经济学人优秀文章节选.doc

清洁，安全并且自动驾驶The future of the car汽车之未来Clean, safe and it drives itself清洁，安全并且自动驾驶Cars have already changed the way we live. They are likely to do so again汽车已经改变了我们的生活方式，很可能再改变一次SOME inventions, like some species, seem to make periodic leaps in progress. The car is one of them. Twenty-five years elapsed between Karl Benz beginning small-scale production of his original Motorwagen and the breakthrough, by Henry Ford and his engineers in 1913, that turned the car into the ubiquitous, mass-market item that has defined the modern urban landscape. By putting production of the Model T on moving assembly lines set into the floor of his factory in Detroit, Ford drastically cut the time needed to build it, and hence its cost. Thus began a revolution in personal mobility. Almost a billion cars now roll along the worlds highways.有些发明，就像有些物种一样，似乎周期性地会发生飞跃。汽车就是其中之一。从卡尔本茨开始小规模制造他发明的“机械车”起，25年之后，亨利福特和他的工程师们在1913年实现了突破，将汽车变成了一种无所不在，销量巨大，并且界定了现代城市景观的商品。在底特律的福特工厂，通过将T型汽车在流水线上进行生产，汽车组装时间大幅减少，成本随之降低，个人移动能力的革命也从此开始。如今，全世界的公路上奔驰着约10亿辆汽车。Today the car seems poised for another burst of evolution. One way in which it is changing relates to its emissions. As emerging markets grow richer, legions of new consumers are clamouring for their first set of wheels. For the whole world to catch up with American levels of car ownership, the global fleet would have to quadruple. Even a fraction of that growth would present fearsome challenges, from congestion and the price of fuel to pollution and global warming.今天，汽车似乎已经在为下一波进化的到来做准备。改变之一与汽车排放有关。随着新兴市场越来越富有，新的消费大军嚷嚷着要买他们的第一辆车。在汽车保有量上如果全球都达到美国的水平，总量上还要翻两番。哪怕是这一增加的零头，都意味着可怕的挑战，从拥堵和油价，到污染和全球变暖。Yet, as our special report this week argues, stricter regulations and smarter technology are making cars cleaner, more fuel-efficient and safer than ever before. China, its cities choked in smog, is following Europe in imposing curbs on emissions of noxious nitrogen oxides and fine soot particles. Regulators in most big car markets are demanding deep cuts in the carbon dioxide emitted from car exhausts. And carmakers are being remarkably inventive in finding ways to comply.然而正如本周特别报道所述，更加严格的法规和更智能的技术，使得汽车前所未有地更加清洁、省油和安全。饱受烟雾困扰的中国，正效仿欧洲对有害的氮氧化物与微小颗粒排放进行控制。在主要的汽车销售大国里，立法者要求大幅削减汽车尾气中的二氧化碳，而汽车制造商们在设法满足法规要求方面，也相当具有创造性。Granted, battery-powered cars have disappointed. They remain expensive, lack range and are sometimes dirtier than they lookfor example, if they run on electricity from coal-fired power stations. But car companies are investing heavily in other clean technologies. Future motorists will have a widening choice of super-efficient petrol and diesel cars, hybrids (which switch between batteries and an internal-combustion engine) and models that run on natural gas or hydrogen. As for the purely electric car, its time will doubtless come.的确，电池驱动汽车令人不甚满意，昂贵，续航短，有时还比看起来要脏比如说它运行所用的电力来自于燃煤电厂的话。但汽车厂商正投入巨资用于开发其它清洁技术。未来轮上一族有更大的选择余地：超能效汽油与柴油车，混动车（可在电池和内燃机之间切换），还有使用天然气或氢气的车型。至于纯电动汽车，它的时代无疑终将到来。Towards the driverless, near-crashless car目标无人驾驶，不会撞车Meanwhile, a variety of “driver assistance” technologies are appearing on new cars, which will not only take a lot of the stress out of driving in traffic but also prevent many accidents. More and more new cars can reverse-park, read traffic signs, maintain a safe distance in steady traffic and brake automatically to avoid crashes. Some carmakers are promising technology that detects pedestrians and cyclists, again overruling the driver and stopping the vehicle before it hits them. A number of firms, including Google, are busy trying to take driver assistance to its logical conclusion by creating cars that drive themselves to a chosen destination without a human at the controls. This is where it gets exciting.