口译练习三篇新闻

美联储刺激经济增长的能力遭质疑

Questions Arise Over Whether Fed Has Tools to Fix Economy

Ben Bernanke encountered a heavy dose of skepticism and doubt here this weekend. 贝南克(Ben Bernanke)上周末遭遇了狂风暴雨般的质疑。

In a highly anticipated speech on monetary policy Friday, the Federal Reserve chairman argued that the Fed's easy-money policies were helping the weak economy and laid the groundwork for more action. 在上周五一次被寄予厚望的有关货币政策的演讲中，美联储(Federal Reserve)主席贝南克说，美联储实施的宽松货币政策为疲弱的经济提供了助力，也为采取更多行动打下了基础。

But economists and central bankers wondered more openly than usual if the Fed had the tools to fix the problems of the day and expressed frustration that four years of super low interest rates and extraordinary money-pumping by the Fed hadn't done more to spur the slow-moving economy. Associated Press美联储主席贝南克和以色列央行行长费希尔（Stanley Fischer）。但是经济学家和中央银行家们更加公开地对美联储是否拥有解决当前问题的工具表示质疑，他们还表达了对四年超低利率和美联储的大手笔注资未能有效刺激缓慢运行的经济的失望之情。

'Why is it that we've had such incredibly accommodative monetary policy for so long and we've had so little growth?' Donald Kohn, a Brookings Institution scholar, asked from the audience after a panel discussion here Saturday. 在上周六的一次小组讨论之后，布鲁金斯学会(Brookings Institution)的学者科恩(Donald Kohn)作为听众提问说，为什么我们实施了这么长时间的让人难以置信的适应性货币政策，经济增幅还是这么小？

It was a striking question because Mr. Kohn is a former vice chairman of the Fed and was Mr. Bernanke's right-hand man during the financial crisis. The headwinds that the Fed often cites─Europe, household debt-reduction, the housing bust─he said were unsatisfying answers. 'There is a lot we don't understand,' he said. 科恩提出这个问题很出人意料，因为他曾担任美联储副主席，在金融危机期间曾是贝南克的得力助手。他说，美联储经常以欧债危机、家庭减债规划、房地产市场不景气等不利因素为理由，但这些答案不能令人满意。他说，有太多东西我们无法理解。

'We're in a world where monetary policy 英国央行副行长比恩(Charles Bean)在观众

has much less traction,' Charles Bean, deputy governor of the Bank of England, said from the audience. 席上说，在当今世界，货币政策的效力远远不如从前。

In his comments Friday, Mr. Bernanke argued that the Fed's two main tools─bond-buying programs known as quantitative easing and jawboning about future rate plans─had he lped to lower long-term interest rates and raise stocks and other asset prices. 贝南克上周五发表评论说，美联储的两大主要工具──债券购买计划（即人们熟知的量化宽松）以及关于未来利率方案的大力游说，已经在降低长期利率和提高股票和其他资产价格方面提供了帮助。

The Fed's models showed that the easier financial conditions coming from these programs helped to push economic output 3% higher than it would otherwise be and create two million jobs. Mr. Bernanke's prepared speech included 31 detailed footnotes and five pages of citations. 美联储的模型显示，这些计划营造出来的更加宽松的金融环境使经济产出提高了3%，创造了200万个就业岗位。贝南克准备的演讲稿中包括了31个详尽的注释和长达五页的引文。

Behind the scenes, some economists had their doubts about the chairman's findings. The estimate of two million jobs included some important caveats. The conclusion was based on simulations run in the Fed's computer models, but those same models seem to have overestimated how fast the economy would grow during the recovery. 然而私下里一些经济学家对贝南克的结论表示怀疑。200万就业岗位这一估计值需要进行一些必要的说明。贝南克结论的基础是美联储电脑模型的模拟运行结果，但是这些模型似乎高估了复苏过程中美国经济的增速。

Mr. Bernanke acknowledged that 'some of the normal transmission channels of monetary policy' aren't working normally. 贝南克承认，货币政策的一些常规传递渠道目前运行不畅。

