雅思阅读材料盘点：中美经济关系紧张

　　美国会如何应对这种潜在的威胁仍不明朗。一个委员会去年向国会提出建议，禁止中国国有企业对美国的所有投资，这和特朗普45%的关税壁垒一样可能会引发全面贸易战。最近一份半导体行业的报告要求对中国扭曲市场的行为作出更强硬的回应。其他人则认为对“中国制造2025”的担心有些过度。诸如太阳能发电和铁路等行业的发展主要依靠补贴和政府采购，在这些领域政府的干预措施可能会发挥作用，但在汽车制造等消费行业，这种干预已经有过失败的先例。

　　China’s government has tried to rebut critics of its industrial plan. The point, it says, is merely to give companies guidance about future trends. Meanwhile, Chinese firms, for their part, fear that obstacles in America are proliferating. He Fan, a prominent Chinese economist, says the feeling is that business in America is becoming more politicized. “You can only have long-term investment when the rules are clear,” he says. “Previously that was America’s strong point. Now it’s uncertain.”

　　中国政府试图反驳对其产业计划的批评，表示这一计划只是为了在未来发展趋势方面给予企业指引。同时，中国企业也担心美国的壁垒激增。著名中国经济学家何帆表示，美国市场让人感觉越来越政治化了。“规则明确才能有长期投资，”他说， “这以前是美国的强项，现在就难说了。”

　　Easily lost amid the blaze of recriminations is the extent to which competition between China and America can also yield benefits. The two countries are already spurring each other to innovate. American venture capitalists are well embedded in the software cluster in Beijing and the hardware ecosystem in Shenzhen, a city in southern China. American private-equity firms are prominent in China, making bets on industries ranging from health care to energy. American multinationals used to build shiny R&D centres in Shanghai and Beijing to please officials, but did little original work in them. Now, firms ranging from industrial conglomerates like GE to biotech giants such as Amgen are doing some of their cutting-edge research in China.

　　在一片相互指责声中，很容易忽略一个事实，即双方的竞争在一定程度上也会带来益处。两国已经相互激发创新了。美国的风险资本家已经深入到北京的软件产业集群和深圳的硬件生态系统中;美国私募股权投资公司在中国市场表现突出，广泛投资于医疗保健、能源等各个行业。美国跨国公司为讨好政府官员，曾在上海和北京建立了光鲜靓丽的研发中心，但并未在那些地方开展多少原创性工作。现在，各大美国企业都正在中国进行一些前沿性研究，包括通用汽车等工业集团和安进(Amgen)等生物科技巨头。

　　China’s most inventive firms are also investing heavily in America in search of talent and new patents. Just last week, Tencent, a tech giant, said it was spending $1.8bn to buy 5% of Tesla, a maker of electric cars. Huawei, Alibaba and Baidu are its near-neighbors in Silicon Valley. BGI, the world’s biggest genome-sequencing firm, is opening a laboratory in Seattle to be closer to the Gates foundation, a big client. Mindray, a medical-devices firm, has a couple of American R&D labs. Lenovo, the world’s biggest maker of personal computers, is inventing and manufacturing B2B products in North Carolina.

　　中国最具创造性的企业也在美国大量投入，搜罗人才和新专利。就在上周，科技巨头腾讯表示，将斥资18亿美元收购电动汽车制造商特斯拉5%的股份。华为、阿里巴巴、百度和腾讯在硅谷都是近邻。世界上最大的基因组测序公司华大基因正在西雅图开设实验室，因为这里更接近其大客户盖茨基金会。医疗器械公司迈瑞在美国也有几个研发实验室。世界上最大的个人电脑制造商联想也正在北卡罗来纳研发和制造B2B产品。

　　One possibility is that, as these kinds of cross-border business operations become more widespread, the Chinese-American economic relationship will settle down. Competition will be welcomed as healthy, not feared as destructive. But it is likely to be a long time before that happens. It would help if the governments could see eye to eye—in particular, if they could agree on a long-stalled bilateral investment treaty; and if they could reach an understanding on trade before their disagreements threaten the WTO itself.

　　有一种可能性是，随着这类跨境企业运营越来越普遍，中美经济关系也将趋于稳定。双方会视竞争为健康而非破坏性的，因而会欢迎而不是惧怕竞争，但要发展到那一步可能还要很久。如果双方政府能取得共识，尤其是如果能就搁置已久的双边投资协定达成一致，并能在双边分歧威胁到世贸组织的存亡之前能就贸易问题达成谅解，将对双边关系有所助益。

　　Both outcomes, however, are highly unlikely. The diplomacy needed to navigate the shoals of their economic ties is in short supply. China’s success in low-end manufacturing has already caused a backlash in America. As Chinese firms take on companies at the heart of the American economy, the friction will surely increase. It is enough to make one nostalgic for the days when their business involved little more than swapping silver for silk.

　　然而，出现这两个结果的可能性都很小。目前应对双边经济问题的外交手段比较匮乏。中国在低端制造业方面的成功已经引发了美国的抵制。随着中国企业挑战处于美国经济核心的公司，摩擦势必会更多。这足以让人怀念做生意仅以白银交换丝绸的年代，那时候一切都要简单多了。

　　雅思阅读高频词汇

　　trade mission 贸易代表团

　　time-worn 饱经风霜

　　subsidies 补贴

　　seed firms 种子公司

　　Medical-device 医疗设备

　　market-economy status 市场经济地位

　　lash out 猛烈抨击

　　financial mechanics 金融机制

　　electronic gadgets 电子产品

　　defuses tensions 避免紧张

　　currency meddling 货币干预

　　cross-border business 跨境业务

　　commerce ministry 商务部

　　bilateral 两国

　　at stake 利害关系

　　American protectionism 美国贸易保护主义

　　across-the-board tariff 全面关税