关税推高美国通胀
作者：微信文章简介：本文节选自英国《经济学人》杂志，提供每天发生的世界时事热点新闻及经济、科技、军事、娱乐以及文体类报道。对于希望以外媒视角了解世界热点的人来说，可谓是不二之选。
后附的英文原文对于考研英语词汇、阅读、翻译、甚至完型都有巨大的提高作用，根据部分读者反馈，在掌握基础考研词汇的情况下，本文坚持阅读一个月，考研英语一50-60分很容易取得。长期坚持的话，再辅以背诵作文范文、新题型的练习，80分乃至更高亦非难事。
本文仅作为练习英语阅读的素材，不代表我们同意其观点。
THE WORLD IN BRIEF
世界时事热点简讯
Charlie Kirk, an American conservative activist and a close ally of Donald Trump, died shortly after being shot during an event at a university in Utah. Mr Trump confirmed the 31-year-old’s death on social media. In 2012 Mr Kirk started Turning Point USA, a right-wing youth organisation known for hosting campus debates. Officials said a suspect was not yet in custody.
美国保守派活动家、唐纳德·特朗普的亲密盟友查理·柯克（Charlie Kirk）在犹他州一所大学的活动中遇袭枪击，随后不久身亡。特朗普在社交媒体上证实了这位31岁人士的死讯。2012年，柯克创立了右翼青年组织“美国转折点”（Turning Point USA），该组织以举办校园辩论活动闻名。官员表示，嫌疑人尚未被捕。
Karol Nawrocki, Poland’s president, said he spoke to Mr Trump after 19 Russian drones entered Polish airspace during an attack on Ukraine on Tuesday night. America’s president voiced frustration with Russia. Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, told parliament that Polish and NATO aircraft shot down three or four of the drones. The foreign minister said he believed the drones “deliberately targeted”Polish airspace.
波兰总统卡罗尔·纳夫罗茨基（Karol Nawrocki）表示，周二晚间俄罗斯对乌克兰发动袭击期间，有19架俄罗斯无人机进入波兰领空，之后他与特朗普进行了通话。美国总统对俄罗斯表达了不满。波兰总理唐纳德·图斯克（Donald Tusk）向议会表示，波兰和北约的战机击落了其中3至4架无人机。波兰外长称，他认为这些无人机“蓄意瞄准”波兰领空。
Larry Ellison became the world’s richest person. The founder of Oracle saw his personal fortune rise to $393bn as the software giant’s stock jumped following surprisingly good quarterly earnings. The $101bn increase was the biggest ever recorded in a single day by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Mr Ellison unseated Elon Musk, a fellow tech titan worth $385bn, from the top spot.
拉里·埃里森（Larry Ellison）成为全球首富。这位甲骨文（Oracle）创始人的个人财富增至3930亿美元，原因是这家软件巨头公布了远超预期的季度收益，其股价随之大幅上涨。1010亿美元的单日财富增幅，创下了彭博亿万富豪指数（Bloomberg Billionaires Index）有记录以来的最高纪录。埃里森取代了身家3850亿美元的科技巨头同行埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk），登上首富宝座。
Israel attacked Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and a northern province, killing 35 people, according to the Houthi-run health ministry. Israel said it had struck military targets; a spokesperson for the Iran-backed rebels countered that the strikes hit “purely” civilian sites. Separately, Qatar’s prime minister told CNN that Israel’s strike on Tuesday on Doha, the capital, “killed any hope” for the hostages in Gaza.
据胡塞武装控制的卫生部称，以色列袭击了也门首都萨那（Sanaa）及北部一个省份，造成35人死亡。以色列表示其袭击的是军事目标；而伊朗支持的胡塞叛军发言人则反驳称，袭击击中的“完全是”民用地点。此外，卡塔尔首相向美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）表示，以色列周二对卡塔尔首都多哈发动的袭击，“扼杀了”加沙人质获救的“所有希望”。
Novo Nordisk said it would cut 9,000 jobs, around 11% of its global workforce. The Danish firm also lowered its profit forecast for the year, citing one-off restructuring costs. Sales of its weight-loss drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, are under pressure from products made by competitors such as Eli Lilly, an American company.