The key problem, said University of Chicago professor Amir Sufi, is that households burdened by heavy debt loads aren't responding to low interest rates by spending more, as typically happens in a crisis. They need to reduce their debt first, he said. 'I'm not so convinced that monetary policy can play a big role,' he said. 芝加哥大学(University of Chicago)教授苏菲(Amir Sufi)说，关键的问题是，债务负担沉重的家庭没有因为低利率而增加支出，这是危机时的典型状况。他说，他们首先需要减轻债务，我不太相信货币政策能发挥多大作用。

Economists here debated other familiar 经济学家还就其他一些议题展开了辩论。在

points three years into a disappointing recovery. Edward Lazear, a Stanford University professor and former chairman of President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, took Mr. Bernanke's side in an argument about structural unemployment. High unemployment now is the result of a lack of economic demand, he said, not structural factors like households being unable to move to find new jobs. 令人失望的复苏维持了三年之后，人们对这些议题已经耳熟能详。曾在小布什政府担任经济顾问委员会(Council of Economic Advisers)主席的斯坦福大学(Stanford University)教授拉齐尔(Edward Lazear)赞成贝南克有关“结构性失业”的观点。他说，目前的高失业率是经济需求不足引起的，而不是家庭无法到异地找工作等结构性因素导致的结果。

'If we can figure out ways to make the economy grow, we will have solved the labor market problem,' Mr. Lazear said. But some of Mr. Bernanke's own colleagues openly doubted that conclusion, a day after Mr. Bernanke also made it. 拉齐尔说，如果我们能够找到实现经济增长的办法，那么就业市场的问题也就迎刃而解了。然而，在贝南克前一天刚刚发表同样观点之后，贝南克的一些同事就对这一结论公开表示了质疑。

Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, said workers in his region of the U.S. lacked the skills that employers were looking for─a problem economists describe as structural. It would take time to adjust to the skills mismatch, he said. 'It is not clear monetary policy can obviate these costs in any way,' said Mr. Lacker, a frequent dissenter from Fed policy decisions. 里士满联邦储备银行行长拉克(Jeffrey Lacker)说，里士满地区的劳动者缺乏雇主需要的技能，而这正是经济学家所说的结构性问题。他说，劳动技能不匹配的情况需要时间来调整。经常对美联储的政策决定持相反态度的拉克说，不知道货币政策能不能通过某种方式消除此类成本。

Mr. Bernanke is feeling pressure on both sides. Some officials and private economists say the Fed should stand pat after cutting short-term interest rates to near zero and purchasing more than $2 trillion worth of long-term bonds since the crisis. 贝南克目前已经腹背受敌。一些官员和私营机构的经济学家说，危机以来美联储已将利率下调至接近于零的水平，并收购了价值逾2万亿美元的长期债券，此时应当按兵不动。

But other economists─and many Fed officials behind the scenes─said the Fed chairman needed to take a more aggressive stance, pushing even harder with lending programs targeted to 但另一些经济学家以及很多身居幕后的美联储官员说，贝南克需要采取更激进的立场，以更大的力度推行专门针对困难部门的贷款计划，或更强硬地表达致力于降低失业率的态度。这些激进派说，虽然有那么多怀

美国共和党代表大会在暴风雨中开幕

Republicans Kick Off Storm-Shortened Convention

distressed sectors or stronger expressions of commitment to reducing unemployment. These policy activists said

the inflation that so many skeptics

predicted never materialized.

疑派发出预言，但通货膨胀从来没有成为现实。

Republicans officially opened a storm-shortened convention Monday aimed at selling Mitt Romney to the American people, with GOP hopes for the event rising as the winds died. 周一，美国共和党全国代表大会在佛罗里达州的坦帕正式开幕，不过会期因暴风雨的缘故而缩短。此次全国代表大会的目的是向美国人推介罗姆尼。随着风力的减弱，共和党人对此次大会的期望值也不断提高。

Still, worries remained about Tropical Storm Isaac's potential to overshadow the stage-crafted effort, or create an unwelcome contrast between the GOP celebration and a natural disaster elsewhere along the Gulf Coast. Romney campaign officials were weighing possible options for offering volunteer help to disaster victims, in case the need arises.