与此同时，在新车上正涌现出各种“辅助驾驶”技术，它们既可减轻堵车时的许多压力，也可以避免许多事故。越来越多的新车可以自动泊车，读取路牌，在稳定的车流中保持安全距离，还可以自动刹车以避免事故。有些车商承诺开发一项技术可以探测行人与骑车人，在碰撞发生前否定驾车人的意图并将车停住。包括Google在内的许多公司，正努力使辅助驾驶顺理成章地转变为无人驾驶，让车辆自动行驶到指定地点而无需人工控制。这很令人激动。Sergey Brin, a co-founder of Google, predicts that driverless cars will be ready for sale to customers within five years. That may be optimistic, but the prototypes that Google already uses to ferry its staff (and a recent visitor from The Economist) along Californian freeways are impressive. Google is seeking to offer the world a driverless car built from scratch, but it is more likely to evolve, and be accepted by drivers, in stages.Google的联合创始人谢尔盖布林预言五年内消费者将可以购买无人驾驶汽车。这也许乐观了一点，但Google已经用于在加州高速公路上接送员工（最近还有一位来自经济学人的客人）的原型车让人印象深刻。Google想为世界直接提供一辆无人驾驶汽车，但更可能是逐步发展，慢慢为驾车人所接受。As sensors and assisted-driving software demonstrate their ability to cut accidents, regulators will move to make them compulsory for all new cars. Insurers are already pressing motorists to accept black boxes that measure how carefully they drive: these will provide a mass of data which is likely to show that putting the car on autopilot is often safer than driving it. Computers never drive drunk or while texting.传感器和辅助驾驶软件已经证明它们有助于减少事故，立法者也会让所有新车强制安装这些设备。保险商已经在施压让驾车人接受黑匣子可以测量驾驶的谨慎程度：这将提供大量数据用于证明汽车自动巡航常常比有人驾驶更安全。电脑绝不会酒后驾驶，或是一边开车一边发短信。If and when cars go completely driverlessfor those who want thisthe benefits will be enormous. Google gave a taste by putting a blind man in a prototype and filming him being driven off to buy takeaway tacos. Huge numbers of elderly and disabled people could regain their personal mobility. The young will not have to pay crippling motor insurance, because their reckless hands and feet will no longer touch the wheel or the accelerator. The colossal toll of deaths and injuries from road accidents1.2m killed a year worldwide, and 2m hospital visits a year in America aloneshould tumble down, along with the costs to health systems and insurers.如果汽车最终无人驾驶对于乐见其成的人来说好处将是巨大的。Google尝试过让盲人乘坐它的原型车，并拍摄他如何把车“开走”去买外带玉米饼的。无数的老年人和残疾人士可以从此重新获得个人移动能力。年轻人也不用再买要命的车险，因为他们冒失的手脚不会再碰方向盘或是油门。道路事故伤亡的巨大数字全球每年死亡120万，单是美国每年就有200万就医将不复存在，还有医疗和保险的支出。Driverless cars should also ease congestion and save fuel. Computers brake faster than humans. And they can sense when cars ahead of them are braking. So driverless cars will be able to drive much closer to each other than humans safely can. On motorways they could form fuel-efficient “road trains”, gliding along in the slipstream of the vehicle in front. People who commute by car will gain hours each day to work, rest or read a newspaper.无人驾驶也将缓解拥堵和节省燃油。电脑刹车比人更快，还能感知前方的车正在刹车。因此无人驾驶汽车在保证安全的前提下可以比有人驾驶的车开得更近。在高速上，它们可以组成省油的“公路火车”，沿着前方车辆的气流滑行。开车上下班的人们将每天节省数小时来工作，休息或看报。Roadblocks ahead前方的困难Some carmakers think this vision of the future is (as Henry Ford once said of history) bunk. People will be too terrified to hurtle down the motorway in a vehicle they do not control: computers crash, dont they? Carmakers whose self-driving technology is implicated in accidents might face ruinously expensive lawsuits, and be put off continuing to develop it.有些车商认为这种对未来的憧憬是（正如亨利福特以前曾说过）不切实际的。人们会害怕，不敢坐着他们所不能控制的汽车开上高速公路：电脑会死机，对不？如果车商的自动驾驶软件卷入事故，那将可能面临贵到破产的诉讼费用，也就没有能力继续开发。