关税与人工智能笼罩印度经济

多客科技

作者：微信文章
简介：本文节选自英国《经济学人》杂志，提供每天发生的世界时事热点新闻及经济、科技、军事、娱乐以及文体类报道。对于希望以外媒视角了解世界热点的人来说，可谓是不二之选。

后附的英文原文对于考研英语词汇、阅读、翻译、甚至完型都有巨大的提高作用，根据部分读者反馈，在掌握基础考研词汇的情况下，本文坚持阅读一个月，考研英语一50-60分很容易取得。长期坚持的话，再辅以背诵作文范文、新题型的练习，80分乃至更高亦非难事。

本文仅作为练习英语阅读的素材，不代表我们同意其观点。

THE WORLD IN BRIEF

世界时事热点简讯



Donald Trump reportedly interrupted his White House meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders to phone Vladimir Putin. Earlier Mr Trump expressed confidence he could organise a trilateral meeting with the Russian and Ukrainian presidents. Mr Zelensky thanked Mr Trump for his efforts to end the war and for hosting the “best” talks yet. European leaders emphasised the importance of security guarantees for Ukraine; Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said that there were “complicated” negotiations ahead.  

据报道，唐纳德·特朗普在白宫与弗拉基米尔·泽连斯基及其他欧洲领导人会面时，中断会议给弗拉基米尔·普京打了电话。此前，特朗普表示有信心组织俄罗斯和乌克兰两国总统举行三方会议。泽连斯基感谢特朗普为结束战争所做的努力，并称赞此次会谈是“迄今为止最好的”一次。欧洲领导人强调了为乌克兰提供安全保障的重要性；德国总理弗里德里希·默茨表示，未来的谈判将“十分复杂”。  

Germany said America must lower tariffs on cars before a trade deal with the European Union can be finalised. The EU and America agreed to a framework deal in late July, but many details remain unclear. The proposal would reduce America’s duties on car imports from Europe from 25% to 15%. The German car industry estimates even those lower tariffs could cost the sector billions of euros annually.  

德国表示，美国必须先降低汽车关税，才能最终敲定与欧盟的贸易协议。欧盟与美国已于7月底达成框架协议，但诸多细节仍不明确。该协议草案拟将美国对欧洲汽车进口税从25%降至15%。德国汽车行业估计，即便关税降低到这一水平，仍可能给该行业造成每年数十亿欧元的损失。  

American homebuilder sentiment fell unexpectedly to its lowest level since 2022. The monthly index of housing conditions published by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo dropped to 32 in August from 33 in July. Two-thirds of builders said they had used incentives to boost sales; over one-third cut prices to tempt buyers discouraged by high mortgage rates.

美国房屋建筑商信心意外跌至2022年以来的最低水平。美国全国住宅建筑商协会与富国银行联合发布的月度住房市场状况指数，从7月的33降至8月的32。三分之二的建筑商表示已采取促销激励措施以提振销量；超过三分之一的建筑商选择降价，以吸引因高抵押贷款利率而却步的购房者。  

Myanmar will hold its first general election since a military coup in 2021. The vote will be held in stages, beginning on December 28th. Critics fear that the junta will use a sham poll to entrench its power. Many people will not be allowed to vote in parts of the country where rebel groups are fighting the government. Starvation is widespread in those areas.

缅甸将举行2021年军事政变后的首次大选。投票将分阶段进行，始于12月28日。批评人士担心，军政府会利用虚假选举巩固其权力。在该国反叛组织与政府交战的部分地区，许多民众将被剥夺投票权，且这些地区饥荒肆虐。  

Novo Nordisk will slash the monthly price of Ozempic, a diabetes jab, from $1,000 to $499 for Americans who buy it without health insurance. The Danish pharmaceutical company has already cut the price of Wegovy, a weight-loss drug that far more people buy without a prescription. Mr Trump has demanded that drugmakers lower prices for Americans and raise them for Europeans.

诺和诺德（Novo Nordisk）将为美国无医疗保险的购买者大幅下调糖尿病药物奥泽匹克（Ozempic）的月均价格，从1000美元降至499美元。这家丹麦制药公司此前已下调减肥药维戈维（Wegovy）的价格，该药物无需处方购买，使用者远多于奥泽匹克。特朗普此前要求制药商为美国人降低药价，同时向欧洲人提高药价。  

The Movement to Socialism suffered a huge defeat in Bolivia’s presidential election, which will end nearly 20 years of rule by the left-wing party. According to preliminary results, two candidates from right-leaning parties were the top vote-winners. They will compete in a run-off in October. The election took place amid surging inflation and fuel shortages.  

