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所屬教程:英語漫讀

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2020年09月27日

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掃描二維碼方便學(xué)習(xí)和分享

The latest inflation data offers a snapshot of Americans' new pandemic spending habits. Prices are down for most goods and services but up sharply for groceries.

最新的通脹數(shù)據(jù)反映了美國人新的流行病(期間的)消費(fèi)習(xí)慣。大多數(shù)商品和服務(wù)價(jià)格下降，但雜貨價(jià)格急劇上漲。

Food prices have jumped the most since 1974, when double-digit inflation became a national concern. But inflation isn't a worry this time as prices for just about everything else are diving.

食品價(jià)格出現(xiàn)了自1974年以來的最大漲幅，當(dāng)時(shí)兩位數(shù)的通脹成為全國關(guān)注的焦點(diǎn)。但這次通貨膨脹并不令人擔(dān)心，因?yàn)閹缀跛衅渌麞|西的價(jià)格都在下降。

New inflation numbers out Tuesday from the Labor Department offer a window on how consumers are coping in the COVID-19 era. And the bottom line is that we're snacking more — and paying more for food — as we shop more at our local grocery stores.

美國勞工部周二公布的新通脹數(shù)據(jù)為消費(fèi)者應(yīng)對(duì)COVID-19時(shí)代提供了一個(gè)窗口。歸根結(jié)底，隨著我們?cè)诋?dāng)?shù)仉s貨店購物的增多，我們吃的小吃也越來越多，我們?yōu)槭称坊ㄙM(fèi)的也越來越多。

Overall, consumer prices were down 0.8% last month — the sharpest drop since the Great Recession in 2008. But food prices at the grocery store rose 2.6% — the biggest jump in nearly 50 years.

總的來說，上個(gè)月消費(fèi)者價(jià)格下降了0.8%，這是自2008年大蕭條以來的最大跌幅。但雜貨店的食品價(jià)格上漲了2.6%，這是近50年來的最大漲幅。

The price of pasta and rice bubbled up 2.5% in April. Hamburger prices ground up 4.8%.

四月份，意大利面和大米的價(jià)格上漲了2.5%。漢堡價(jià)格上漲4.8%。

Americans had grown used to spending more than half their food budgets on meals eaten outside the home. But that changed abruptly when the coronavirus pandemic hit. Restaurants closed their doors, and families were forced to cook for themselves.

美國人已經(jīng)習(xí)慣把超過一半的食物預(yù)算花在戶外吃飯上。但當(dāng)冠狀病毒流行病爆發(fā)時(shí)，情況突然發(fā)生了變化。餐館關(guān)門，家庭被迫自己做飯。

"We saw an immediate, drastic decrease in expenditures away from home and an increase in the expenditures that we made at the grocery store," said David Ortega, a food economist at Michigan State University.

密歇根州立大學(xué)的食品經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家戴維·奧爾特加表示:“我們看到，在外的支出迅速大幅下降，而在雜貨店的支出則有所增加。”

Ortega sees the change in his own habits. Instead of buying a prepared coffee at the campus bagel shop, he's making his own coffee at home with store-bought beans. He's also shopping for his wife and 2-year-old daughter.

奧爾特加看到了自己習(xí)慣的變化。他不再去學(xué)校的百吉餅店買現(xiàn)成的咖啡，而是用從商店買來的咖啡豆在家里自己煮咖啡。他還在為妻子和兩歲的女兒買東西。

"Yep, I have to now go to the grocery store and make sure we have snacks and goldfish and crackers and just about everything that's going up in price," Ortega said.

奧爾特加說:“是的，我現(xiàn)在必須去雜貨店，確保我們有零食、金魚和餅干，以及幾乎所有正在漲價(jià)的東西。”

Most of us aren't driving much, so gasoline prices tumbled 20.6% last month. The price of auto insurance also dropped in April, by 7.2% — more than any other month on record.

我們大多數(shù)人都很少開車，因此汽油價(jià)格上個(gè)月下跌了20.6%。汽車保險(xiǎn)價(jià)格在4月份也下跌了7.2%，降幅超過了歷史上任何一個(gè)月。

"With people driving less, that will inevitably mean fewer accidents," said Sean Kevelighan, CEO of the Insurance Information Institute. Auto insurers are offering discounts and refunds totaling more than $10 billion this year.

保險(xiǎn)信息研究所的首席執(zhí)行官肖恩·凱維利漢說:“隨著人們開車的減少，這必然意味著事故的減少。”汽車保險(xiǎn)公司今年提供的折扣和退款總額超過100億美元。

Kevelighan warns, however, that with fewer cars on the road, some people are driving faster. That means the accidents that do happen are often more costly.

然而，凱維利漢警告說，隨著路上的汽車越來越少，有些人會(huì)開得更快。這意味著一旦發(fā)生事故，成本往往會(huì)更高。

"In fact, people are driving more recklessly at this time. And so that means we're having more injuries and greater damage," he said.

“事實(shí)上，人們?cè)谶@個(gè)時(shí)候駕駛更加魯莽。這就意味著我們會(huì)有更多的受傷和更大的損毀。”

The inflation report tells us more about how our consumption patterns have changed during the pandemic.

通貨膨脹報(bào)告更多地告訴我們，我們的消費(fèi)模式在流行病期間發(fā)生了怎樣的變化。

As demand for toilet paper soared, household paper prices jumped 4.5% last month. There are a handful of other categories where prices rose — including hospital care (up 0.5%) and funerals (up 0.3%).

隨著廁紙需求的飆升，生活用紙價(jià)格上個(gè)月上漲了4.5%。其他一些類別的商品價(jià)格也上漲了——包括醫(yī)院護(hù)理(上漲0.5%)和葬禮(上漲0.3%)。

But while Americans are spending more on necessities like pasta and toilet paper, they're cutting back on everything else.

但是，當(dāng)美國人在意大利面和衛(wèi)生紙等生活必需品上花費(fèi)更多的時(shí)候，他們?cè)谄渌矫娴拈_支卻在減少。