船舶的真實生產成本可能已經抬高了。受到補貼的鼓勵，中國造船廠過度生產，常常與客戶需求不匹配。 　　All this suggests the WTO and other trade-watchers may need to refine their tools to helpidentify the full extent of subsidies. Other markets are ripe for this kind of analysis. Theglobal glut of solar panels owes much to protectionism, according to the Hayleys book.Steel markets are badly distorted by subsidies to producers, says the WTO. Subsidised solarpanels being exported aboard subsidised ships made from subsidised steel show just how farthose that seek free trade have to go. 　　這些都表明了WTO和其他的貿易研究者可能需要改進方法，以更好地判斷補貼的嚴重程度。其他市場已經具備使用上述分析方法的條件。根據海利的書，太陽能電池板在全球范圍內的供給過剩是由保護主義造成的。WTO認為，鋼材市場因為生產補貼而嚴重扭曲。用補貼的鋼材建造補貼的船舶，運輸出口補貼的太陽能電池板，看來那些追求自由貿易的人還有很長一段路要走。 　　詞語解釋 　　1.account for 對負有責任;對做出解釋 　　Jack could not account for his foolish mistake. 　　杰克無法解釋自己的愚蠢錯誤。 　　He has to account to the chairman for all the moneyhe spends. 　　他必須向主席說明他所花掉所有錢的去向。 　　2.attempt to 嘗試，企圖 　　These books attempt to explain why that is, and what, if anything, should be done about it. 　　這些書試圖解釋為什么會那樣，如果能做的話應該做什么。 　　We shall attempt to answer it in this book,he wrote. 　　我們將試圖在這本書中回答這個問題，他說道。 　　3.head for 前往;出發 　　He headed for me after I called him. 　　叫了他一聲之后，他朝我走過來了。 　　Then she headed for the Broadway. 　　然后，她便把目標定在了百老匯。