争取社会主义运动（Movement to Socialism）在玻利维亚总统选举中遭遇惨败，这意味着该左翼政党近20年的统治即将终结。初步结果显示，两名右翼政党候选人得票领先，他们将在10月的决胜轮投票中角逐总统职位。此次选举是在通胀飙升和燃油短缺的背景下举行的。  

Thailand will allow foreign visitors to convert cryptocurrencies into baht, its national currency. The country’s authorities want to boost tourism, as foreign arrivals have recently slumped. (On Monday the country lowered its forecast for 2025 by a tenth, to 33m visitors.) The crypto scheme will initially run as an 18-month pilot with conversions capped at 550,000 baht ($17,000).  

泰国将允许外国游客将加密货币兑换为其本国货币泰铢。由于近期外国游客数量大幅下滑，泰国当局希望通过此举促进旅游业发展（该国已于周一将2025年游客量预期下调10%，至3300万人次）。该加密货币兑换计划初期将以18个月为试点，单次兑换上限为55万泰铢（约合1.7万美元）。

Figure of the day: 75%, the rise in the number of vehicles stolen in Britain in the past decade. The country has become a leading exporter of them.

今日数据：75%。这是过去十年英国车辆被盗数量的增幅。该国现已成为被盗车辆的主要出口国。

TODAY’S AGENDA

今日议程

Tariffs and AI loom over India’s economy  

关税与人工智能笼罩印度经济  



India’s government has long basked in the country’s rapid economic growth. The world’s fastest-growing big economy expanded by 7.4% year on year in the April-June quarter. Notwithstanding, concern is growing. If America’s tariffs of 50% on Indian exports take effect as planned on August 27th, they could reduce the growth rate by 0.8 percentage points, economists estimate.  

印度政府长期以来一直享受着本国经济的快速增长红利。作为全球增长最快的大型经济体，印度在4-6月季度实现了7.4%的同比增长。尽管如此，担忧情绪正不断升温。经济学家估计，若美国对印度出口商品征收50%关税的计划于8月27日如期生效，可能会使印度经济增长率下降0.8个百分点。

Artificial intelligence poses another challenge. On Tuesday trade unions will stage protests outside the offices of Tata Consultancy Services, an IT giant that last month announced more than 12,000 job cuts. TCS insists the layoffs are a response to skill mismatches rather than to the adoption of AI. But workers remain fearful that AI could cause job losses and create competition that would force the IT sector, which accounts for 7% of India’s GDP, to sell its services for less. Last week Narendra Modi sought to allay such fears by announcing tax cuts and regulatory reforms to boost economic activity. India’s prime minister has long championed economic self-reliance as a virtue. Now that may become a necessity.

人工智能则带来了另一项挑战。周二，工会将在塔塔咨询服务公司（TCS）总部外举行抗议活动——这家IT巨头上月宣布裁员逾1.2万人。塔塔咨询坚称，此次裁员是为应对技能不匹配问题，而非因采用人工智能。但员工仍担心，人工智能可能导致失业，并加剧竞争，迫使占印度GDP 7%的IT行业降低服务定价。上周，纳伦德拉·莫迪宣布通过减税和监管改革来提振经济活力，试图缓解此类担忧。这位印度总理长期以来一直将经济自力更生奉为美德，如今，这或许将成为一种必要之举。  



BHP digs in

必和必拓深耕转型



The world’s biggest mining company, BHP, reports earnings on Tuesday. The Australian firm has been trying to reduce its reliance on coal and iron ore. Growth in data centres and electric vehicles has boosted demand for copper. In the year to June, BHP dug up more than 2m tonnes of the red metal, a 28% increase on the same period three years earlier.  

全球最大矿业公司必和必拓（BHP）将于周二公布业绩。这家澳大利亚企业一直试图减少对煤炭和铁矿石的依赖。数据中心和电动汽车行业的发展推高了对铜的需求。在截至6月的一年里，必和必拓的铜产量超过200万吨，较三年前同期增长28%。  

Demand has held up so far, despite Donald Trump’s trade war, though that may not last. Meanwhile BHP, together with Vale, a Brazilian miner, is contesting a £36bn ($48bn) lawsuit in Britain brought by victims of an environmental disaster that happened in Brazil in 2015. The companies have offered $1.4bn to settle claims. An effort by BHP to branch out into fertilisers will run $1.7bn over budget, raising questions about the firm’s diversification strategy. Mike Henry, the company’s boss, may retire next year. Whoever succeeds him faces quite the task.  

