【外刊精读】新加坡经济如今面临的困境及发展机遇--下
在上一篇外刊精读中，我们已经学习了一部分新加坡的目前经济现状，接下来让我们跟随经济学人完成剩下的报道学习。原文导读（下）Open and ShutThat is by design. The government has deliberately shaped its politics to be attractive to the finance industry. This ensured it had an option to fall back on as regional competitors undercut Singapore’s manufacturing base. Finance, which along with insurance contributed 14.6% of gdp in 2021, is a “pillar of the economy”, says Emmanuel Daniel, the founder of The Asian Banker, a consulting firm.
The decision has had a profound effect on the social make-up of the city, because it meant throwing open the doors to foreigners. The proportion of overseas workers on temporary visas has risen dramatically over the past half-century, from 3.2% in 1970 to 33% in 2020. Though most of them are low-paid manual or domestic workers, locals direct their ire mostly at highly paid professionals, whom they perceive as hogging the plum jobs. “We can’t get jobs or we have lousy jobs: all the good-paying jobs go to expats,” says Gilbert Goh, who has organised two anti-immigrant rallies, a rarity in the tightly controlled city-state. Many Singaporeans agree with him. More than half of those surveyed in 2021 by the Institute for Policy Studies, a local think-tank, believe that foreigners take jobs away from Singaporeans.
Such fears have little basis in reality. The skills of foreign workers, whether professionals or low-wage manual labourers, have historically complemented those of Singapore’s native workforce. It was precisely the city-state’s openness to foreigners that convinced firms from all over the world to invest and open offices there, turning it from a poor backwater into the rich global metropolis it is today.
Yet many locals envy the highly paid, highly skilled foreigners who help make their country so dynamic. With a Gini score in 2019 of 0.4 after taxes and transfers, Singapore is about as unequal as America or China, and more so than Europe. Nearly four in five Singaporeans think that the economy is rigged in favour of the rich and powerful, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos, a pollster, in 2020. In 2018 a Singaporean sociologist published a book called “This Is What Inequality Looks Like”, which sold tens of thousands of copies.
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The government says it wants to alleviate these concerns. Though the pap handily won the most recent election, in 2020, it got the lowest number of parliamentary seats ever. Since then, it has continued to tighten the immigration regime, raising minimum salaries required to qualify for a visa and introducing a new points-based visa system. These changes will not, in fact, change much.
Mr Wong has repeatedly said that Singapore needs foreign workers to keep the economy humming. Yet changes on the scale he has in mind may make Singapore less attractive to well-paid workers in financial services. Even if that is the case, Mr Wong may wager that they will stay in Singapore anyway. Where else would they go?
Hong Kong and Shanghai are governed by officials who have, over the course of the pandemic, revealed a capricious streak. As Mr Low puts it, “You don’t have to be perfect, just better than your rivals.”第一段：That is by design. The government has deliberately shaped its politics to be attractive to the finance industry. This ensured it had an option to fall back on as regional competitors undercut Singapore’s manufacturing base. Finance, which along with insurance contributed 14.6% of gdp in 2021, is a “pillar of the economy”, says Emmanuel Daniel, the founder of The Asian Banker, a consulting firm.
参考译文:这是故意为之。政府有意塑造其政治以吸引金融业。这确保了在区域竞争对手削弱新加坡的制造业基础时，它仍然有一个选择。咨询公司《亚洲银行家》的创始人艾曼纽尔·丹尼尔表示，金融业和保险业是“经济的支柱”，在2021占GDP的14.6%。知识点解读：
1.by design：故意的，例如，“I assure you that everything you saw has happened by design. 我向你保证，你所看到的一切都是有意为之。”另外一个类似的词是“by accident”，表示“偶然的，意外的”，例如，“You know, one of the things that I'd like to say upfront is that I'm really here by accident.如你们所知道的，有一件事我想说在最前面我能来到这里实在是很偶然。”要注意区分两者。
2.had an option to：有得选，相当于“have a choice to”，要注意其常考的一个句型“had no option/choice but to”，意为“只能(除 ... 外别无办法)”，例如，“I had no option but to pick myself up.我没有选择余地只有靠自己站起来。”
3.fall back on：有所依靠，是一个非常地道的表达，例如，“Now they have nothing to fall back on since they will be stripped of every single piece of stolen properties that do not belong to them.现在他们已无所依靠，因为他们即将被剥夺他们偷窃而来的不属于他们的财产。”
4.along with：与…一起，大家要注意这个短语的主谓一致用法，along with使用的是就远原则， 谓语动词与前面主语一致，例如，“I think Tom，rather than you，is to blame for the accident.我认为是汤姆而不是你该为此事故负责任。”同样使用就远原则的还有“as well as ,except ,in addition to,instead of ,rather than,together with, with”等，而由or，either...or...，neither...nor...，not only...but also...等连接的并列主语，谓语动词常与最近的主语在单复数上保持一致。例如，“Either you or one of your students is to attend the meeting that is due tomorrow.要么是你或者你的一名学生应该出席明天的会议。”
5.Pillar：柱子、栋梁，政经报道中的“中流砥柱”用的也是这个单词，例如，“pillar industry 支柱产业”。
第二段：The decision has had a profound effect on the social make-up of the city, because it meant throwing open the doors to foreigners. The proportion of overseas workers on temporary visas has risen dramatically over the past half-century, from 3.2% in 1970 to 33% in 2020. Though most of them are low-paid manual or domestic workers, locals direct their ire mostly at highly paid professionals, whom they perceive as hogging the plum jobs. “We can’t get jobs or we have lousy jobs: all the good-paying jobs go to expats,” says Gilbert Goh, who has organised two anti-immigrant rallies, a rarity in the tightly controlled city-state. Many Singaporeans agree with him. More than half of those surveyed in 2021 by the Institute for Policy Studies, a local think-tank, believe that foreigners take jobs away from Singaporeans.