Yet many people already travel, unwittingly, on planes and trains that no longer need human drivers. As with those technologies, the shift towards driverless cars is taking place gradually. The cars software will learn the tricks that humans use to avoid hazards: for example, braking when a ball bounces into the road, because a child may be chasing it. Googles self-driving cars have already clocked up over 700,000km, more than many humans ever drive; and everything they learn will become available to every other car using the software. As for the liability issue, the law should be changed to make sure that when cases arise, the courts take into account the overall safety benefits of self-driving technology.然而许多人已经在毫不知情的情况下乘坐无需人工操纵的飞机和火车旅行了。在这些技术的帮助下，向无人驾驶的转变正在逐步实现。汽车软件将学会人避免危险的技巧：比如，路上飞来一只球时人会刹车，因为可能会有孩子追过来。Google的自动驾驶汽车已经累计行驶超过70万公里，许多人永远都不可能开这么远。Google汽车所学到的一切都将运用到使用此软件的其它汽车上。对于无人驾驶的可靠性问题，应当修改法律，使得发生事故时法庭会对自动驾驶技术在总体上更安全加以考虑。If the notion that the driverless car is round the corner sounds far-fetched, remember that TV and heavier-than-air flying machines once did, too. One day people may wonder why earlier generations ever entrusted machines as dangerous as cars to operators as fallible as humans.如果说无人驾驶汽车时代即将到来的说法还不靠谱，那想想电视和比空气重的飞行器也曾经不靠谱。也许有一天人们会思考，为什么先人们会把像汽车一样危险的机器交给像人一样不可靠的操作员来操作。Mobile telecoms in America美国移动通信行业DISHing out the dosh大把洒钱Mega-bids are set to transform Americas wireless industry巨额收购将改变美国移动通信行业的格局Apr 20th 2013 | SAN FRANCISCO |From the print editionBANKERS involved in mergers and acquisitions have been checking their phones more often than text-crazy teenagers recently, to keep up with a flurry of offers for American mobile-phone companies. On April 15th DISH Network, a satellite-TV operator, became the latest bidder to enter the fray when it launched a $25.5 billion offer for Sprint Nextel, the countrys third-largest wireless firm.从事并购业务的银行家们最近翻看手机的次数比那些疯狂发送短信的年轻人还要频繁，他们希望赶上这场收购美国移动电话运营商的热潮。4月15日，卫星电视运营商DISH Network最新加入这场角逐，该公司准备豪掷255亿美元竞购美国第三大移动运营商Sprint Nextel。DISH is not the only suitor for Sprint. Last October Japans SoftBank offered to buy 70% of the wireless operator for just over $20 billion; and this week it boasted that its agreed deal promised “superior” benefits to DISHs unsolicited one. Sprint, in turn, is seeking to take full control of Clearwire, another wireless company of which it already owns half. And T-Mobile USA, the fourth-biggest mobile operator, is pushing ahead with a plan to merge with the fifth-largest, MetroPCS.对Sprint情有独钟的不只有DISH。去年10月，日本软银以刚过200亿美元的报价竞购这家移动运营商的七成股权；同时，软银在本周宣称，它与Sprint已达成的协议比DISH尚未达成的协议更具“优势”。另一方面，Sprint也正试图全面控制另一家移动运营商Clearwire，目前，它已经拥有该公司一半的股权。此外，美国第四大移动运营商T-mobile正在努力推进一项与第五大运营商MetroPCS合并的计划。The scale of the bidding is breathtaking. According to Dealogic, a data provider, wireless deals worth $49 billion have already been announced in America this year, compared with $53 billion-worth of transactions for the whole of 2012. And more telephone-number-sized offers could be on the way. What is driving this dealmaking? And who is likely to come out on top when the dust settles?报价的规模令人咋舌。数据提供商Dealogic表示，今年美国移动通信行业已宣布的交易价值就达490亿美元，而2012年全年的交易价值为530亿美元。而且，和手机号码长度相当的报价可能还会纷纷涌现。这些交易背后的驱动力是什么？尘埃落定之时，究竟哪一家有希望获得最终的胜利？The answer to the first of those questions is that the bids are aimed at helping Americas mobile smaller fry compete more effectively with Verizon Wireless and AT&T, the behemoths that together serve about 70% of the countrys wireless subscribers. As the chart below shows, the two titans investment in their wireless networks and in the spectrum needed to carry voice and data traffic over them has dwarfed that of their rivals. “Its a two-plus-two market in America now,” explains Rajeev Chand of Rutberg & Company, an investment bank, “and the two smaller guys have to figure out how best to compete and survive.”