第二步：精读重点段落

（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）

The inflation target is again postponed, but policy is unchanged

[1] SEVENTH time lucky? Minutes of the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) policy meeting in July, published on September 26th, showed that the central bank had, for the sixth time since 2013, pushed back the date at which it expected prices to meet its 2% inflation target—to the fiscal year ending in March 2020.

• inflation [ɪnˈfleʃən]  n.通货膨胀;膨胀;夸张;自命不凡
• fiscal [ˈfɪskəl]  adj.（美）财政上的，会计的;国库的n.财政年度，会计年度;财政部长

[2] Four-and-a-half years since Haruhiko Kuroda took office as governor and embarked on an unprecedented experiment in quantitative easing (QE), the bank is still far from its goal. It has swept up 40% of Japanese government bonds and a whopping 71% of exchange-traded funds. The bank’s balance sheet has tripled. It is now roughly the size of the American Federal Reserve’s.

• Haruhiko Kuroda: 黒田 東彦(born 25 October 1944) is the 31st and current Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ). He was formerly the President of the Asian Development Bank from 1 February 2005 to 18 March 2013.
• unprecedented [ʌnˈprɛsɪˌdɛntɪd] adj. 空前的;前所未有的，无前例的;无比的;新奇的
• Quantitative easing 量化宽松
• sweep [swip]  vt.扫除;打扫，清理;彻底搜索;掠过vi.打扫;扫过;蜿蜒;大范围伸展
• whopping [ˈwɑ:pɪŋ]  adj.巨大的，庞大的 adv.非常地，异常地v.打;抽出;打败;征服
• balance sheet [ˈbæləns ʃit]  n.资产负债表;财务状况表

[3] Yet, despite his apparent failure, and despite a snap general election, Mr Kuroda may yet stay for another five years when his term runs out next April. If not, most of his likely successors are signed up to the same reflationary policy. At least one member of the bank’s board gave warning at its most recent policy meeting on September 20th-21st that the measures it has taken are insufficient to stoke the desired inflation. These include keeping short- term interest rates negative, at about -0.1%, and ten-year government-bond yields at around zero. Soon, however, debate might turn to the feasibility of the 2% target.

• reflationary [ˌri:'fleɪʃnrɪ]  adj.复苏的
• stoke [stoʊk]  vt.拨旺火;使饱吃一顿;给（机车等）烧火vi.烧火;做司炉工;大吃大喝
• feasibility [ˌfizəˈbɪlətɪ]  n.可行性;可能性;现实性

（Tips: 双击文中单词可以查释义并加入你的生词本哦）

The Bank of Japan — Dig deeper

The inflation target is again postponed, but policy is unchanged

[1] SEVENTH time lucky? Minutes of the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) policy meeting in July, published on September 26th, showed that the central bank had, for the sixth time since 2013, pushed back the date at which it expected prices to meet its 2% inflation target—to the fiscal year ending in March 2020.

• inflation [ɪnˈfleʃən]  n.通货膨胀;膨胀;夸张;自命不凡
• fiscal [ˈfɪskəl]  adj.（美）财政上的，会计的;国库的n.财政年度，会计年度;财政部长

[2] Four-and-a-half years since Haruhiko Kuroda took office as governor and embarked on an unprecedented experiment in quantitative easing (QE), the bank is still far from its goal. It has swept up 40% of Japanese government bonds and a whopping 71% of exchange-traded funds. The bank’s balance sheet has tripled. It is now roughly the size of the American Federal Reserve’s.

• Haruhiko Kuroda: 黒田 東彦(born 25 October 1944) is the 31st and current Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ). He was formerly the President of the Asian Development Bank from 1 February 2005 to 18 March 2013.
• unprecedented [ʌnˈprɛsɪˌdɛntɪd] adj. 空前的;前所未有的，无前例的;无比的;新奇的
• Quantitative easing 量化宽松
• sweep [swip]  vt.扫除;打扫，清理;彻底搜索;掠过 vi.打扫;扫过;蜿蜒;大范围伸展
• whopping [ˈwɑ:pɪŋ]  adj.巨大的，庞大的 adv.非常地，异常地 v.打;抽出;打败;征服
• balance sheet [ˈbæləns ʃit]  n.资产负债表;财务状况表

[3] Yet, despite his apparent failure, and despite a snap general election, Mr Kuroda may yet stay for another five years when his term runs out next April. If not, most of his likely successors are signed up to the same reflationary policy. At least one member of the bank’s board gave warning at its most recent policy meeting on September 20th-21st that the measures it has taken are insufficient to stoke the desired inflation. These include keeping short- term interest rates negative, at about -0.1%, and ten-year government-bond yields at around zero. Soon, however, debate might turn to the feasibility of the 2% target.

