Fiona的新聞英語：全球自由貿易的優缺點

看國際時事新聞學英文。

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38209407

這一篇有一點長，而且蠻多經濟領域的字，最近有很多跟「全球自由貿易」議題有關的討論。這些相關概念英文怎麼說？請看這一篇。

二次大戰之後，全世界幾乎都是從自由貿易前進，但是最近幾年開始愈來愈多反對的聲音，像是英國脫歐，表面上Theresa May是說要 the freest possible trade with European countries，實際上脫歐就是脫離歐盟區的 free trade。美國總統川普也是反對自由貿易。甚至連WTO近期內都有進口限制。

傳統上教科書中的講法是保護主義帶來的負面效果，遠超過帶來的好處，所以整體而言，國家不應該實施保護主義。

但是這個論點並沒有考慮到同一個國家內，是否會有某一些人獲得利益，而另外一些人則是只看到自由貿易的負面效果。

文章從以下這一段開始討論這個問題：

What Ricardo's theory suggested was that all countries engaging in trade could be better off. But his idea could not address the question of whether trade could create losers as well as winners within countries.

文章提到一個例子：中國低勞工成本，直接影響美國的 low-skilled workers，因為中國的廉價勞工是直接跟美國的low-skilled workers競爭。意思就是同樣是美國人，low-skilled workers感受到的是自由貿易的負面效果，而其它非low-skilled workers族群則是看到正面效果。

文章最後從 Compensating lowers這個大標題開始，是說明這些國家如何能夠照顧只感受到自由貿易負面效果的族群的利益。可以用社會福利。但是問題是，社會福利做得夠不夠？是否能夠完全平衡掉負面效果？心理上的影響呢？就如英國的 Bank of England's Mark Carney 說的，失去工作之後，失去了 dignity of work，這又要如何補償？

英國脫歐，以及美國川普當選，兩者都跟經濟有關。全球自由貿易只為中產階級以及中產階級以上的族群帶來利益，政府的補救措施不足，造成勞動階級的人口普遍支持脫歐以及川普

難句講解如下：

sacred cow: this refers to how the cow is considered sacred in India; the whole section refers to how free trade is considered essential after WWII

to run aground: this originally refers to a plane crashing, thus it is 'running aground,' here it refers to an idea not working anymore

the case for trade without government imposed barriers: the case for something means the argument or support for something

underpins much of the argument: to underpin means to support

to produce more of one good: 'good' here means 'product' as in a manufactured or produced product, usually used in the plural form 'goods'

both end up better off: both countries will be economically better than before

look askance: look suspiciously at something, askance is an adv. 

the home market: the domestic market

there are gains of course: gains is a noun, meaning something that is gained or achieved

"It makes no more sense to be protectionist because other countries have tariffs than it would to block up our harbours because other countries have rocky coasts." = It makes no more sense to do this than it would (make sense) to do that. = "It makes no more sense to be protectionist because other countries have tariffs than it would to block up our harbours because other countries have rocky coasts." = This sentence means that it does not make sense to block harbours because other countries have rocky coasts. Similarly, it does not make sense to be protectionist because other countries have tariffs.

economies of scale: 規模經濟

the associated specialisation: this 'specialisation' refers to the 'economies of scale' mentioned in the previous sentence; firms would specialise in producing certain products because of the 'economies of scale'

aggravated or prolonged it: 'it' refers to the Great Depression of the 1930s; aggravate means to make worse, prolong means to make a time period longer

reciprocal concessions: 互相讓步, 'better access to others' markets in return for opening your own' is an explanation of 'reciprocal concessions'

"Adjustment in local labour markets is remarkably slow, with wages and labour-force participation rates remaining depressed and unemployment rates remaining elevated for at least a full decade after the China trade shock commences. = 這一句主詞是adjustment，動詞是is。With + N. + Ving. and (with) N. + Ving。類似的句型有：With him looking at me, I felt very uncomfortable. 

churn: 這是一種製作奶油的方法，把牛奶放在一個桶子裡不斷用木椿攪拌，這裡 greater job churning是指不斷換工作，像在攪拌工作職位​