年度大事盘点
America and China started a trade war, the world’s worst such dispute in decades. America imposed tariffs on $250bn-worth of Chinese products; China responded with tariffs of its own. America also slapped duties on steel imports from Europe, Canada, Mexico and elsewhere, infuriating its allies. Donald Trump intervened on national-security grounds to scupper a $117bn bid from Broadcom, a chipmaker with ties to South-East Asia, for Qualcomm. It would have been the biggest-ever tech merger. There was one de-escalation: America, Canada and Mexico struck a deal to update NAFTA.
美国和中国开始了一场贸易战，这是几十年来全球最严重的一次贸易争端。美国对价值2500亿美元的中国产品征收关税；中国也发起相同措施作为反击。美国还对从欧洲、加拿大、墨西哥和其他地方进口的钢铁征收关税，此举激怒了美国的盟友。特朗普以国家安全为由出面干预，试图阻止与东南亚有关联的芯片制造商博通(Broadcom)以1170亿美元的价格收购高通(Qualcomm)。这本可以成为有史以来最大的科技公司合并。其中一个紧张局势有所降级：美国、加拿大和墨西哥就更新北美自由贸易协定达成了协议。
“Fire and Fury”
“火与怒”
In another dysfunctional year at the White House, Rex Tillerson was sacked as secretary of state, as was Jeff Sessions as attorney-general, both after the president had publicly undermined them. The investigation by Robert Mueller, the special counsel, into Russian influence in American elections rumbled on, laying charges against some of Mr Trump’s former aides. A voter backlash against Mr Trump propelled the Democrats to win the House of Representatives in the mid-terms, though the Republicans increased their majority in the Senate.
在白宫又一个混乱的年头里，国务卿雷克斯·蒂勒森(Rex Tillerson)遭解职，而杰夫·赛辛斯(Jeff Sessions)也被解除了司法部长一职，特朗总统曾公开表示对两人的不满。特朗普的特别顾问罗伯特·米勒(Robert Mueller)针对俄罗斯对美国大选影响的调查仍在继续，他对特朗普的几位前助手提出指控。选民对特朗普的强烈反对，推动民主党在中期选举中赢得了众议院，尽管共和党在参议院的多数席位有所增加。
The messy spectacle of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings to the Supreme Court polarised American politics even further. With the #MeToo movement fully behind them, Democrats wheeled out sexual- assault allegations from the early 1980s to try to block his path. Mr Kavanaugh survived the media circus and was eventually confirmed in the Senate by 50-48, the narrowest such margin since 1881. He appointed a team of all-female clerks, a first for the court.
布雷特·卡瓦诺(Brett Kavanaugh)向最高法院提交确认听证会的混乱场面进一步分化了美国政治。借助着MeToo运动的浪潮，民主党人曝出了始于上世纪80年代初期的性侵指控，以阻止他成为大法官。卡瓦诺从媒体的狂轰滥炸中幸存下来，最终以50比48的优势通过参议院的表决，这是自1881年以来最微弱的差距。他还任命了一个全部由女性职员组成的助手团队，这在最高法庭尚属首次。
Bother Brexit
退欧道阻且长
After a year of tortuous Brexit negotiations, Theresa May and the European Commission agreed a deal for Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, but Britain’s Parliament has not approved the agreement. Britain’s prime minister clung to power after hard Brexiteers in her party tried to bring her down. Two-and-a-half years after the referendum, the opposition Labour Party still had no coherent Brexit policy. Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29th.
经过一年曲折的退欧谈判，特蕾莎·梅(Theresa May)和欧盟委员会就英国退欧达成协议，但是英国议会尚未批准该协议。英国首相在其党内强硬退欧派试图赶她下台后，仍然大权在握。公投结束两年半后，反对党工党仍未制定出连贯的退欧政策。英国将于3月29日脱离欧盟。
Tensions increased between Britain and Russia after two Russian intelligence officers poisoned Sergei Skripal, a dissident, and his daughter with a nerve agent in Salisbury, an otherwise quiet cathedral town. They both survived. Russia paraded the attackers on television, claiming they were innocent tourists with an interest in church spires.
两名俄罗斯间谍在索尔兹伯里用某神经毒剂毒杀持不同政见的谢尔盖·斯克里帕尔及其女儿。这里原本是一个安静的教堂小镇，如今英俄两国的紧张关系加剧。他们都侥幸存活。两名间谍现身接受了俄罗斯电视采访，声称他们只是无辜的游客，对教堂尖顶感兴趣罢了。
Facebook had a terrible year. The social network came under intense pressure to rein in fake news and protect user data. The revelation that Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy that had worked on Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016, had obtained information on 87m Facebook users through a third-party app shook the company to its core.
Facebook这一年诸事不顺。这家社交网络公司在把控虚假新闻和保护用户数据方面面临巨大压力。2016年，曾参与特朗普竞选活动的政治咨询公司剑桥分析公司通过一款第三方应用软件获取了8700万名Facebook用户的信息，该消息的披露彻底动摇了这家公司的“根基”。
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