TE精读|the Covid-19
今天的精读是本期经济学人的封面文章，相对上期的政治性文章，这篇文章还是比较好读的，除了两段描写经济措施的地方略有生涩。文章主要讲了过去的一周全球经济在疫情的影响下面临的严峻形势，通过一系列的政府和经济措施的对比，点出来了经济和政府之间存在的一对矛盾，而后点出如今抗疫的关键是减缓疫情蔓延。
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标题导读：
fly title：covid-19点名整篇文章的大范围是关于病毒的。
headline: The right medicine for the world economy
点明文章的中心，比喻的手法吸引读者的阅读兴趣（我就是这样被吸引的……良药究竟是什么呢？）
rubric：Coping with the pandemic involves all of government, not just the health system一句话浓缩了文章的内容
正文分析：
IT IS NOT a fair fight, but it is a fight that many countries will face all the same. Left to itself, the covid-19 pandemic doubles every five to six days. When you get your next issue of The Economist the outbreak could in theory have infected twice as many people as today. Governments can slow that ferocious pace, but bureaucratic time is not the same as virus time. And at the moment governments across the world are being left flat-footed.
bureaucratic adjective /ˌbjʊə.rəˈkræt.ɪk/
relating to a system of controlling or managing a country,
company, or organization that is operated by a large number
of officials官僚政治的，官僚主义的The company was inefficient because it was highly
bureaucratic.那家公司效率低下是因为官僚主义严重。
leave: verb
If you leave something in a particular condition, you do not touch it, move it, or act to change it in any way, so that it stays in the same condition.使保留；使保持（某种状态）
[ + obj + adj ] The family were left (= became and
continued to be) homeless.一家子人流落街头。
flat-footed adjective /ˌflætˈfʊt.ɪd/
in a difficult or unexpected situation that makes you unable
to move or react quickly or skilfully束手无策的Campaign leaders were caught flat-footed when the
opinion polls suddenly started to swing the other way.
当民意调查的结果突然倒向另一方时，竞选运动的领导们陷于了束手无策的境地。
And at the moment governments across the world are being left flat-footed. 目前，全世界的政府都在原地踏步。
The disease is in 85 countries and territories, up from 50 a week earlier. Over 95,000 cases and 3,200 deaths have been recorded. Yet our analysis, based on patterns of travel to and from China, suggests that many countries which have spotted tens of cases have hundreds more circulating undetected (see Graphic detail). Iran, South Korea and Italy are exporting the virus. America has registered 159 cases in 14 states but as of March 1st it had, indefensibly, tested just 472 people when South Korea was testing 10,000 a day. Now that America is looking, it is sure to find scores of infections—and possibly unearth a runaway epidemic.
detect verb /dɪˈtekt/ 察觉出
这里的undetected其实是指undetected cases,未察觉的案例
export verb /ɪkˈspɔːt/
to put something from one country into use in other countries把…带到另一国家；传播；输出American culture has been exported all over the world.美国文化已经传播到了世界各地。
export the virus是指传播病毒
as of/from
starting from a particular time or date自…起
indefensibly adverb /ˌɪn.dɪˈfen.sə.bli/
不可否认的是
unearth verb /ʌnˈɜːθ/
to discover something
runaway：out of control
中心句：数据表明很多发现了一些病例的国家还有很多未发现的病例。
Wherever the virus takes hold, containing it and mitigating its effects will involve more than doctors and paramedics. The World Health Organisation has distilled lessons from China for how health-care systems should cope (see Briefing). The same thinking is needed across the government, especially over how to protect people and companies as supply chains fracture and the worried and the ill shut themselves away.
contain verb
to keep something harmful within limits and not allow it to spread控制，遏制，制止（有害物蔓延）
Farms in the area have been closed off in an attempt to contain the disease.
为阻止疾病扩散，该地区的农场都被关闭了。
mitigate verb /ˈmɪt.ɪ.ɡeɪt/
to make something less harmful, unpleasant, or bad
使缓和；减轻（危害等）
distil verb /dɪˈstɪl/
原意蒸馏，distilled water蒸馏水，这里指从中国汲取经验
fracture verb/ˈfræk.tʃər/ 断裂
as supply chains fracture and the worried and the ill shut themselves away.
the worried 和the ill 是指忧虑的人和生病的人，
shut sb away使（某人）与外界隔绝
各国应从中国汲取经验。
The first task is to get manpower and money to hospitals. China drafted in 40,000 health workers to Hubei province. Britain may bring medics out of retirement. This week the World Bank made $12bn and the IMF $50bn available for covid-19. The Global Fund, which fights diseases like malaria and TB, said countries can switch grants. In America Congress is allocating $8.3bn of funding. The country has some of the world’s most advanced hospitals, but its fragmented health system has little spare capacity. Much more money will be needed.
manpower：劳动力
draft sb in
to bring someone somewhere to do a particular job
征召，招募
medics ：医生
grant noun /ɡrɑːnt/
尤指政府为特殊目的给予个人或组织的）拨款，补助金
allocate verb /ˈæl.ə.keɪt/
to give something to someone as their share of a total amount, to use in a particular way
分配；分派；拨给，划拨
应对疫情需要很多钱。
Just as important is to slow the spread of the disease by getting patients to come forward for testing when outbreaks are small and possible to contain. They may be deterred in many countries, including much of America, where 28m people are without health coverage and many more have to pay for a large slug of their own treatment. People also need to isolate themselves if they have mild symptoms, as about 80% of them will. Here sick pay matters, because many people cannot afford to miss work. In America a quarter of employees have no access to paid sick leave and only scattered states and cities offer sickness benefits. Often the self-employed, a fifth of Italy’s workforce, do not qualify. One study found that, in epidemics, guaranteed sick pay cuts the spread of flu in America by 40%.
