今天我们练习的文章讲的是新冠肺炎疫情对英国通胀造成的影响，原文516字，预计阅读时间2分钟；全文1640字，预计阅读时间6分钟。
开始你的阅读之旅吧
Coronavirus: UK inflation hits 1.5% as lockdown begins to bite
解说：标题用as交代了英国通胀率降到1.5%的原因：居家隔离。值得学习的词汇有bite这个小词，它本身是“咬”的意思，这里是一种隐喻（metaphor）,指的是to have a bad effect，也就是说居家隔离开始产生不良影响了，如果中文要保留这种隐喻的表达，也可以用“反噬”这个词。大家在阅读的时候既可以有意识地用英文来解释英文单词或表达，也要有意识地去用多种中文表达来输出自己的理解，形成发散性思维。
The UK's inflation rate fell to 1.5% in March, largely driven by falls in the price of clothing and fuel ahead of the coronavirus lockdown.
The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) fell from 1.7% in February, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Clothing stores had offered more discounts as shoppers began staying at home, it said. Falling oil prices also resulted in cheaper petrol prices.
解说：这里的as同样是用于表示原因，解释了服装店打折的原因是因为消费者开始待在家中（借打折吸引消费者出来买衣服）
Economists warn inflation could slide to 0.5% in 2020 as the economy shrinks.
解说：表示“降低/减少”的英文表达除了上文的fall，还有slide/shrink哦，大家都可以积累下来。除此之外，jump/edge *% lower/plummet/plunge/这些词也可以表示下降，但是jump/plummet/plunge这三个词一般表示下降幅度和速度之快，理解为“暴跌”。
The ONS's latest data was collected on 17 March, just before lockdown started on 23 March. But its head of inflation, Mike Hardie, said there were already signs people were spending less in shops and more on necessities such as food.
The agency said prices of clothes and shoes had fallen by 1.2% in the year to March 2020.
It also said average petrol prices stood at 119.4 pence per litre during the month - the lowest seen since February 2019, while diesel stood at 123.8p
解说：“stand at+数字”的表达相当于be"为……"，积累下来可以避免总是用reach/be这种表达哦。
The UK benchmark for oil has fallen to about $16 (£13) a barrel as economic activity has slowed to trickle. That is a fall of about 75% since the start of the year.
解说：这里的as同样是用于表示原因，解释了英国基准原油（布伦特石油）下降至约16美元的原因：由于经济活动放缓。这里有个非常好的表达，slowed to trickle，trickle可做动词（drop，滴）也可作名词（dripple，水滴），不定式to trickle作slow的后置定语，说明slow到达了像水滴一样缓慢的程度，这个metaphor是非常形象生动的。在翻译的时候这里我们没有必要保留这个比喻的外壳形式，表达出实际意思“经济活动放缓”即可。
Sarah Hewin, senior economist at Standard Chartered bank, told the BBC's Today programme: "Normally low inflation would be welcomed as it means people have effectively more to spend in the shop but these are not normal circumstances.
"The fall in inflation, in addition to low energy prices, is an indication of the steep recession we will see in the coming months."
Meanwhile, Andrew Wishart at Capital Economics said: "We suspect a larger fall in CPI inflation, from 1.5% to 0.9% is in store for April as Ofgem [the regulator] lowers the cap on utility bills to reflect past falls in wholesale energy prices."
解说：这里的suspect并非指的是“怀疑”，而是指“认为”，如果只是很僵硬地去记一个中文意思，理解肯定会有很大的偏差，也要有意识地用英文来解释哦，“to think or believe something to be true or probable”（认为有可能……）才是符合此处语境的意思。
He added that falling employment, consumer caution and falling energy prices would pull inflation "down to just 0.5% in the second half of this year".
'More help needed'
CPI remains below the Bank of England's 2% target for inflation.
Inflation is one of the main factors that the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) considers when setting the "base rate". That influences what interest rate banks can charge people to borrow money, or what they pay on their savings.
The UK's central bank brought them down to 0.1% from 0.25%. Interest rates are now at the lowest ever in the Bank's 325-year history.
The Bank said it would also increase its holdings of UK government and corporate bonds by £200bn in an effort to lower the cost of borrowing.
But Melissa Davies, chief economist at Redburn, said the Bank needs to go further: "It will be a volatile ride for inflation over the next year, with negative numbers a possibility followed by a sharp reversal."
解说：ride在这里并不是指的是“骑车/搭车”，在这里是一种隐喻的用法，可以用time/journey来解释，本身在语境中是个没有什么实际含义的词，语义的重心在于volatile，理解了形容词volatile也就理解了整句话的意思。也就是说“明年通胀率浮动会很大，通胀率可能变成负值然后再急剧反弹。”，如果保留这里ride的隐喻外壳，可以表达为“明年通胀率会像坐过山车一样，通胀率可能变成负值然后再急剧反弹。”
She added: "More stimulus is needed, with only limited quantitative easing help from the Bank of England and the Treasury's lending guarantee scheme falling short. Even the furlough scheme is only delaying an inevitable and large spike in unemployment."
解说：这里要注意的是with+分词作状语的结构，短语fall short表示“不够”，整个with结构的分词前用了两个非常长的名词短语结构 limited quantitative easing help from the Bank of England and the Treasury's lending guarantee scheme，这句话的意思是“仅靠英格兰银行量化宽松政策起到的有限作用和财政部的借贷担保计划是不够的，还需要采取更多的刺激措施。”
此外，生僻词furlough指的是名词“a temporary leave”，指的是员工“暂时停工”。
总结
1. 要有意识地去注意英文外刊中的metaphor，并学会用英文解释。如果在翻译中能够保留其隐喻的外壳，是比较理想的情况；但是如果不能，记得不要生硬地去保留那个隐喻的外壳，而应该专注于达意，翻译出实际的意思即可。
2. 要有意识地积累多种表达，包括一篇文章中的同意表达，近义表达和反义表达。
3. 理解时注意文章的逻辑表达，标志词有as/while等表示原因或转折的连词。
