自由贸易

　　2015复习正是强化复习阶段，在考研英语中占了40分，所以考研英语阅读是英语科目中重要的一项。名师老师曾建议过考研生需要坚持每天泛读10-15分钟的英文原刊。强烈推荐了杂志《经济学人》.杂志中的文章也是考研英语的主要材料来源.希望考研考生认真阅读，快速提高考研英语阅读水平。 　　Free exchange 　　自由贸易 　　Tilted marine 　　倾斜的海运 　　New techniques show the damage done by subsidiesat the heart of global trade 　　新方法表明对航运业的补贴具有危害性 　　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 2012, 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 by2015. It has been successful . New research shows its attempts to tiltmarkets may be having a bigger impact than previously thought. 　　没有什么比集装箱船更能代表全球化带来的益处。2012年，超过90亿吨的物资通过海运运输，这些贸易加快了全球增长速度。发达地区与贫困地区之间的联系不断扩大，如今发展中国家占据了海运贸易的60%。然而，船舶市场依然显现了贸易的消极一面：保护主义。2006年，中国颁布了一个截至2015年的以鼓励航运业为目的的中长期规划。这个计划目前看来是成功的。近期调查显示，中国试图倾斜市场的行为可能比想象中更具冲击力。 　　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. 　　航运业保护主义已经有一百年的历史了。美国经济学家罗亚尔米克在1905年做的一项研究解释了伊丽莎白一世在任期间的补贴制度是怎样制定的。补贴是基于船舶吨位确定的，包括对驶往北海捕获鲱鱼的渔船提供的奖金。亚当斯密在《国富论》中给出了一个早期的经济分析，他感叹道：装配船舶的唯一目的恐怕不是捕鱼，而是为了得到津贴。救济金扭曲了造船业，引致了捕捞船队过于庞大、资源配置不当。 　　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. 　　与斯密所倡导的避免市场扭曲理论相悖甚远，各国政府一直以来都热衷于提供补贴。早期，对航运业提供补贴被认为可以为军事服务。一个强大的商船队意味着战争时期可以征用更多的船舶。鼓励航运业的一种方法是允许签订利润丰厚的邮递合同：英国的丘纳德航运公司在1830年的一笔邮递交易中获利甚多。另一种方法是以廉价政府贷款的形式为航运公司提供便捷的融资，这也是19世纪初美国和日本采取的政策。 　　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. 　　现在的航运补贴更多的则是为了加强经济实力，而非军事力量。各国政府青睐航运业是因为建造船厂能够带来一系列连锁效应。现代船舶船型巨大，可囊括零部件多达3万个。供应商制造向船厂提供的零部件，以及组装这些部件都是劳动密集型的工作。根据美国海事局最近做的一份报告估计，超过10.7万人在政府强烈保护的造船厂工作。加上这些造船厂的供应商，以及这些工人产生的商品和服务消费需求，总共拉动了40万人的就业，就业乘数为4。因此，这样一来通过加强航运业，政府间接拉动了其他行业的就业。 　　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，经济学家们对政府补贴的态度越来越坚定。中国的政策是同时对建造船舶和建造、扩大船坞提供补贴。这些干预会扭曲贸易，导致生产效率低下。世界贸易组织用价格差的方法判定一项补贴是否违反贸易规则。道理很简单：如果一国生产并出售某产品的价格远低于其他国家的要价，这其中可能就有问题。 　　Price gaps provide a quick warning system, but are a poor way to judge the full extent ofsubsidies, according to a 2013 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. 　　根据乌莎和乔治海利在2013年发表的一本书，价格差提供了一个直观警示机制，但它却不能很好的判断补贴的真实程度。价格差是个静态方法，忽视了每个造船厂的不同产品的需求随时间的变动。并且它也不能解释生产效率的变动。虽然中国的劳动力可能相对更廉价，但韩国和日本的大型造船厂相对中国的小型造船厂拥有规模效应。除了补贴，这些因素的综合作用也影响着造船厂的成本和定价。 　　Recognising this, a 2014 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 2012, shecan isolate the impact of China s 2006 policy. 　　鉴于上述原因，普林斯顿大学的学者Myrto Kalouptsidi于2014年在一份研究手稿中提出了一种考察补贴并衡量其影响的新方法。使用造船厂年龄、规模、容量、员工配备水平等因素的详细季度数据，Kalouptsidi估计出了中国、日本、韩国以及欧洲的192个造船厂的成本函数。通过分析2001年到2012年的数据，她排除了中国2006年鼓励航运业的政策的影响。 　　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 . 　　结果是惊人的。简单的价格差方法显示中国船舶的生产成本相对其竞争对手低7.3%。考虑质量差异中国船舶被认为质量低下，即使没有补贴也应该便宜将近3.5%最终产生了4%的价格差，这并不足以让WTO动怒。但是Kalouptsidi的估测表明，这仅仅是表面现象。政府人为地援助中国企业将成本降低了15%到20%。这些援助包括显性补贴和隐性福利，例如容许国有造船厂亏损经营。自从这种政策出台，中国的市场份额显著跃升。 　　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. 　　如同在斯密的时代，这种政策转移了资源。Kalouptsidi女士通过比较她选取的样本中的不同造船厂的成本和生产率，预测出了在中国不提供补贴的情况下市场的发展状况。她分析提出了一个大幅变动的资源重置：如果没有干预，日本的市场份额应该比现在高出大概30%。由于许多韩国和日本的造船厂比中国生产效率更高，这意味着船舶的真实生产成本可能已经抬高了。受到补贴的鼓励，中国造船厂过度生产，常常与客户需求不匹配。 　　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. 　　这些都表明了WTO和其他的贸易研究者可能需要改进方法，以更好地判断补贴的严重程度。其他市场已经具备使用上述分析方法的条件。根据海利的书，太阳能电池板在全球范围内的供给过剩是由保护主义造成的。WTO认为，钢材市场因为生产补贴而严重扭曲。用补贴的钢材建造补贴的船舶，运输出口补贴的太阳能电池板，看来那些追求自由贸易的人还有很长一段路要走。 　　词语解释 　　1.account for 对负有责任;对做出解释 　　Jack could not account for his foolish mistake. 　　杰克无法解释自己的愚蠢错误。 　　He has to account to the chairman for all the moneyhe spends. 　　他必须向主席说明他所花掉所有钱的去向。 　　2.attempt to 尝试，企图 　　These books attempt to explain why that is, and what, if anything, should be done about it. 　　这些书试图解释为什么会那样，如果能做的话应该做什么。 　　We shall attempt to answer it in this book,he wrote. 　　我们将试图在这本书中回答这个问题，他说道。 　　3.head for 前往;出发 　　He headed for me after I called him. 　　叫了他一声之后，他朝我走过来了。 　　Then she headed for the Broadway. 　　然后，她便把目标定在了百老汇。