In good times Gu Changshi's job is to persuade companies to invest in Lingang, a wind-swept free-trade zone on the edge of Shanghai, abutting the Pacific Ocean. But over the past two months, as China has battled covid-19, his job has been to ensure basic survival, both physical and corporate.

在经济景气的时候，顾长石的工作是说服企业投资临港。临港是一个毗邻太平洋、风光无限的自由贸易区，位于上海边缘。但在过去两个月里，随着中国与“新冠病毒”的斗争，他的工作一直是确保基本生存，包括实体生存和企业生存。

abut   英[əˈbʌt]  美[əˈbʌt]

vi. 邻接；毗邻；紧靠

vt. 邻接；毗邻；紧靠

n. (Abut)人名；(英、土)阿布特          

eg.The castles abut a natural forest.

与城堡毗邻的是一片天然森林。

First his agency requisitioned two hotels to quarantine anyone coming to Lingang from virus-hit regions. Then it started offering conditional cash grants to beleaguered companies located there. "There is no fixed limit to the subsidies," he says, his hands spreading wide.

首先，他的机构申请了两家酒店，用来隔离来自受病毒感染地区的临港旅客。然后，开始向当地陷入困境的公司提供有条件的现金援助。“补贴没有固定的限制，”他双手摊开地说道。

quarantine 英[ˈkwɒrəntiːn]  美[ˈkwɔːrəntiːn]

n. 检疫隔离期；隔离；检疫；检疫区，隔离区

v. 对（动物或人）进行检疫隔离

be put/kept in quarantine 被隔离

eg.His uncle was put in quarantine for ten days.

他叔叔被隔离了十天。

When China went into lockdown in late January, economists thought that its growth trajectory would be v-shaped. There would be a sharp slowdown, followed by a swift rebound as soon as the virus was under control, as happened with China's outbreak of SARS in 2003. They were right about the slowdown.

1月下旬，中国在进入封锁状态时，经济学家认为中国的增长轨迹将呈“ V”形。一旦病毒得到控制，疫情就会出现急剧放缓，然后迅速反弹，就像2003年中国爆发非典那样。他们对经济放缓的预测是正确的。

rebound  英[rɪˈbaʊnd] 美[rɪˈbaʊnd]

v.弹回; 反弹; 报应; 反作用于; 回升

n.反弹球; 回弹球; 抢断篮板球; 复兴; 振作 

eg.The WTO expects trade to rebound by nearly 10% this year. 

世贸组织（WTO）预计今年贸易会以10%的增幅反弹。

Hundreds of millions of people stayed inside for weeks on end. Factories, offices, restaurants and shops closed, in scenes now being replayed around the world. Most analysts think that China’s economy shrank in the first three months of 2020, perhaps by as much as 10%. The last time it contracted was more than four decades ago, at the end of the Cultural Revolution, according to official data.

数以亿计的人在家里呆了数周之久。工厂、办公室、餐馆和商店都关门了，现在世界各地正在重演这样的场景。多数分析人士认为，中国经济在2020年前三个月出现了萎缩，降幅可能高达10%。官方数据显示，上一次出现收缩是在40多年前，即文革末期。

The prediction of a quick, strong recovery is more debatable. With barely any new cases of covid-19 now being detected, the government is trying to restore normal life. At four separate meetings of the ruling Politburo since late February, leaders have declared that they want to restart the economy. But doing so is far from simple when the pandemic is still raging elsewhere.

对经济快速、强劲复苏的预测更有争议。随着几乎没有发现新的“新冠”病例，政府正试图恢复正常生活。自2月下旬以来，中共中央政治局已经召开了四次会议，领导人都宣布希望重启经济。但是，当流行病仍在其他地方肆虐时，这么做绝非易事。

pandemic 英[pænˈdemɪk] 美[pænˈdemɪk]

n.(全国或全球性) 流行病; 大流行病

adj.（疾病） 大流行的; 普遍的，全世界的  

eg.These differences meet the criteria for an influenza pandemic. 

这些差异符合关于确定流感大流行的标准。

Reviving growth involves boosting both supply and demand. Officials schooled in Marxist theory, which emphasises production rather than consumption, have naturally turned first to the former, ie, to ensuring that goods are made.

