By Fareed Zakaria

　　The American Economy just isn't looking up these days. The growth rate for this quarter will probably be close to zero. Unemployment is rising. The stock market remains sluggish. And now many worry that the growing economic stagnation abroad will affect the United States. With trouble spots multiplying around the globe, investors are already coming to the conclusion that the safest place to put their money is in the U.S. A.

　　How else to explain the gravity-defying feat of the dollar? By all economic logic, the dollar should fall when the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates. But as any American tourist knows, the greenback has been firming up against the euro and the yen despite six rate cuts this year. European and Asian investors are using their savings to buy American bonds even though they can get higher interest rates in their own countries.

　　To understand why investors are doing this, I picked up a copy of last Friday's Financial Times, the daily dietary supplement of the Davos set. Its section on Europe had the following stories: Italy's budget will be three times the predicted size, making a "mockery"of Europe's common fiscal policy; the IMF warns France that its economy remains too regulated and uncompetitive; and Germany's chancellor announces that his country will not make it easier for firms to hire and fire workers in response to economic conditions.

　　There you have it on one page in one day. Bad fiscal policy, bad monetary policy, bad regulations and an unwillingness to change any of it. If you turn to the Asian section of the paper, the lead story is that Moody's, the global credit agency, is unimpressed by the latest set of Japanese reforms and will maintain its negative outlook on that country's economy. And emerging markets are weakening everywhere because of slow growth in the advanced world. In such a climate, is it really so surprising that money keeps pouring into America?

　　America's dependence on foreign capital worries economists. But Lawrence Lindsey, President Bush's special assistant on economic affairs, argues it simply reflects the fact that "investors around the world believe that America is the best place on the planet to invest for risk-adjusted returns." It means the dollar stays high but interest rates and inflation stay low. At the upcoming G8 summit, the administration will continue to insist, despite European irritation, that the key weakness in the global economy is that Europe and Japan have not undertaken enough reforms.

　　Don't get me wrong. America's troubles are real—particularly the soaring personal—and corporate-debt numbers. "America has problems,"acknowledges MIT economist Rudi Dornbusch, "but it also has solutions."Look at how the country has reacted to its slowdown. The Federal Reserve began cutting interest rates aggressively; the administration and Congress passed a tax cut that will boost both consumer spending and confidence; corporations are already shedding jobs and restructuring on the basis of six months of weak profits. In Japan, it's been 10 years of stagnation and still no private-sector restructuring. In Europe, as things get worse, unions get more powerful and governments less committed to reform. It's a vicious cycle.

　　None of this means that the American slowdown isn't going to persist for a while. Or that the stock market isn't still overvalued. But the slowdown has been exaggerated. The telecommunications and Internet boom has turned to bust, and that sector has lots of excess capacity. But real estate and banking, bellwethers of the economy, are in good shape. They didn't feast during the boom, so they are not fasting right now. Home prices in particular are strong, which has a powerful effect on consumer confidence. (Most people's biggest asset is their house.) And cars are selling briskly.

　　The administration and Federal Reserve have adopted a strategy of coupling their actions (rate and tax cuts) with sunny talk about the economy to keep consumer confidence high for the next six months, by which time they believe the economy will have turned around. It's a strategy that has a good chance of working because two large and powerful groups of people, American consumers and foreign investors, seem willing to bet on America's growth prospects—especially when compared with the alternatives. Lindsey argues that this is itself powerful evidence of America's fundamental strengths. "Economists believe that people act in their self-interest. Well, American consumers and foreign investors, by their actions, seem very optimistic about America's long-term health," he says. "maybe they know something."

　　北京外国语大学英语系 李品伟 讲评

　　此文选自2001年7月23日《新闻周刊》杂志，与文章相匹配的是一幅美国国会大厦的照片，其顶部飘扬着美国的星条旗。

　　文章的第一句话是：The American Economy(原文中Economy大写) just isn't looking up these days.