第一个问题的答案是：这些并购交易目的是帮助美国实力较弱的移动运营商更有效地与Verizon和AT&T开展竞争，因为这两个通信巨头的服务总共覆盖了美国大概70%的移动用户。如下图所示，两大巨头在移动网络以及网络承载话音和数据所需通信频段上的投资力度令竞争对手相形见绌。来自投资银行Rutberg & Company的Rajeev Chand解释说：“美国现在是一个2+2的市场，两个小兄弟必须要找到事关竞争与生存的最佳途径。”When it comes to spectrum, DISH has a clear edge over its rival for Sprints affections. The satellite-TV firm, whose boss, Charlie Ergen, is a former professional gambler, has cleverly snapped up billions of dollars worth of airwaves which it has permission to convert to wireless use. And in January it launched an unsolicited offer of its own for Clearwire. Mr Ergen has made it clear that DISH does not want to build its own cellular network, but would rather find a partner with an existing one.说到通信频段问题，Dish对Sprint的热情要明显高于竞争对手。这家卫星电视公司的老板Charlie Ergen曾经是一个职业赌徒。如今，该公司已巧妙地抢拍了价值数十亿美元的移动通信频段，并可以随时将其转化到移动应用上。今年一月，Dish对Clearwire开出了自报价格。Ergen已明确表示，Dish不想自建蜂窝网络，而是希望寻找到拥有现成网络的合作伙伴。SoftBank cannot offer Sprint airwaves in America, but it can bring plenty of cash to the table thanks to Japans near-zero interest rates. It also brings the experience of Masayoshi Son, the firms founder and boss, who snapped up several companies to turn SoftBank Mobile into an effective competitor against two larger rivals in the Japanese market. SoftBank claims it is on track to close its deal with Sprint on July 1st. But Mr Son may have to raise his bid if he is to keep Sprints shareholders on board now that Mr Ergen has joined the game.在美国，软银虽然不能够直接向Sprint提供移动通信频段，但凭借日本趋近于零的利率水平，它可以带来充足的现金；同时，还能带来软银创始人兼总裁孙正义的管理经验。孙正义曾经收购了一大批公司，最终把软银移动发展成一家可以抗衡日本通信行业两家更大运营商的竞争者。软银声称其仍计划于7月1日完成对Sprint的收购。但是，既然Ergen现在已加入了这场竞争，如果孙正义想赢得Sprint董事会的通过，可能必须要提高报价才行。T-Mobiles owner, Deutsche Telekom, has already had to sweeten its offer for MetroPCS after facing pressure from shareholders in the American firm who felt the original terms would have left the combined company with too heavy a debt burden. On April 15th MetroPCSs board approved the revised proposals, which will be put to shareholders on April 24th. If they are accepted the merged firm will have debt of $11.2 billion rather than $15 billion, and pay a lower interest rate than originally planned, giving it more financial flexibility to buy radio spectrum and build up its wireless network.MetroPCS的股东认为，原始条款会给合并后的公司留下过重的债务负担。因此，面对这家美国公司股东的压力，T-mobile的所有者德国电信被迫提高了对其报价。4月15日，MetroPCS董事会通过了修改后的提案，并将于4月24日进行股东表决。如果该提案获得通过，合并后公司的债务将由150亿美元降至112亿美元，而且支付的利率也会比原计划低，从而为其购买移动通信频段并建设自己的移动网络提供了更大的财务灵活性。Regulators seem keen to give Sprint and T-Mobile a helping hand when it comes to spectrum. In a recent submission to Americas Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which oversees the telecoms industry, the Department of Justice urged it to make sure that the smaller wireless operators get a share of low-frequency bands in a future auction of spectrum given up by television stations. Both Sprint and T-Mobile are short of such spectrum, whose ability to carry signals over long distances and into buildings makes it especially valuable.谈到通信频段问题，监管机构似乎也愿意向Sprint和T-mobile施以援手。最近，美国司法部向负责通信行业监管的联邦通信委员会（FCC）递交一份建议书，敦促其今后在对电视台释放的通信频段进行拍卖时，应确保规模较小的移动运营商能够获得一定份额的低频段频谱。Sprint和T-mobile均缺少这种低频段频谱，而该频谱资源的特殊价值就在于能够实现信号远距离传输，并使其进入建筑物内部。But even if they get such help, the smaller firms will still find it tough to prosper. Mike Garstka of Bain & Company, a consulting firm, says that in most mobile markets around the world the two biggest operators make virtually all of the profit, leaving smaller rivals battling to survive. This has certainly been the case in Europe, where a long tail of smaller operators have struggled to make money in an intensely competitive market.