deter verb /dɪˈtɜːr/ 阻挠，阻止；威慑；使不敢
health coverage：医疗保险
scattered adjective /ˈskæt.əd/
covering a wide area分散的；散布的；疏疏落落的
这段主要讲让患者在疫情很小且有可能控制的情况下前来检测能有效减缓疾病的传播。
Sick pay also helps soften the blow to demand which, along with a supply shock and a general panic, is hitting economies. These three factors, as China shows, can have a dramatic effect on output. Manufacturing activity there sank in February to its lowest level since managers were first surveyed in 2004. In the quarter to March the economy as a whole could shrink for the first time since the death of Mao Zedong. The OECD expects global growth this year to be its slowest since 2009. Modelling by academics at the Australian National University suggests that GDP in America and Europe would be 2% lower than it would have been in the absence of a pandemic and perhaps as much as 8% lower if the rate of deaths is many times higher than expected. Financial markets are pricing in fear. The S&P 500 has fallen by 8% from its peak on February 19th. Issuance of corporate debt on Wall Street has more or less stopped. The yield on ten-year Treasuries dipped below 1% for the first time ever.
blow noun
an unexpected event that has a damaging effect on someone or something打击；不幸
Losing his job was a severe blow to his confidence.
失去工作对他的自信心是个沉重的打击。
dramatic:这里指突然而巨大的影响
Issuance of corporate debt：公司债务发行
Treasuries ：国债
dip:下降
这一段主要讲病毒引起的恐慌和供需矛盾使得经济遭受严重打击。
In rich countries, most of the economic effort has been directed towards calming financial markets. On March 3rd America’s Federal Reserve cut rates a fortnight before its monetary-policy meeting, and by an unusually large half-a-percentage point (see article). The central banks of Australia, Canada and Indonesia have also acted. The Bank of England and the European Central Bank are both expected to loosen policy, too.
Federal Reserve：美联储
America’s Federal Reserve cut rates a fortnight before its monetary-policy meeting：美国联邦储备委员会（FederalReserve）在货币政策会议前两周降息。
这段主要讲富裕国家的经济努力都是为了稳定金融市场。
Yet this slowdown is not a textbook downturn. Lower rates will ease borrowing costs and shore up sentiment, but no amount of cheap credit can stop people falling ill. Monetary policy cannot repair broken supply chains or tempt anxious people into venturing out. These obvious limitations help explain why stockmarkets failed to revive after the Fed’s cut. Better to support the economy directly, by helping affected people and firms pay bills and borrow money if they need it. For individuals, the priority should be paying for health care and providing paid sick leave. The Trump administration is considering paying some hospital bills for those with the virus. Japan’s government will cover the wages of parents who stay at home to care for children or sick relatives; Singapore’s will help cab drivers and bosses whose employees are struck down. More such ideas will be needed.
this slowdown is not a textbook downturn.
这种放缓并非教科书上的低迷。
shore up sentiment：提振市场情绪
cheap credit ：低息贷款
strike sb down:
If someone is struck down, they die suddenly or start to
suffer from a serious illness.
某人突然病倒，这里指雇员们病倒了。
Japan’s government will cover the wages of parents who stay at home to care for children or sick relatives; Singapore’s will help cab drivers and bosses whose employees are struck down.
这几项措施中我觉得日本的措施最有爱~
这一段主要讲经济衰退之后政府采取各种措施企图补救。
For companies the big challenge will be liquidity. And although this shock is unlike the financial crisis, when the poison spread from within, that period did show how to cope with a liquidity crunch. Firms that lose revenues will still face tax, wage and interest bills. Easing that burden, for as long as the epidemic lasts, can avoid needless bankruptcies and lay-offs. Temporary relief on tax and wage costs can help. Employers can be encouraged to choose shorter hours for all their staff over lay-offs for some of them. Authorities could fund banks to lend to firms that are suffering, as they did during the financial crisis and as China is doing today. China is also ordering banks to go easy on delinquent borrowers. Western governments cannot do that, but it is in the interest of lenders everywhere to show forbearance towards borrowers facing a cash squeeze, much as banks did to public-sector employees during America’s government shutdown in 2018-19.
liquidity noun /lɪˈkwɪd.ə.ti/
the fact of being available inthe form of money, rather than
investments or property, or of being able to be changed
into money easily:资产的流动性
liquidity crunch：资金紧缩
revenue noun /ˈrev.ən.juː/
the income that a government or company receives
regularly（公司的）收益
delinquent adjective /dɪˈlɪŋ.kwənt/拖欠的
forbearance noun /fɔːˈbeə.rəns/
the quality of being patient and being able to forgive
someone or control yourself in a difficult situation
耐心；宽容；克制
cash squeeze：现金紧缩
public-sector：公共部门
这一段主要讲如何应对企业面临的资金流动性的问题。
There is a tension. Health policy aims to spare hospitals by lowering the epidemic’s peak so that it is less intense, if longer-lasting. Economic policy, by contrast, aims to minimise how long factories are shut and staff absent. Eventually governments will have to strike a balance. Today, however, they are so far behind the epidemic that the priority must be to slow its spread.
翻译：如今的局势有点紧张。卫生政策的目的是通过降低流行病的高峰期使其不那么严重，即使持续时间更长，也能减轻医院负担。相比之下，经济政策的目标是尽量减少工厂关闭和员工缺勤的时间。最终，各国政府将不得不达成一种平衡。然而，今天，它们远远落后于这一流行病，当务之急必须是减缓其蔓延。
最后一段点名两种手段的矛盾之处，并点明文章主旨:当务之急必须是减缓其蔓延。