英語學習筆記

Crisis Stirs Critics Of Free Markets

美國的金融風暴及金援政策 (bailout), 在各國掀起了自由市場及管制市場的爭議, 植基於放任主義 (laisser-faire) 的 American Model 向來是自由市場典範, 但在歷經本次的金融風暴後, 市場規範的聲音逐漸浮現, 本篇呈現這一波的影響, 分別致使拉丁美洲、南韓及歐洲等政府的在地作為及國際行動, 深廣兼具的分析提供了讀者在左、右翼間深思的空間。

文章開宗名義用了一個長句, 看懂這句, 整篇文章也就懂了大半。

The turmoil in the U.S. financial sector is rippling through political debates around the world, giving ammunition to foregn officials who question American economic leadership and are opposed to policies that follow the U.S. model.
美國金融業動盪在全世界引起一波波的政治辯論, 這場危機恰恰就給了國際上反對美國經濟模式的人士最好的攻擊口實。

光是這一段就有幾個字值得一提。

Financial Sector

Secotr是老外很愛用、老中比較少用的一個字。原來的意思是扇面, 也就是把一個圓形從圓心切開, 就能夠形成好幾個 "sector"。金融業我們說 financial sector, 公部門可以說 public sector, IT sector, service sector, 指的就是 IT、服務業。想到產業, 直接的反應是 industry, 不會想到 sector。當然用 industry 或 field 甚或 area 也無不可, 但是用 sector 則更有一體 (as a whole) 的意味。

Give ammunition to
Ammunition 原意是彈藥, 引申為攻防手段。"give ammunition to somebody" 有點像把柄落在某人手中, 剛好坐實了某人反擊的藉口。所以這個 somebody 經常是政敵、持異議者。例如:

The recent scandal has provided the government's opponents with plenty of ammunition.
政府最近的醜聞坐實了反對派對它的攻擊。

Oppose & argue

Those foreign officials are opposed to policies that follow the U.S. model.
這些外國官員反對追隨美國模式的政策

Oppse 意指反對、反抗或妨礙之意, 例如:

I am strongly opposed to this project.
我強烈反對這個專案。

對於議題的負面意見常見用字還有 argue 一字,

For a liberal economist like myself, I feel it's even harder to argue against intervention
即使像我一般的自由經濟主義者, 我仍覺得據理反對干涉是更困難了。

Argue 是爭論、辯論或爭吵之意, 後面的介系詞依據語意有 with/over/about/for/against 等5種用法。本處係採據理反對或同意 (argue+against/for), 例如:

I argued against this proposal.
我據理反對這個提案。

turmoil : a state of confusion, excitement, or anxiety (騷擾；騷動；煽動)

ripple : to move in small waves, or to make something move in this way

debate : discussion of a particular subject that often continues for a long time and in which people express different opinions

scandal : an event in which someone, especially someone important, behaves in a bad way that shocks people

plenty : a situation in which there is a lot of food and goods available for people