相关报道不过，共和党人仍然担心这次精心编排的大会有可能被热带风暴“艾萨克”(Isaac)抢去风头，担心此次风暴会在佛罗里达州以外的其他墨西哥湾沿岸地区引发自然灾害，使灾情与共和党庆祝活动形成令人尴尬的鲜明对比。罗姆尼竞选团队正在考虑各种预案，以便能在需要的情况下向灾民提供援助。

As of Monday evening, the storm was moving toward the coast near New Orleans and had the potential to become a category 1 hurricane. A few notable officials─including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal─had pulled out of the convention to stay closer to home. Florida Gov. Rick Scott also curtailed his convention

activities.

截至周一晚间，风暴一直在向新奥尔良附近的海岸移动，并有可能加强成为一级飓风。包括路易斯安那州州长金达尔(Bobby Jindal)在内的一些重要官员已经离开会议举办地，回到离家更近的地方。佛罗里达州州长斯科特(Rick Scott)也缩减了在代表大会上的活动。

With Monday's official program canceled because of the lingering threat posed by Isaac, Republican party chairman Reince Priebus gaveled the convention into a pro forma session promptly at 2 p.m. Monday, Getty Images 周一是共和党全国代表大会的第一天。图为人们站在坦帕湾时报广场的主舞台上。由于艾萨克的威胁仍在，周一的正式议程被取消，共和党全国委员会主席普里伯斯(Reince Priebus)周一下午两点仓储

香港同性恋群体在工作场所仍受歧视

How Gay-Friendly is Hong Kong? It Depends. then gaveled the session to a close less than a minute later. 宣布大会的预备会议召开，然后在不到一分钟之后他又宣布会议结束。

Mr. Romney will arrive in Tampa on Tuesday, the same day his wife, Ann, is scheduled to speak at the convention. But he's not expected to remain in Tampa all week; he has a campaign event

Wednesday in Indiana.

罗姆尼将在周二抵达坦帕，他的妻子安(Ann Romney)定于当天在会上发表讲话。但罗姆尼预计不会整整一周都待在坦帕。他周三将在印第安纳州参加一个竞选活动。

Mr. Romney was in New Hampshire to rest up and practice his acceptance speech. 'Our thoughts are with the people that are in the storm's path and hope that they're spared any major destruction,' he said. Asked if he was considering canceling the convention, he added, 'Got a great convention ahead.'

抵达坦帕前罗姆尼在新罕布什尔州休整并练习将在接受总统候选人提名时发表的演讲。他说，我们的心和受到风暴影响的人们在一起，我们希望他们不会遭受任何严重的损失。在被问到他是否在考虑取消这次共和党大会时，他补充说，我们将召开一次伟大的会议。

Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the party's presumptive vice-presidential nominee, headed Monday to Tampa, a day later than scheduled, after giving an emotional farewell speech in his hometown of Janesville, Wis.

将被共和党提名为副总统候选人的国会众议员莱恩(Paul Ryan)周一前往坦帕，这比预定时间晚了一天，此前他在家乡威斯康星州简斯维尔(Janesville)发表了一番十分煽情的告别演说。

The speech likely previewed some of the themes he will hit on in Tampa. He attacked President Barack Obama and touted Mr. Romney's leadership and vision, but also sounded notes of

community and cooperation.

莱恩的这篇演讲很可能包括了他将在坦帕提到的一些话题。他攻击了现任总统奥巴马，宣传了罗姆尼的领导能力和远见卓识，同时不忘表达团结与合作的姿态。

Hong Kong's LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community may have received a boost from local pop star Anthony Wong's very public coming-out 香港的LGBT 群体（指女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋以及跨性别者）可能受到了香港流行歌手黄耀明(Anthony Wong)上个月公开出柜的鼓舞，近年来公众对这一群体的态度可

last month, and there may have been visible improvements in public attitude in recent years--the city has hosted a number of Pride parades since 2008--but a new survey shows that hostility continues in the workplace. 能也有明显改善（自2008年以来香港举行过多次同性恋游行），但新近一项调查显示，在工作场所，针对这一群体的敌意仍然存在。

