BBC地道英语:Double-dip Recession 二次衰退/双浸衰退

William: Hello and welcome to Authentic Real English. My name is William Kremer.

Feifei: 50p... ￡2.50... ￡2.80... ￡3.20.

William: Er Feifei?

Feifei: Not now! ￡4.20... ￡4.50... ￡6.50.

William: What do you mean "not now"? It's time for the programme, Feifei. Our listeners are waiting...

Feifei: ￡6... ￡6 什么？多少来着？哎呀，我数到哪儿了，又忘了！听众朋友，大家好，我是冯菲菲。刚刚我在数我还有多少钱呢。

Everyone is counting their pennies

William: Yes, everyone in the UK is worried about money at the moment. They're worried about the possibility of a double-dip recession.

Feifei: A double-dip recession. 这个表达是什么意思呢？

William: Well you know what a recession is...

Feifei: A recession 经济衰退。

William: Double means twice. And dip means to go down. So double-dip recession describes a situation in which the economy goes into recession, then comes out of recession then goes back into recession again.

Feifei: A double-dip recession 的意思就是当一个国家的经济从衰退走出来后再次进入一个新的衰退期、萧条期，这时我们说 a double-dip recession 二次衰退。 William 输我直言，我觉得这个话题实在是挺无聊的。我一听关于经济方面的事情，就犯困。咱们能不能说个有趣儿的短语呢？

William: Well, I'm not really that interested in economics either. But this is a phrase that is very common at the moment because the UK was in recession last year and then we had a little bit of growth and now people are starting to worry about the possibility of a double-dip recession. So here are a couple of examples I heard on the radio recently:

Examples

And even the Mirror leads with the economy. It says on its front page David Cameron and George Osborne's bragging over savage cuts has led us to the brink of a double-dip recession, the blundering Tory duo...

So are worried consumers spending less in the shops? Well, the managing director of John Lewis, Andy Street, says he doesn't foresee a double-dip recession and indeed he says sales are holding up in his stores, for the moment anyway.

Feifei: 其实大多数和经济有关的表达或者短语很少能像今天我们学的这个短语一样广为使用，那么这个 double-dip recession 为什么如此流行呢？

William: Well, I think it's very popular with journalists who want to soften hard economic news. The phrase sounds really quite friendly, doesn't it? Double dip... it reminds me a bit of a sherbet dip, which is an old-fashioned kind of sweet that I used to buy as a young boy!

Feifei: 啊，原来这样呀。用一个较通俗的表达来描述一个比较难懂的经济术语。

William: Yes, and I've heard the phrase quite a lot with the adjective dreaded.

Feifei: Dreaded 可怕的，令人畏惧的。

William: And again, I think that's because of the way it sounds: dreaded double dip. The words have a rhythm and they sound quite nice, a bit like children's poetry: dreaded double dip.

Feifei: Hmm. 短语听起来不错，不过不是一个什么好的经济兆头。说到这儿，我想起来了我还有一个重要的工作要做。 50p... ￡2.50... ￡2.80... ￡3.20.

William: Ah. OK then. Well listeners, remember to check out our webpage www.bbcukchina.com for more Authentic Real English. Until next week.

Feifei: ￡4.20... ￡4.50... ￡6.50...

William: Bye.