恢复增长需要同时增加供求。受过马克思主义理论教育的官员强调生产而非消费，他们自然会首先转向前者，即确保商品的生产。

The main problem has been a dearth of blue-collar workers, many of whom went to their hometowns for the spring festival just before the lockdown and have not yet returned. Production hubs along the coast have chartered trains and buses to bring them back.

主要的问题是缺乏蓝领工人，其中许多人在春节期间就在停摆前返乡，到现在还没有回来。沿海的生产中心已经租了火车和巴士把他们接回来。

Fully 98% of all listed companies have resumed work, says the securities regulator. Around the country 89% of big investment projects, from airport expansions to the laying of gas pipelines, are also under way, according to a planning commission. "Roaring Chinese factories in full swing", Xinhua, a state news agency, proclaimed on March 21st.

证券监管机构称，98%的上市公司已经恢复营业。据规划委员会称，从机场扩建到铺设天然气管道，全国89%的大型投资项目也在进行中。3月21日，国家新闻机构新华社宣布：“中国工厂如火如荼”。

investment 英[ɪnˈvestmənt] 美[ɪnˈvestmənt]    

n. 投资；投入；封锁

(invest v.)

eg.He said the government must introduce tax incentives to encourageinvestment. 
他说，政府必须通过给予税收利益来鼓励投资。

Measures aimed at preventing another surge of covid-19 have added to the complexities of manufacturing in China. The German manager of an optical-wire factory in Jiangsu province has divided his workers into ten separate units to minimise the risk of cross-infections. The units are kept apart from each other in the factory, the canteen and their dormitories.

旨在防止“新冠病毒”再次激增的措施，增加了中国制造业的复杂性。江苏省一家光缆厂的德国经理将他的工人分成了10个独立的部门，最大限度地降低交叉感染的风险。在工厂、食堂和宿舍里，各个单位是分开的。

Such measures are necessary but cumbersome, he says. Firms are also wary of sending staff around the country because some places still impose 14-day quarantines on outsiders. Travel between cities, whether by plane, train or car, is at less than half its normal level.

他说，这些措施是必要的，但很繁琐。公司还警惕在全国范围内派遣员工，因为一些地方仍然对外来人员实行14天的隔离。城市间的交通，无论是坐飞机、火车还是汽车，都不到正常水平的一半。

Nevertheless, on the supply side, the overall picture is encouraging. Large companies report that they are fully operational. Foxconn, which makes most of Apple's iPhones in China, has said that it will resume normal production by the end of March. Even many smaller companies are in good shape.

不过，在供应方面，整体形势令人鼓舞。大公司报告说他们已经全面运作。在中国生产苹果大部分iphone的富士康表示，将在3月底前恢复正常生产。甚至许多较小的公司都处于良好状态。

Sean Xie, the general manager in China of Lenze, a German automation company, says that all 260 of its employees had returned to its factory in Shanghai as of March 20th, apart from a couple still stuck in Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak of covid-19 (Wuhan plans to lift its lockdown on April 8th).

德国自动化公司Lenze的中国总经理谢恩（Sean Xie）表示，截至3月20日，该公司所有260名员工已返回上海工厂，除了一对夫妇仍留在爆发“新冠”疫情的中心武汉（武汉计划在4月8日取消封城）。

lockdown 英[ˈlɒkdaʊn]    美[ˈlɑːkdaʊn]    

n.活动(或行动)限制  

封 城 

the lockdown of a city / a city is on lockdown

eg.The besieged city of Deraa has been in lockdown for a week. 

遭围困的德拉城已被封锁了一周之久。

Resuscitating demand is proving more difficult. It involves two things that are harder for the government to manage: global growth and public anxiety about the disease.

事实证明，复苏需求更加困难。这涉及两件对政府来说更难管理的事情:全球增长和公众对疾病的焦虑。

 "All the wheels started spinning very quickly here, but the orders aren't there," says a chemicals executive who oversees a factory in the city of Wuxi.

