翻译硕士考研者,在暑期阶段需要看双语阅读文章,来提升阅读水平和翻译能力。下面,北京文都考研网为助力翻译硕士学子们在备考上一臂之力,整理了MTI双语阅读精选文章:中国经济走缓求稳,供考生参考。
2020考研MTI双语阅读精选:中国经济走缓求稳
2020考研MTI双语阅读精选:中国经济走缓求稳FOR A COUNTRY that is regularly accused of manipulating its statistics, China is remarkably diligent about collecting them. The government has dispatched two million boffins to visit companies, stores and even street stalls in the first few months of this year, as part of a new national economic census. Ads plastered on billboards implore people to co-operate. In a flashy promotional video on its website, the national statistics bureau warns that any fabrication of data is against the law.
中国常被外界认为操纵统计数据,却异常勤于收集各种数据。今年年初,中国开展了新一轮国家经济普查,派出200万名研究人员走访企业、商店,甚至街头摊贩。许多广告栏贴有专门宣传语,呼吁大家积极配合此次经济普查。国家统计局在官网发布了一段精心制作的宣传片,提醒数据造假是违法的。
But these laudable efforts do not appear to be solving the basic problems with Chinese statistics. A new paper, by Chang-Tai Hsieh of the University of Chicago and three co-authors from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, finds that industrial output and investment have been consistently embellished. As a result, they argue that China overstated real GDP growth by two percentage points on average every year from 2008 to 2016 (see chart). Over time that adds up: official figures for 2016 would have exaggerated the size of the economy by 16%, or more than $1.5trn.然而,这一切努力依然没能解决中国数据统计中存在的基本问题。芝加哥大学的谢长泰教授与香港中文大学的三位作者合作发表了一篇新论文,指出工业产出和投资金额实际上是经过“美化”的数据。文章得出结论:自2008年至2016年期间,中国每年GDP增长率平均夸大2个百分点。随着时间推移,2016年官方数据与实际经济规模相比夸大16%左右,超过1.5万亿美元。
These economists are certainly not the first to question Chinese numbers. But their paper, published by the Brookings Institution in Washington on March 7th, deserves attention because they had better access to the statistics bureau than most. Though they worked only with public data, they knew where to shine a light. They looked at how revenues from value-added tax on industrial firms compared with reported growth of industrial output. Until 2007 the two lined up well. But after 2008 gaps opened up, although they have narrowed a bit in recent years. The authors also built an alternative model for measuring growth using indicators that cannot be easily manipulated, including satellite imagery of night lights, railway cargo and imports, and came to the same conclusion.
这几位经济学家并不是最早质疑中国统计数据的人。不过,这篇由布鲁金斯学会于3月7日在华盛顿发布的文章引人注目,原因是这几位比绝大部分人都更好地解读统计局的相关资料。虽然他们所用都是些公开数据,但他们清楚哪些数据能够真正说明问题。作者研究了工业行业企业的增值税收入,并与官方报告的工业产出的增长进行对比。在2007年之前,两者的之间还算正常。不过,在2008年之后,两个数据间的差距越来越大,只是在近些年来才略有缩小。几位作者还创建了一种测量增长率模型,利用一些不易篡改的数据,例如夜间照明灯,铁路货物和进口货物数量,最终得出的结论是相同的。
Those sceptical of China’s data sometimes assert that its statisticians have the power to fiddle with numbers to present their desired outcome. The authors argue that the problem is the opposite: that at the central level they lack the power to correct for the misdeeds of other officials. It has long been noted that provincial GDP totals, when added up, exceed national GDP. The national bureau is alert to this and so adjusts provincial figures by, for example, collecting data through separate channels.对中国数经济据持怀疑态度的人断定,中国统计人员利用职权弄虚作假,得到他们想要的结果。文章作者则认为问题恰恰相反:中央官员缺少权力去纠正其他官员的不端行径。国家早已注意到,各省GDP值累计起来往往超过国内GDP总值。国家统计局意识到这一严峻问题,因而通过某些方式及时调整各省市数据,例如通过多重渠道收集数据。
Yet from 2008, when the global financial crisis struck, the adjustments failed to keep up with the distortions, the paper says. For provincial leaders the incentives are clear: their chances of promotion depend on reported economic performance, which they can embellish. Since they rank above the statistics bureau politically, only the bravest beancounter would dare stand in their way. Tellingly, only after crackdowns on corruption in provinces such as Liaoning and Inner Mongolia did authorities admit that their data had been inflated. If the authors are right, these cases are a small sample of a wider epidemic.文章指出,自2008年全球金融危机爆发以来,国家的政策调整措施未能及时解决国内经济乱象。对省级领导来说,他们的谎报数据的动机再明确不过:一切晋升机会都取决于他们上报的经济增量。从政治角度来看,省政府的地位高于统计局,因此普通小会计根本没勇气站出来阻止这类人。不过,自从中国积极开展反腐败措施,辽宁、内蒙古等当地政府才承认他们上报的数据的确有所夸大。如果事实真如文中所讲,那这几件案例只是冰山一角。
There is, however, a silver lining. Local and national figures for consumption are closely aligned. It is mainly industrial output and investment that are exaggerated. The downward revisions therefore result in a substantially different picture of the shape of China’s economy. The authors find that investment, properly measured, was 36% of GDP in 2016, not 43%, as the government says. Debt as a share of GDP is higher than officially reported, but the return to capital is not as low as feared and consumption is more prominent as an engine of growth. Looked at this way, the Chinese economy is smaller but better balanced and thus, perhaps, more resilient.当然,中国经济依然存有希望。地方和国家的消费数据密不可分。被过分夸大的主要是工业产出和投资数额。因此,经济增长预期下调或许会令中国经济态势与以往比大不相同。文章指出,2016年实际投资金额约占GDP的36%,而非政府所报告的43%。债务占GDP的实际份额要高于官方数据,但资本回报并不像担心的那样低,消费作为增长引擎作用也更为突出。从这个角度来看,中国经济规模虽有所缩小但也更加平衡,更具韧性。
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