Conducted by Hong Kong nonprofit Community Business, the survey--the first major one on attitudes toward LGBT individuals since 2005--interviewed 1,002 randomly chosen working people in Hong Kong as well as 626 working people who identified themselves as members of the LGBT community. Associated Press2011年11月12日在香港，人们举行集会呼吁尊重同性恋、双性恋和跨性别者的权利。由香港非营利性组织Community Business进行的这项调查访问了1,002名随机选取的香港职场人士以及626名自称属于LGBT群体的职场人士。这是2005年以来香港首个有关公众对LGBT 群体态度的调查。

Of the former, 50% described themselves as 'accepting' of LGBT individuals, an advance on the results of the 2005 survey, conducted by Hong Kong's government (pdf), in which 39% of 2,000 people interviewed said homosexuality 'contradicts the morals of the community.' An even bigger change was that just 3% in the latest survey said they believed gays are not 'psychologically normal,' compared with 42% in 2005. 在第一类受访群体中，50%的人称自己接受LGBT群体，和2005年香港政府一项类似调查显示的结果相比，这一比例有所提升。2005年的调查共访问了2,000名对象，其中39%的人说同性恋有违社会道德。更大的变化在于，此次调查中只有3%的受访者说他们认为同性恋者心理不正常，而2005年这一比例高达42%。

Still 25% of workers said they were 'not accepting,' and 53% of the LGBT employees said they felt exhausted by 'having to pretend to be someone they are not,' while 26% said they had stayed home from work because the work environment was not accepting. The LGBT respondents gave their employers an average score of just 2.68 out of 10 in for creating an inclusive workplace. 尽管如此，第一类受访群体中仍有25%的人说他们不接受LGBT群体，而53%的LGBT员工说，他们对不得不装扮成一个同自己性取向不同的人感到精疲力尽。26%的人说，他们只好辞职回家，因为工作环境不接受他们。在评价雇主对创造一个包容性的工作环境所付出的努力时，LGBT受访者给雇主打出的平均分只有 2.68分(满分10分)。

International companies did better than average, scoring 4.32, but the government did far worse, with a paltry 1.47. 跨国企业的表现高于平均水平，得分为4.32。但政府部门的表现就差远了，得分仅有1.47。

Tellingly, there is no neutral Cantonese 值得注意的是，在粤语中，“跨性别者”还没

word for 'transgender' that has entered common parlance. According to the survey, most people still use yan yiu--literally, 'human monster.' 有一个普遍接受的不带感情色彩的说法。从此次调查来看，大多数人还是将其称作“人妖”。

Richard Seeley, a managing director at survey sponsor Barclays, said in order to hire young people his company has to be aware of their values, which include diversity and inclusion. The stereotype of bankers as Gordon Gekko-types from the film 'Wall Street' no longer applies. 此次调查的赞助商巴克莱(Barclays)的董事总经理西利(Richard Seeley)说，在雇用年轻人之前他所在的公司必须了解他们的价值观，其中包括多样性和包容性。电影《华尔街》(Wall Street)中盖寇(Gordon Gekko)那样的老派投资银行家已经不合时宜了。

'Investment banks have to hire the best and the brightest, and they're not all alpha males,' he said. 西利说，投资银行雇佣的是最优秀且最聪明的人，他们未必要是那种传统意义上的精英男性。

There are currently no laws protecting LGBT employees in Hong Kong against discrimination at the workplace. 香港目前没有法律保护LGBT员工在工作场合不受歧视。

'It's going to be a long process for legislation,' said Amanda Yik of Community Business, as 'there is no real consensus in society' on whether to legislate and there is a lack of advocacy groups in Hong Kong lobbying for LGBT rights. Community Business的Amanda Yik说，立法保护这一群体将是一个漫长的过程，因为在是否要立法这一问题上没有达成真正的社会共识，香港也缺乏维权组织为LGBT 的权利进行游说。

But here's something for employers to keep in mind: Almost half of LGBT workers in the survey said they are more efficient at work if they do not have to hide their sexual orientation. 雇主最好记住一点：调查中，接近一半的受访LGBT员工说，如果他们不需要刻意隐藏自己的性取向，他们的工作效率会更高