一位无锡工厂的化学品负责人说：“所有的轮子在这里开始告诉运转，但是没有订单。”

China can take some solace in the fact that it relies less on exports than it did during the global financial crisis of 2007-09. But domestic consumption is now far more central to the economy than exports ever were, and it is much curtailed. Retail sales plunged, unsurprisingly, when just about everyone was cooped up at home.

与2007-09年全球金融危机期间相比，中国对出口的依赖程度有所下降，这让中国感到些许安慰。但与出口相比，国内消费现在对经济的重要性要大得多，而且受到了很大的限制。不出所料，当几乎所有人都被关在家里时，零售销售额大幅下降。

People now can move more freely, but many still avoid large crowds. Shops and restaurants are quiet. Covid-19 has cut people's incomes, so few seem willing to splurge yet on big-ticket items. Queues outside Apple stores—open in China but closed everywhere else—are deceptive. Apple strictly limits the number of customers to ensure a safe distance between them.

人们现在可以更自由地活动，但许多人仍然避开人群。商店和餐馆都很安静。Covid-19已经削减了人们的收入，因此似乎很少有人愿意花大价钱购买大型物品。苹果专卖店外的长队是骗人的，这些专卖店在中国是开着的，但在其他地方都是关着的。苹果严格限制客户数量，确保客户之间的安全距离。

A good proxy for the state of consumption in China is urban traffic. Some thus welcome the return of traffic jams: congestion has reached about 90% of its normal level. But a closer look is less comforting. Some people who used to take subways to work are using cars instead, to limit contact with others.

衡量中国消费状况的一个好指标是城市交通。因此，一些人欢迎交通拥堵的回归:拥堵已经达到了正常水平的90%。但仔细观察就不那么令人欣慰了。一些曾经乘地铁上班的人现在开车上班，以减少与他人的接触。

Passenger numbers on subways are down by roughly two thirds in big cities. Unusually, there is no road congestion at the weekend. The occupancy rate of a posh international hotel chain is in the single digits, says the company's boss in China. Bao Wenjun, who owns a restaurant in Shanghai selling cheap and tasty noodles, says that his revenues are down by nearly three-quarters.

在大城市，地铁乘客数量下降了大约三分之二。不同寻常的是，周末没有交通堵塞。一家豪华国际连锁酒店的入住率只有个位数，该公司在中国的老板说。鲍文君(音)在上海开了一家餐馆，出售便宜而美味的面条。他说，自己的收入下降了近四分之三。

occupancy rate 

英[ˈɒkjəpənsi reɪt]    美[ˈɑːkjəpənsi reɪt]    

入住率, 租用率, 居住率, 占用率

eg.The average hotel occupancy rate increased threefold to over 60 per cent this month. 

酒店的平均入住率上升三倍，本月已达百分之六十以上。

For consumption to recover, people must feel confident. Most provinces have reduced their emergency-alert levels. Even Hubei, the worst-hit, has started to let people (other than residents of Wuhan, the capital) travel elsewhere.

消费要想恢复，就必须有信心。大多数省份已经降低了紧急警戒级别。即使是受灾最严重的湖北，也已经开始允许人们(除了首都武汉的居民)前往其他地方。

But anxiety abounds. Except in a few remote regions, schools are into their second month of closure. Only about 500 of the country's 11,000 cinemas have re-opened. The government has tightened border controls because many travellers—541 at last count—have tested positive for the virus after arriving from abroad.

但是焦虑比比皆是。除少数偏远地区外，学校进入停课第二个月。全国1.1万家电影院中，只有大约500家重新开业。政府已经加强了边境管制，因为许多从国外入境的旅客（最新统计为541人），在病毒检测中呈阳性。

In the past China has often been quick to unleash stimulus measures to counteract economic slowdowns. Its spending splurge in response to the global financial crisis was crucial to the world’s recovery. This time China has been uncharacteristically restrained.

过去，中国常常迅速采取刺激措施来抵消经济放缓的影响。为了应对全球金融危机，中国大举支出，这对全球经济复苏至关重要。这一次，中国一反常态地保持克制。

Britain has pledged to make loans to firms worth 15% of GDP and America is working on a support package worth nearly 10% of its output. But China's fiscal measures—mainly tax and fee cuts—so far add up to little more than 1% of its GDP. Whereas America has slashed its interest rates to zero, China has barely trimmed its own.