但是，即便得到这样的帮助，规模较小的运营商发展壮大之路仍将步履艰难。美国贝恩咨询公司的Mike Garstka表示，全球绝大多数移动通信市场的前两大运营商几乎攫取了全部的利润，而规模较小的竞争对手只得在竞争中求生存。过去，欧洲也是这种情况，规模较小的“长尾”1运营商曾经在欧洲激烈的市场竞争中苦苦挣扎。So if they are ultimately to stay in business, Sprint and T-Mobile may end up having to join forces at some point. Some analysts speculate that if Mr Ergen fails in his bid for Sprint, he could pounce on the newly merged T-Mobile instead. Given his penchant for dealmaking, he could then try to engineer a blockbuster merger with Sprinta move that would inevitably attract scrutiny from regulators.因此，Sprint和T-mobile若要在行业竞争中得以生存，最终他们可能必须要采取某种程度的联合策略。一些分析人士推测，如果Ergen未能实现对Sprint的收购，他会不失时机地将目光转向新合并的T-mobile。因为他对并购交易乐此不疲，因此，他会竭尽全力与Sprint就此达成协议此举必将引来监管机构的严格审查。Antitrust watchdogs rightly blocked AT&Ts attempt to swallow Sprint back in 2011. But both it and Verizon Wireless are unlikely to stand by idly while their competitors beef themselves up.尽管2011年，反垄断监管机构曾竭力阻止AT&T试图吞并Sprint的努力，但AT&T和Verizon Wireless都不可能眼看着自己的竞争对手发展壮大。AT&T could bid for a satellite operator or other firm that brings it more spectrum. Verizon Wireless is already trying to persuade Clearwire to part with some of its airwaves. Verizon Communications, which owns a 55% stake in Verizon Wireless, is also keen to buy the remaining 45%, held by Britains Vodafone, to give the firm more operating flexibility. Any such deal would involve Croesus-like sums of money. Bankers in the telecoms-mergers business should make sure they keep their phones charged.AT&T可能会收购一家卫星通信运营商或者其他类型的能带给它更多频谱资源的公司。Verizon Wireless正在试图说服Clearwire出售其部分通信频段。拥有Verizon Wireless 55%股份的Verizon Communications还希望收购由英国沃达丰所持有的剩余45%股份，从而获得更多的经营自主权。因为每一笔此类交易均将涉及数额巨大的资金，所以，那些从事通信并购业务的银行家们可要保证自己的手机充足电哟。The death of inflation通货膨胀的终结Central banks in the rich world may have been too successful in subduing price pressures发达国家的中央银行抑制价格举动或许用力过猛。Apr 13th 2013 |From the print edition2013年04月13日 | 印刷版IT TOOK an iron will (and a handbag) to beat the inflation of the 1970s. Under Margaret Thatcher the British government squeezed the economy with high interest rates until the beast submitted. The Federal Reserve, then led by Paul Volcker, followed suit. Such displays of fortitude convinced markets that governments were serious about keeping inflation low. Expectations of future price increases converged around central-bank targets, touching off an era of long expansions and mild recessions. Yet relative price stability may now be adding to the rich worlds economic woes.钢铁般的意志(以及一只手提袋)成功抑制了上世纪70年代的通货膨胀。玛格丽特撒切尔治下的英国政府采用高利率的经济政策压低经济增长率，直至通胀巨兽束手就擒。其时由保罗沃克尔主导的美国联邦储蓄银行在抑制通胀方面的政策紧随其后。政府在此期间所展现的勇气和决断使市场确信政府会豪不手软地压低通货膨胀率。未来价格增幅预期唯央行通胀目标是瞻，由此触发了一个经济长期扩张但偶有温和衰退的时代。但是，相对的价格稳定性目前对于发达国家的经济状况来说不啻于一个困境。Deep recessions like the recent global contraction would normally be expected to send inflation tumbling. Workless labourers ought to reduce wage demands to find employment; firms with unsold goods should slash prices to clear inventories. There was every reason to expect that inflation would go to zero or even enter negative territory in recent years. In April 2009 the International Monetary Fund forecast that inflation in that year would be -0.2% for advanced economies. Instead it has barely budged across the latest business cycle (see left-hand chart).人们通常认为像最近全球经济收缩此类的严重衰退会压低通货膨胀率。失业的劳动者为了寻求就业机会理应会降低薪资要求；有滞销产品的企业应该降低商品价格清理库存。近些年来，人们有充分的理由来预计通货膨胀率会降至零或者负值以下。20