诺和诺德（Novo Nordisk）宣布将裁员9000人，约占其全球员工总数的11%。这家丹麦公司还下调了本年度利润预期，理由是一次性重组成本。该公司减肥药奥泽匹克（Ozempic）和维戈维（Wegovy）的销售正面临来自美国礼来公司（Eli Lilly）等竞争对手产品的压力。
Klarna reportedly raised almost $1.4bn in its initial public offering, which was more than 20 times oversubscribed. The Swedish buy-now, pay-later firm said it priced shares at $40. Shares debuted at $52, a 30% jump. The offering helped boost Klarna’s valuation to more than $17bn. The company paused its listing plans earlier this year because of market volatility caused by Donald Trump’s tariffs.
据报道，瑞典先买后付公司克拉纳（Klarna）在首次公开发行（IPO）中募资近14亿美元，超额认购倍数超过20倍。该公司表示，其股票发行价定为40美元，上市首日开盘价为52美元，涨幅达30%。此次IPO助力克拉纳的估值升至170亿美元以上。今年早些时候，由于唐纳德·特朗普的关税政策引发市场波动，该公司曾暂停上市计划。
Scientists think “leopard spots” on a rock collected on Mars by NASA’s Perseverance rover may potentially have been made by ancient microbial life. Their analysis, published in Nature, says the rover’s data detected “potential biosignatures”. More study to confirm biological origin is needed, but NASA’s Sean Duffy said the finding “could be the clearest sign of life that we’ve ever found on Mars.”
科学家认为，美国国家航空航天局（NASA）“毅力号”（Perseverance）火星车在火星采集的一块岩石上的“豹斑状纹路”，有可能是远古微生物生命留下的痕迹。他们发表在《自然》（Nature）期刊上的分析报告称，火星车的数据检测到了“潜在的生物特征”。要确认这些特征的生物起源仍需进一步研究，但NASA的肖恩·达菲（Sean Duffy）表示，这一发现“可能是我们在火星上找到的最明确的生命迹象”。
Figure of the day: 40%, the proportion of children in Niue and the Cook Islands who are obese—the highest in the world.
今日数据：40%。这是纽埃（Niue）和库克群岛（Cook Islands）儿童的肥胖比例，为全球最高。
TODAY’S AGENDA
今日议程
Tariffs fuel inflation in America
关税推高美国通胀
Five months after Donald Trump announced plans to sharply raise tariffs, they are raising the prices that Americans pay in shops. On Thursday inflation data will show by how much.
唐纳德·特朗普宣布大幅提高关税计划五个月后，这些关税已开始推高美国消费者的零售价格。周四发布的通胀数据将揭示具体涨幅。
In the first few months of Mr Trump’s second term inflation moved tantalisingly close to the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%, which had been out of reach since 2021. But the last reading put the annual inflation rate in July at 2.7% and the core rate, which excludes volatile food and energy costs, at 3.1%. Businesses have been passing on the costs of tariffs to consumers. And more price pain is probably on the way. Forecasters think that headline inflation rose to 2.9% in August, and that core inflation remained at 3.1%. That will pose a dilemma for the Federal Reserve as it mulls whether to cut interest rates. It is now balancing rising inflation and a weakening jobs market.
特朗普第二任期的最初几个月，美国通胀曾逼近美联储2%的目标（自2021年以来该目标一直难以实现），令人充满期待。但最新数据显示，7月年度通胀率升至2.7%，剔除波动较大的食品和能源成本后的核心通胀率为3.1%。企业正将关税成本转嫁给消费者，且未来消费者可能面临更大的涨价压力。预测人士认为，8月整体通胀率已升至2.9%，核心通胀率则维持在3.1%。这将使美联储在考虑是否降息时陷入两难：目前它需要在通胀上升与就业市场疲软之间寻求平衡。
The ECB to stay on hold
欧洲央行拟维持利率不变
The first meeting after the summer break promises to be an easy one for the European Central Bank. On Thursday its top mandarins come together to assess the economy, financial conditions and inflation, and decide whether to cut its main interest rate from 2% to 1.75%. Analysts expect them to do nothing.
对欧洲央行（ECB）而言，暑期休会后的首次会议大概率会轻松收场。周四，欧洲央行高层官员将齐聚一堂，评估经济、金融状况与通胀，并决定是否将主要利率从2%下调至1.75%。分析师预计，他们将维持利率不变。
The ECB’s main aim—to keep inflation steady at 2%—is roughly on target. The annual rate was 2.1% in August, and 2% in the two months before that, low enough for bankers to turn their attention to the question of economic growth. There are some signs of improvement. Manufacturing sentiment is finally signalling growth again, in spite of American tariffs. But big government spending promises on defence and infrastructure, especially in Germany, will take time to trickle down. Before the guns and mortar materialise, the ECB may need to lend the economy a helping hand with another rate cut.