• reflationary [ˌri:'fleɪʃnrɪ]  adj.复苏的
• stoke [stoʊk]  vt.拨旺火;使饱吃一顿;给（机车等）烧火 vi.烧火;做司炉工;大吃大喝
• feasibility [ˌfizəˈbɪlətɪ]  n.可行性;可能性;现实性

[4] Many countries would be happy to have Japan’s problems, says Masamichi Adachi of JPMorgan Securities: full employment, soaring corporate profits and the third-longest economic expansion since the Second World War. But with government reforms faltering, the BOJ’s role as custodian of “Abenomics” (the policies of the prime minister, Shinzo Abe) seems assured. A labour crunch may at last be working where government badgering of Japanese companies to pay workers more has failed. In a speech this week, Mr Kuroda pointed to rising wages as a reason to hope inflation will pick up. Firms, he said, have been absorbing the cost to keep prices low, but will not be able to do so for ever.

• faltering ['fɔ:ltərɪŋ]  adj.犹豫的，支吾的，蹒跚的 v.蹒跚;（嗓音）颤抖;支吾其词;摇晃
• custodian [kʌˈstoʊdiən]  n.保管人;监护人;管理人;看门人
• Abenomics 安倍经济学;安倍经济学是一系列旨在解决日本宏观经济问题的政策措施，包括货币政策、财政政策以及鼓励私人投资的经济增长策略。
• crunch [krʌntʃ]  vt.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼;嘎吱嘎吱地压，碾，跺;[俚]运行，处理
• badger [ˈbædʒɚ] vt. 烦扰;纠缠不休;吵着要

[5] Not all share his optimism. Monetary easing is failing in one of its aims, says Say uri Shirai, a former BOJ board member: to foster risk-taking corporate behaviour. Instead, the amount of cash hoarded by Japan’s companies has grown by about ¥50trn ($443bn) over the past five years and exceeds ¥210trn, a record.

• optimism [ˈɑ:ptɪmɪzəm]  n.乐观;乐观主义
• monetary easing放松银根，货币供应状况缓和

[6] With sluggish investment and demand, Mr Kuroda’s monetary blitzkrieg will continue. The risk, says Ms Shirai, is that monetary policy has become a crutch for the entire economy. Leaning on the central bank, some companies are reducing efforts to boost productivity and improve governance, she says. And, by becoming the largest shareholder in several companies, the bank is distorting the pricing function of the market, adds Nicholas Benes, of the Board Director Training Institute of Japan.

• sluggish [ˈslʌɡɪʃ]  adj.行动迟缓的，反应慢的;不机警的;懒散的，不活泼的;无精打采的
• blitzkrieg [ˈblɪtsˌkriɡ]  n.闪电战，闪击战，（尤指）猛烈的空袭
• crutch [krʌtʃ]  n.拐杖;支持物;精神上的寄托;胯部vt.支撑;支持
• distort [dɪˈstɔ:rt]  vt.曲解;歪曲，扭曲;使变形vi.扭曲;变形

[7] Mr Kuroda stunned the markets with QE in 2013 and has continued to surprise since with a string of policy innovations. But nobody, says Mr Adachi, can see when the BOJ will start to reduce its asset purchases, let alone trim its balance sheet. Perhaps never. For all the problems its easy- money policy brings, many think it more costly to ditch it than to keep on digging.

• stun [stʌn]  vt.击晕，使昏厥;使震聋;使目瞪口呆;使大吃一惊n.打击，刺激
• trim [trɪm]  vt.装饰;修剪;整理adj.整齐的，整洁的;修长的;苗条的n.修剪;整齐;健康状态
• ditch [dɪtʃ]  vt.摆脱，抛弃;在…上掘沟;把…开入沟里;使（火车）出轨