　　作者以11个字勾勒出了美国当前的经济状况。文字之简短，表达方式之口语化令人惊奇。与过去《新闻周刊》中文章开端冗长的句子，艰涩的辞藻相比，这犹如一个仪表堂堂的绅士，突然成了身穿布衣的平民。新闻体的一些规矩，在这里似乎已经被打破了。

　　文字随着时代变迁而变化，当然也不能绝对而言，新闻体的文章里文字是否也有鲜明的特色，这也不好说。

　　如果第一段讲的是美国经济总的形势，第二段讲的就是美元与其他货币相比的地位。

　　gravity-defying feat这个词如何解释：feat在LDCE (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English)中的释义是：something that someone does that is impressive because it needs a lot of skill, strength etc,举例是：a remarkble feat of engineering。

　　在这上下文里，feat的词义是奇迹或技艺，选择“奇迹”可能更合适一些。那在这里gravity-defying又如何理解？

　　defy在LDCE中第一个释义是to refuse to obey a law or rule,这里应用第二个释义才恰当，在第二个释义里，编者列举了defying description/analysis/imagination etc三个搭配。这三个搭配中defy的意思相同，它是to be so extreme or unusual that it is almost impossible to describe or understand。那么上述搭配的意思就分别是无法加以形容/无法进行分析/难以想象。gravity的意思是地心引力，但这里可以理解为“下降”。请看COLLINS Cobuild:Essential English Dictionary的释义：gravity is the force which causes something to fall to the ground when you drop them,这里是用的其引申义。因此gravity-defying feat在此也就可以译作：不会下滑的本事。

　　第三段第一句以第一人称来写，这里这样写也是为了拉近作者与读者的距离，增加亲切感。Davos set是瑞士地名，是世界大金融家、豪富们云集的地方，而星期五版的英国《金融时报》则是他们进早餐时了解最新信息的必读之物，这一段提到的缩略语IMF在一般辞典中都能查到，是International Monetary Fund(国际货币基金组织)的缩略形式。

　　第四段第一句There you have it on one page in one day.也写得非常简单、高度概括：同一天同一份报纸的同一版上很巧合地都是报道了欧洲国家的糟糕的金融经济状况。这一段中的lead story一词可以说是报刊文章专用词。lead为定语，在Random House Webster Dictionary of American English中的释义为a piece of useful information(释义22)，而story在新闻体文章中的意思同一本词典也讲得很清楚，story1，释义4：a report of the facts of a matter in question.这一释义在《英华大词典》中的对应词是：特写(美国)。

　　第五段第一句America's dependence on foreign capital worries economists.，第七段第一句None of this means American slowdown isn't going to persist for a while.都反映了当前美国新闻政论文章风格平民化的一种趋势。

　　第五段第二句一引语中出现的risk-adjusted returns是一个值得注意的用词。首先这里的returns是名词，它的意思应该是“回报或赢利”。同一段里to invest for risk-adjusted returns是这几年来常说的风险投资。

　　G8 summit即Group 8首脑会议，Group 8是世界发达工业国组成的集团，成员有the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada和Russia。第六段以一个十分短的短句承上启下转入美国目前所采取的一系列经济政策。aggressive是侵略性的意思，在这里只能是forcefully的意思。

　　shedding jobs从上下文来推断，是容易理解的，但确切地说shed的词义是什么呢，请看LDCE中shed一词的释义第三条：get rid of,举例：The company is planning to shed a quarter of its workforce. / I shed my inhibitions and joined the dancing.接下去的一个词restructure按LDCE的释义应为：to change the way in which something such as a government, business or a system is organized。

　　less committed to reform从上下文来看意思也很清楚，但如何准确地给予一个释义呢？要查的不是commit，而是committed，LDCE中的释义是：willing to work very hard at something是将其整个作为一个形容词来看。

　　bellwether这个词在LDCE中查不到，但《蓝登书屋韦氏美语学习词典》是有的：(可数)a person or thing that leads or indicates a trend，举例：California is frequently a bellwether of political change in the country。它可能是一个美国词，用现在的话来讲可以是“领头羊”吧。

　　下面一句话很巧妙：They didn't feast during the boom, so they are not fasting right now.。feast是“盛宴”或“大吃大喝”的意思。fast这个词第一个意思是“斋戒，禁食，绝食”，break one's fast是“开斋”，后来成为“吃早餐”的意思。这句话的意思是在经济大发展时期，他们没有大吃大喝，现在他们也饿不着。

　　最后一段中只有strengths一个词需要理解一下。Collins CoBuild Essential English Dictionary中关于strength释义的第4条是这样解释的：your strengths are the qualities and abilities that you have which are an advantage to you，所举例子是：Each firm has its particular strengths and weaknesses.，很清楚，strength是与weaknesses相对而言的，即“长处、强项、优点”的意思。

　　希望以上所作的分析能使读者摆脱一些对新闻杂志阅读方面的畏惧心理，你完全可以经过一番浏览，找到适合你自己口味和水平的新闻体文章。