英国已承诺向占GDP的15％的公司提供贷款，美国正在制定占其产出近10％的支持计划。但到目前为止，中国的财政措施（主要是减税和减税）总计仅占其GDP的1％。美国将利率降低至零，而中国几乎没有削减利率。

What explains the frugality? One reason is that China has no need to replicate some of the other countries’ actions. Take the struggling airline industry. The American programme includes $58bn in aid for it. Britain may take direct stakes in its airlines. The Chinese government already owns the country's biggest airlines.

如何解释这种节俭? 原因之一是中国无需重复其他国家的某些行动。以陷入困境的航空业为例。美国计划包括580亿美元的援助。英国可能直接入股其航空公司。中国政府已经拥有该国最大的航空公司。

State-owned firms account for about three-quarters of corporate debt in China. The government need not spell out that it stands behind them. Investors know that. Whereas corporate-bond prices have fallen sharply in the West—reflecting concerns about firms' solvency—they have only inched down in China. In the Lingang free-trade zone, Mr Gu goes out of his way to note that the official subsidies are mainly aimed at private businesses, which have a harder time obtaining loans than state firms do.

国有企业约占中国企业债务的四分之三。政府不必说出它背后的立场。投资者知道这一点。西方公司债券价格大幅下跌（反映出对公司偿付能力的担忧），而在中国却微跌。在临港自由贸易区，顾先生特别指出，官方补贴主要针对私营企业，他们比国有企业更难获得贷款。

国有企业 State-owned enterprise/firm

民营企业 Private enterprise

外资企业 Foreign-invested enterprise

合资企业 Joint venture

自主创业 Self-employed

For officials the most worrying trend is a sharp rise in joblessness. The unemployment rate in urban areas jumped nearly a full percentage point to 6.2% in February, the highest on record. And this rate fails to capture the tens of millions of migrants who are still in their hometowns, waiting for the economy to perk up before returning to cities for work. So the government is cautiously rolling out some stimulus. On March 20th it pledged to increase financial support for the unemployed.

对于官员而言，最令人担忧的趋势是失业率急剧上升。2月份，城市地区的失业率跃升了近一个百分点，至6.2％，创历史新高。而这一比例并没有将仍在家乡等待经济回暖再返回城市工作的数千万农民工计算在内。因此，政府正在谨慎地推出一些刺激措施。3月20日，政府承诺增加对失业者的财政支持。

More help may be on the way. The government has given provinces more leeway to raise funds for such things as infrastructure and buildings. Spending of this kind has been a cornerstone of China's past stimulus packages.

更多的援助可能即将到来。政府给了各省更多的空间来为基础设施和建筑等项目筹集资金。这类支出一直是中国过去经济刺激计划的基石。

infrastructure

英[ˈɪnfrəstrʌktʃə(r)]    美[ˈɪnfrəstrʌktʃər]    

n.(国家或机构的) 基础设施，基础建设

eg. Second, as China did in 1998, how infrastructure investment can both create jobs butcreate the foundation for future growth. 

第二，正如中国1998年所做的，基础设施投资既能创造就业，也能为未来增长打下基础。

But now it is proceeding gingerly. It fears that unleashing more of it could push up debt levels, which are already dangerously high. Most crucially, for all their talk about restarting the economy, China's leaders are wary of letting growth rip until they are certain that a boom in business will not also bring a resurgence of covid-19. "We want to reduce risk to the absolute minimum and will not count the cost of that," says Mr Gu. The economic rebound can wait.

但现在它正小心翼翼地进行着，担心释放更多的资本会推高已经处于危险高位的债务水平。最重要的是，尽管中国领导人一直在谈论重启经济，但在他们确信商业繁荣不会带来“新冠病毒”的复苏之前，他们对放任经济增长保持谨慎。顾先生说：“我们希望将风险降低到最低限度，而不考虑其成本。” 经济复苏可以等待。