xxxland的英语学习日记【请勿跟帖】
记录本人的英语学习 The trouble with the undead is that they are terribly stubborn about remaining among the living. This makes good zombie films. It is less profitable elsewhere.“僵尸”的问题在于：它们对于留在世间极为顽固。这有助于拍摄精彩的僵尸电影。但在别的方面就没那么有利可图。 This year’s commodities horror movie is iron ore. Demand in China for steel is not what it was. The ‘Li Keqiang’ index of (relatively) trustworthy economic indicators hit a post-financial crisis low last month. Yet it has coincided with big international producers opting to increase, not cut, supplies of iron ore.
大宗商品行业的本年度恐怖片是铁矿石。中国对钢铁的需求已经下降。（相对）值得信赖的经济指标“李克强指数”上月跌至后金融危机时代的最低值。然而与此同时，各大国际生产商都选择增加（而非削减）铁矿石供应。
词汇：trustworthy 值得信赖的 This is a classic attritional strategy. Iron ore for delivery in January to the Chinese port of Dalian dropped below $80 a tonne on Monday. Thus miners who extract ore for $85 or $90 a tonne in west Africa or China itself are straddling economic life and death. In theory, they should stop digging.
这是经典的消耗战略。1月交付至中国大连港的铁矿石，本周一价格跌至每吨80美元以下。因此，西非和中国本土那些以每吨85至90美元的成本采掘铁矿石的矿商，正徘徊于经济生死之间。理论上，它们应该停止开采。
词汇： attritional strategy 消耗战略
dig 开采
straddling 跨越两边 By contrast, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto already have the scale to mine western Australian iron ore for as low as $20 or $30 a tonne. BHP raised its annual production target from 220 million tonnes to 290mt only last month. Done right, increasing volumes should be accompanied by falling unit costs, just as in a Toyota factory. So even if the added tonnage hits prices, BHP can increase its profits, to a point.
而与此相比，必和必拓(BHP Billiton)和力拓(Rio Tinto)在西澳大利亚州已经达到的铁矿石开采规模，令成本低至每吨20至30美元。就在上个月，必和必拓将今年的产量目标从2.2亿吨提至2.9亿吨。运作有方的话，产量增加应该伴随单位成本的降低，正如丰田(Toyota)工厂做到的那样。所以即便增加的产量打压价格，必和必拓也能提高利润——在一定程度上。 There is a cold counterfactual logic to this. Had the big miners shown restraint, the high-cost miners would have added capacity and prices would have fallen anyway – without the benefit of lowered unit costs for BHP and Rio.
这里有一个反事实的无情逻辑。若大型矿商表现出克制，那些高成本矿商就会增产，结果还是会造成价格下跌——而必和必拓和力拓却不能获得单位成本下降的好处。
词汇： counterfactual 反事实的 Between theory and practice, however, there is the little matter of the zombies. Chinese state-owned miners have increased production a tenth so far this year, according to J Capital.
然而，在理论与实践之间，还有一个关于“僵尸”的小问题。据美奇金投资咨询公司(J Capital Research)介绍，中国的国有矿商今年迄今已增产十分之一。 Large mines in China are trying to cut costs by scaling up. (Perhaps they are getting the idea from BHP and Rio.)
中国的大矿正试图通过扩大规模来削减成本。（也许他们从必和必拓和力拓借鉴了这个点子。） Meanwhile in west Africa, Glencore, with no iron ore mines but a trading business, is getting tougher in negotiations with cash-strapped producers. Eventually it might like to take over those assets itself to run for cash. It likes to return cash to investors.
与此同时，在西非，没有铁矿而有贸易业务的嘉能可(Glencore)，在与资金吃紧的矿商的谈判中态度越来越强硬。最终它可能会接管这些资产以获取现金。它偏好向投资者返还现金。 If high-cost ore stays in supply and prices fall further, waiting for cash returns from Rio or BHP may feel increasingly scary.
它偏好向投资者返还现金。如果高成本的铁矿石持续供应，且价格进一步下跌，那么等待力拓和必和必拓的现金回报会越来越让人觉得心惊肉跳。 More than 4 million people live in the city, which is famous for its bridge straddling the harbor and iconic opera house.
悉尼有超过400万居民，这座城市因横跨港湾的大桥和标志性的歌剧院而闻名。
straddling
[英]['str鎑lɪŋ][美]['str鎑lɪŋ]
v.叉开腿( straddle的现在分词 ); 跨坐; 横跨…的两边; 跨越…的两边; **** Hidden Message ***** **** Hidden Message ***** **** Hidden Message ***** **** Hidden Message ***** **** Hidden Message ***** **** Hidden Message ***** **** Hidden Message ***** **** Hidden Message *****
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