尽管唐纳德·特朗普发起贸易战，目前铜需求仍保持稳定，但这种态势可能难以持续。与此同时，必和必拓正与巴西矿业公司淡水河谷（Vale）一同在英国就一起360亿英镑（480亿美元）的诉讼进行抗辩，原告是2015年巴西环境灾难的受害者。两家公司已提出14亿美元以达成和解。必和必拓涉足化肥领域的计划将超出预算17亿美元，这引发了外界对其多元化战略的质疑。该公司首席执行官迈克·亨利可能于明年退休，无论谁接任，都将面临艰巨的任务。  

Canada’s economy holds up  

加拿大经济艰难支撑



Economists will be watching for how America’s tariffs are affecting Canada’s economy when inflation numbers for July are released on Tuesday. In March Canadian metals and energy were walloped with tariffs. Then, at the start of August, the Trump administration imposed a 35% levy on imports from Canada. But the Canada-US-Mexico free-trade agreement, signed by Donald Trump in 2018 to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, has shielded most Canadian exports flowing southwards from higher levies.

周二公布7月通胀数据时，经济学家将重点关注美国关税对加拿大经济的影响。今年3月，加拿大金属和能源行业遭受关税重击；8月初，特朗普政府又对加拿大进口商品征收35%的关税。不过，唐纳德·特朗普于2018年签署的《美墨加自贸协定》（取代原《北美自贸协定》）保护了加拿大大部分向南出口的商品，使其免受更高关税影响。  

Still, the 50% tariffs on steel and aluminium from Canada have hit. Canadian exports to America plummeted by more than 15% in April alone. Unemployment in Canada has risen slightly in 2025, suggesting that tariffs may be weighing on growth. But the Bank of Canada has kept interest rates steady. That is partly because retaliatory tariffs introduced on American goods could push up inflation, and because strong consumer spending and more domestic travel have done a lot to support the economy.

尽管如此，美国对加拿大钢铁和铝制品征收50%关税的影响已然显现。仅4月一个月，加拿大对美出口就骤降逾15%。2025年加拿大失业率略有上升，这表明关税可能正拖累经济增长。但加拿大央行仍维持利率稳定，部分原因是加拿大对美国商品加征的报复性关税可能推高通胀，同时强劲的消费支出和增加的国内旅游也为经济提供了有力支撑。  

The world’s biggest gaming event  

全球最大游戏盛会



On Tuesday night Gamescom kicks off in Cologne, Germany. Think of it as Comic-Con, but with fewer capes and more people showing off their frame rates. Last year the world’s biggest video-games trade fair drew over 320,000 visitors. More than 40m people watched its opening night online. There will be pyrotechnics, celebrity cameos and plenty of Xboxes. But Gamescom is also where the industry makes its splashiest announcements.  

周二晚间，德国科隆游戏展（Gamescom）将拉开帷幕。可以把它想象成“动漫展（Comic-Con）”的游戏版，只是少了些披风装扮，多了些展示帧率的玩家。作为全球最大的电子游戏交易会，该展会去年吸引了逾32万名参观者，超过4000万人在线观看了开幕夜活动。展会上将有烟火表演、名人客串，还会陈列大量Xbox主机。此外，游戏展也是行业发布最引人注目的公告的重要场合。  

This year’s star is Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, an upcoming shooter game. Grand Theft Auto VI is expected in 2026. Yet for all the fun and games, the stakes for the industry are high. After booming during the pandemic, the sector has laid off at least 35,000 people. Investment has cratered. Developers will be hoping that blockbusters can help the industry level up.

今年的焦点是即将推出的射击游戏《使命召唤：黑色行动7》（Call of Duty: Black Ops 7）。《侠盗猎车手6》（Grand Theft Auto VI）则预计于2026年推出。然而，尽管展会充满欢乐与游戏氛围，行业面临的风险却不容小觑。在疫情期间蓬勃发展后，游戏行业已裁员至少3.5万人，投资大幅减少。开发商们希望，热门大作能助力行业回暖。

每日名言

Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.  

在我认识的成功人士中，大多数都是多听少说的人。  

Bernard Baruch

伯纳德·巴鲁克