欧洲央行的核心目标——将通胀稳定在2%——已基本实现：8月年度通胀率为2.1%，此前两个月均为2%，这一水平足以让央行官员将注意力转向经济增长问题。目前已有部分改善迹象：尽管面临美国关税压力，制造业信心指数终于再次释放增长信号。但政府在国防和基础设施方面的大额支出承诺（尤其是德国）需要时间才能逐步产生实际影响。在这些支出落地见效前，欧洲央行或许需要再次降息，为经济提供助力。
Can Adobe keep up on AI?
Adobe能否跟上人工智能步伐？
Adobe, an American maker of software for creative types, risks being left behind in the artificial-intelligence frenzy. The new technology has cast the competitiveness of the firm’s digital-editing tools into doubt, and threatens to put lots of graphic designers, among its main customers, out of a job. Adobe’s share price is down 39% in the past year; on Thursday it publishes third-quarter earnings.
美国创意工作者软件制造商Adobe（奥多比）面临在人工智能热潮中落后的风险。这项新技术令该公司数字编辑工具的竞争力受到质疑，还可能导致其主要客户群体之一——大量平面设计师——失业。过去一年，Adobe股价下跌了39%；该公司将于周四发布第三季度财报。
The company has been trying to integrate AI into its products, but investors complain that upstarts are running rings round it. OpenAI rolled out its AI-video generator in February, when Adobe’s own, Firefly Video, was still in testing. The company also faces competition from design apps like Canva and CapCut, which are easy to use on smartphones. In September Adobe said it would make its video editor, Premiere, available on iPhones. But skittish investors will need more convincing that Adobe can cut it (and paste it) in an AI world.
Adobe虽一直试图将人工智能整合到产品中，但投资者抱怨称，新兴企业正远远超越它。例如，OpenAI在2月就推出了人工智能视频生成工具，而当时Adobe旗下的Firefly Video仍处于测试阶段。此外，Adobe还面临Canva（可画）、CapCut（剪映）等设计应用的竞争，这些应用在智能手机上易于操作。9月，Adobe宣布将推出适用于iPhone的视频编辑软件Premiere（ Premiere Pro移动版）。但焦虑的投资者需要更多证据，才能相信Adobe能在人工智能时代站稳脚跟（并实现创新）。
America’s constitutional rut
美国宪法的僵局
In his quest to remake America, Donald Trump has yet to try amending the constitution. Perhaps wisely. Of nearly 12,000 amendments proposed since 1789, only 27 have been ratified. In “We the People”, a book out on Thursday, Jill Lepore argues that America’s constitution has become too hard to change. The historian notes that Thomas Jefferson wanted conventions every 19 years, doubting that one generation had “a right to bind another”. The framers of the constitution adopted James Madison’s counterproposal, which made amendment much harder. Under Article V it requires two-thirds votes in both houses of Congress and the assent of three-quarters of states.
唐纳德·特朗普在试图重塑美国的过程中，尚未尝试修订宪法——这或许是明智之举。自1789年以来，美国共提出近1.2万项宪法修正案，仅27项获得批准。吉尔·莱波雷（Jill Lepore）在周四出版的《我们人民》（We the People）一书中指出，美国宪法已变得难以修改。这位历史学家提到，托马斯·杰斐逊曾主张每19年召开一次制宪会议，他质疑“一代人是否有权约束另一代人”。但美国宪法制定者采纳了詹姆斯·麦迪逊（James Madison）的反提案，该提案大幅提高了修宪难度。根据宪法第五条，修宪需获得国会参众两院三分之二议员支持，并得到四分之三州的认可。
The last meaningful change, in 1971, lowered the voting age. With only a glancing reference to the way America’s constitutional rut contributes to its current political strife, “We the People” is not a road map for repair. But it offers an arresting chronicle of Americans striving—if sometimes failing—to redesign their republic.
美国上一次有意义的宪法修订是在1971年，当时将投票年龄降低。《我们人民》仅略微提及美国宪法僵局对当前政治冲突的推动作用，并非一份解决问题的指南，但它生动记述了美国人努力（尽管有时失败）重塑其共和政体的历程。
每日名言
Life is ours to be spent, not to be saved.
生命应由我们尽情挥洒，而非悉心保存。
D. H. Lawrence
D. H. 劳伦斯
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