参考译文:这个决定对城市的社会构成产生了深远的影响，因为这意味着向外国人敞开大门。在过去的半个世纪里，持有临时签证的海外工人比例急剧上升，从1970年的3.2%上升到2020年的33%。尽管他们中的大多数人都是低收入的体力劳动者或家政工人，但当地人的愤怒大多指向高薪的专业人士，他们认为这些专业人士占据着丰厚的工作。“我们找不到工作，或者我们有糟糕的工作：所有高薪的工作都给了外国人，”吉尔伯特·吴说，他组织了两次反移民集会，这在这个控制严密的城市国家是罕见的。许多新加坡人同意他的观点。2021，当地智库政策研究所的调查显示，超过一半的人认为外国人夺走了新加坡人的工作。
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知识点解读：
1.proportion：部分，比例，常用的固定搭配有“in proportion 成比例；相称”，“a large proportion of 一大部分”，“direct proportion正比；正比例”和“out of proportion 不成比例”，例句则有“A man’s vanity is actually in proportion to his ignorance. 一个人的虚荣心实际上是和他的愚蠢程度成正比。”
2.Locals：当地人，非常地道的表达，会比“Local people”或者“local folks”要自然地道一点。
3.Perceive：察觉，例如，“They perceived the faults of their own children.他们知道了他们自己儿女的过失。”常用的表达有“perceive as”，意为，“视为；当作”，例如，“What I perceive as a negative thought may be something natural for somebody else.我所理解的消极思想可能对其他人来说是自然的。”
4.think-tank：专家小组、智囊团，例如，“Such, at least, was the argument advanced by researchers from China's top think tank in an essay published Monday. 这至少是中国顶尖智库研究员在周一发表的一篇文章中提出的观点。”
第三段：Such fears have little basis in reality. The skills of foreign workers, whether professionals or low-wage manual labourers, have historically complemented those of Singapore’s native workforce. It was precisely the city-state’s openness to foreigners that convinced firms from all over the world to invest and open offices there, turning it from a poor backwater into the rich global metropolis it is today.
参考译文:这种担心在现实中几乎没有依据。无论是外国专业人士还是低薪体力劳动者，他们的技能在历史上都是对新加坡本土劳动力技能的补充。正是这个城市国家对外国人的开放，说服了世界各地的公司在那里投资和开设办事处，使它从一个贫穷的穷乡僻壤变成了今天富有的全球大都市。
知识点解读：
1.basis in reality：基于现实，有现实基础，例如，“It seems sort of pre-internet era thinking that this story could get serious legs without any kind of basis in reality. 看起来这是一种前互联网时代的想法——想要在没有任何现实基础情况下 ，编造一个故事，让每个人坚信不疑。”文中的“have little basis in reality”则是含否定含义，表示“现实基础不牢”或者“没有什么现实基础”。
2.complement：做动词时表示“补充”，做名词时表示“补充物。例如，“But I knew Dick would be a strong complement to me, and this has proven to be the case.但是我知道，Dick将会是我的得力助手，事实证明确实如此。”
3.backwater：表面意思表示“死水”，引申义为“闭塞的地方, 不受外界事件或新思想影响的地方”，是一个非常形象的地道用词，例如，“I couldn't permit someone of your abilities to moulder away in a backwater.我不能允许像你这样有能力的人在死气沉沉的地方荒废下去。”
4.Metropolis：大都会，其形容词形式为“metropolitan”，意为“大都会的”，例如，“Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。”
第四段：Yet many locals envy the highly paid, highly skilled foreigners who help make their country so dynamic. With a Gini score in 2019 of 0.4 after taxes and transfers, Singapore is about as unequal as America or China, and more so than Europe. Nearly four in five Singaporeans think that the economy is rigged in favour of the rich and powerful, according to a survey conducted by Ipsos, a pollster, in 2020. In 2018 a Singaporean sociologist published a book called “This Is What Inequality Looks Like”, which sold tens of thousands of copies.
