-
2017-11-10
Trump's Visit to
China: More Business Deals Than Trade Pacts
President
Trump
arrived
in
China
on
Wednesday
backed
by
campaign-trail
promises
to
get
tough
against
the
United
States'
largest trading partner. He is
accompanied by the chiefs of
some of
the
most
ambitious
and
influential
American
companies:
Boeing,
Goldman
Sachs,
Westinghouse
Electric
and
Qualcomm,
among
others.
The
expected
outcome?
Not
much,
to
the
frustration
of
some
American business
executives.
Mr.
Trump's
meetings
this
week
with
Xi
Jinping,
China's
president,
and other Chinese leaders come at a
difficult time for both countries.
Each
has
been
consumed
with
domestic
issues,
from
West
Wing
infighting
and
a
special
counsel
investigation
in
Washington
to
a
sensitive leadership
transition in Beijing.
The
Trump administration in particular has been
stretched thin on tra
de. It has been
slow to fill important trade-related positions,
because
of distractions and the lengthy
congressional confirmation process. T
he
administration has been preoccupied with rewriting
the North Am
erican Free Trade Agreement
and a United States trade deal with
Sou
th Korea.
Trade
has
also
been
supplanted
by
North
Korea
as
the
most
talked-about
issue
in
Northeast
Asia
for
President
Trump,
and
an
issue
on
which
he
wants
Chinese
cooperation,
not
confrontation.
With
the
administration
also
trying
to
push
tax
policy
changes
through Congress,
two top economic officials are not even joining
the
trip,
but
staying
in
Washington
—
Treasury
Secretary
Steven
Mnuchin
and
Gary
D.
Cohn,
the
director
of
the
National
Economic
Council.
As
a
result, planning for
Mr.
Trump's
Beijing
trip
focused
largely
on
finding
deals
he
could
announce,
like
high-profile
orders
for
Boeing
jets
and
other
American
goods.
By
contrast,
the
two
sides
have
engaged
in
little
of
the
back-and-
forth
shuttle
diplomacy
by
lower-ranking
officials
that
can
pave
the
way
for
new
trade
agreements.
this visit,
of
Commerce
in
China,
a
group
that
has
worked
closely
with
American
trade
negotiators
for
decades,
makes
us
a
bit
concerned that there may not be much
discussion on the structural
issues.
▍生词好句
pact
/pakt/: n.
约定
back: vt.
支持
campaign-trail: n.
竞选途中；竞选旅行
accompany /
??
k
?
mp
?
ni/:
vt.
伴随
chief /t
?
i
?
f/:
n.
高管
consume /k<
/p>
?
n
?
sju<
/p>
?
m/: vt.
消耗
domestic /d
??
m
?
st
?
k/: adj.
国内的
West Wing:
白宫西侧侧翼
(
椭圆形办公室所在地
)
infight: n.
内讧
counsel /
?
ka
?
ns(
?
)l/:
n.
律师
sensitive /
?
s
?
ns<
/p>
?
t
?
v/:
adj.
敏感的
stretch
thin:
资源紧张
congressional /k
?
n
?
ɡ
r
??
(
?
)n(
?
)l/: adj.
国会的
preoccupy /pri
???
kj
?
p
?
?
/: vt.
专注于
supplant /s
??
pl
ɑ
?
nt/: vt.
取代
jet
/d
??
t/: n.
飞机
goods: n.
货物
back-and-
forth:
往来
shuttle
diplomacy /
??
?
t(<
/p>
?
)l/ /d
??
pl
??
m
?
si/:
穿梭外交
pave the way for:
为……铺路
concerned:
adj.
担忧的
2017-11-09
Strong, Silent Type: China's Economy
①
At the Communist Party
congress this month, President Xi Jinping
made no mention of a previously
declared target to double incomes
by
2020.
②
Some
took
that
to
mean
he
was
switching
emphasis
from
the
quantity to the quality of growth.
③
Perhaps
④
At
least as important is the fact that China has all
the growth it
needs
for
now,
which
will
be
underlined
today
by
the
purchasing-managers' index for October.
⑤
It should
point to a 15th consecutive month of expansion in
manu
facturing.
⑥
The
figure
might
be
a
touch
lower
than
in
previous
months
but
that
is
hardly
surprising:
over
the
past
year
the
government
has
raised
borrowing
costs,
capped
home-buying
in
big
cities
and
clamped down on
polluting factories.
⑦
Expansions of
both smaller cities and the middle class have more
than made up for these restrictions.
⑧
With growth strong, Mr. Xi can afford
to talk less about it.
▍生词好句
switch /sw<
/p>
?
t
?
/:
vt.
改变
emphasis /
??
mf
?
s
?
s/: n.
强调
purchasing-
managers' index:
采购经理人指数
consecutive /k
?
n<
/p>
?
s
?
kj
?
t
?
v/:
adj.
连续的
touch /t
?
t
?
/:
n.
一点点；略微
cap
/kap/: vt.
限制
clamp down /klamp/:
整治
2017-11-08
Tough
Stuff:
France's
Anti-
Terror
Law
①
It is an election promise
kept, though not in the way human-rights
activists had hoped.
②
As a presidential candidate
Emmanuel Macron said the temporary
use
of
a
state
of
emergency,
imposed
after
terrorists
killed
130
people in Paris in
November 2015, should end
③
Today the oft-renewed
decree expires, at last.
④
In its place France gets a
new anti-terrorism law, signed on
Monda
y by President Macron after
parliamentarians overwhelmingly passed
it.
⑤
It
permanently
strengthens
powers
of
police
and
officials
to
investigate people suspected of
terrorism.
⑥
Police
get
more
freedom
to
search
property
or
individuals,
for
example
at
railway
stations
or
airports;
officials
can
order
suspects
confined
to
their
home
towns;
and
places
of
worship
that
host
extremist preachers can be closed more
easily.
⑦
Rights
activists warn that valuable legal protections for
individuals
are being eroded.
⑧
But opinion
polls suggest Mr Macron's tougher approach is
popula
r.
▍生词好句
tough /t
?
f/: adj.
强硬的；严厉的；棘手的；铁石心肠的
terror /
?
t
?
r
?
/: n.
(
极度的
)
恐惧感
terror
attack:
恐怖袭击
decree /d
??
kri
?
/: n.
法令
parliamentarian /
?
p
ɑ
?
l
?
m
?
n
?
t
??
r
??
n/ /
?
p
ɑ<
/p>
?
l
?
m(
?
)n
?
t
??
r
??
n/:
n.
议员
suspect sb.
of sth. /s
??
sp
?
kt/:
怀疑某人有……的嫌疑
suspect /
?
s
?
sp
?
kt/: n.
嫌疑人
confine /k
?
n
?
f
?
?
n/: vt.
限制
erode /
??
r
??
d/: vt.
侵蚀
2017-11-05