参考译文:然而，许多当地人羡慕那些高薪、高技能的外国人，这些外国人帮助新加坡变得活力四射。2019年，新加坡的基尼系数在扣除税收和转移后为0.4，与美国或中国相比相当不平等，跟欧洲比更是尤甚。根据民意调查机构益普索在2020年进行的一项调查，近五分之四的新加坡人认为经济被操纵，使得经济有利于富人和有权势的人。2018年，一位新加坡社会学家出版了一本名为《这就是不平等的样子》的书，销量达数万册。
知识点解读：
1.envy：嫉妒、羡慕，因别人获得了自己本想获得的东西、成就等而产生妒忌、羡慕心理，其形容词是“envious”，常用的固定搭配是“be envious of”，例如，“You won the lottery? I am envious of you.你中彩票了？我好羡慕你啊。”要区分envy和jealous:
jealous:妒忌的；吃醋的, 对他人的优点、成就等恼恨不满的，也可用于表示对某人“吃醋的”；“害怕失去的”，常用的表达为“be jealous of”，例如，“He was jealous of his friend's reputation.他妒忌朋友的声誉。”
2.Rig：经济学惯用术语，表示“(用不正当手段)操纵, 垄断”，例如，“The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory.他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。”
http://3.in favour of：赞成、支持、利于，例如，“Western politicians are beginning to lose patience with state-capitalist powers that rig the system in favour of their own companies.西方政治家对国家资本主义势力操纵系统从而偏向本国公司的行为已经开始失去耐心了。”
4.Copy:作名词时表示“副本”。
第五段：The government says it wants to alleviate these concerns. Though the pap handily won the most recent election, in 2020, it got the lowest number of parliamentary seats ever. Since then, it has continued to tighten the immigration regime, raising minimum salaries required to qualify for a visa and introducing a new points-based visa system. These changes will not, in fact, change much.
参考译文:政府表示希望缓解这些担忧。虽然人民行动党轻而易举地赢得了最近一次选举，但在2020年，它获得了有史以来最低的议会席位。自那以后，它继续收紧移民制度，提高获得签证资格所需的最低工资，并引入新的基于积分的签证系统。事实上，这些变化不会有多大变化。
知识点解读：
1.alleviate concerns：减轻担忧handily：表面意思为“方便地”，外刊常用其引申义“轻而易举地”，例如，“He handily defeated former governor Faubus in the primary and won the general election over Governor Rockefeller in a landslide.他轻而易举就在初选中击败了前州长福伯斯，并在普选中以压倒性的优势战胜了洛克菲勒州长。”
第六段：Hong Kong and Shanghai are governed by officials who have, over the course of the pandemic, revealed a capricious streak. As Mr Low puts it, “You don’t have to be perfect, just better than your rivals.”
参考译文:黄曾多次表示，新加坡需要外籍工人来维持经济繁荣。然而，他考虑的规模变化可能会降低新加坡对金融服务业高薪员工的吸引力。即便如此，黄可能会孤注一掷，他们无论如何都会留在新加坡，不然他们还会去哪里？
知识点解读：hum：作动词时表示“发出低哼声”，作名词时表示“哼声、嗡嗡声”，外刊常用其引申义“忙碌，活跃”，例如，“The school was always humming with activities.这所学校一直活跃得很。”文中的“economy humming”也就是“经济正常运转、经济繁荣”的意思。
第七段：Hong Kong and Shanghai are governed by officials who have, over the course of the pandemic, revealed a capricious streak. As Mr Low puts it, “You don’t have to be perfect, just better than your rivals.”
参考译文:香港和上海的政府官员在疫情期间表现出反复无常的倾向。正如洛所言，“你不必做到完美，只需比对手做得更好。”
知识点解读：
1.the course of：在……的时间段，是非常地道的英语表达，比如说，“in the course of pandemic 疫情期间”
capricious：多变的，尤其指“反复无常”，例如，“The greatest disadvantage of a person is not selfish, passionate, brutal, capricious, but a paranoid love do not love themselves.一个人最大的缺点不是自私、多情、野蛮、任性，而是偏执的爱一个不爱自己的人。”
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