Janet Yellen,Fed’s1 First Female Chair

Jessica Irvine

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It is not an uncommon sight to see immaculately coiffed wives flanking male candidates at political rallies.2. immaculately: 完美地，整潔地；coiffed: 做過(guò)頭發(fā)的，做過(guò)發(fā)型的； flank: 位于……的側(cè)面；rally: 集會(huì)。Similarly, we expect to see grey-haired men presiding over3. preside over: 當(dāng)……主席，主管。the biggest American economic institutions.

And so it was a curious thing to watch the diminutive Janet Yellen, con firmed in by the US Senate as the new chair of the US Federal Reserve, take centre stage at a committee hearing on Capitol Hill last November flanked by her husband, the greyhaired and bespeckled—not to mention Nobel prize winning—economist George Akerlof.4. 因此，這可算是件新奇事兒：身材矮小的珍妮特·耶倫在國(guó)會(huì)山于去年11月舉行的一場(chǎng)聽(tīng)證會(huì)上成為了萬(wàn)眾矚目的焦點(diǎn)，而她灰發(fā)、臉上長(zhǎng)斑的丈夫——諾貝爾獲獎(jiǎng)?wù)?、?jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家喬治·阿克洛夫則站在她的身邊。美國(guó)參議院已確認(rèn)由耶倫接任美國(guó)聯(lián)邦儲(chǔ)蓄委員會(huì)主席一職。diminutive: 身材矮小的；US Senate: 美國(guó)參議院，美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)的兩院之一。其權(quán)利與義務(wù)之一是：美國(guó)總統(tǒng)任命重要人事崗位時(shí)，必須斟酌參議院的提議并得到其認(rèn)可；Capitol Hill: 國(guó)會(huì)山，也就是通常說(shuō)的美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)大廈，指作為美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)辦公機(jī)構(gòu)的國(guó)會(huì)建筑；bespeckled: 長(zhǎng)雀斑的。This leading economic man was there merely in a supportive role, a right hand man5. right hand man: 得力助手。to his wife: the most powerful woman in the world. Probably.

It’s a role the financial markets and everyone else better get used to, and quick.The first ever female appointed to chair the hundred-year-old institution which sets interest rates in the United States took the helm in February,6. chair: v. 任……主席，主持；take the helm: 開(kāi)始掌管，把舵。making her the most powerful woman alive today, on some estimates.

“If she’s not number one, then she’s certainly number two,”says a senior economist, Huw McKay, who thinks it’s a close call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel7. Angela Merkel: 安格拉·默克爾（1954— ），德國(guó)總理，有鐵娘子之稱，是當(dāng)今世界最具影響力的女性領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人。.

剛過(guò)完百歲“生日”的美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)迎來(lái)了新一輪換帥。美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)副主席珍妮特·耶倫正式出任美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)主席。作為美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)百年歷史上首位女性主席，耶倫一直是美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)寬松貨幣政策的強(qiáng)力支持者。她就任后的政策取向?qū)O大地影響全球貨幣和金融市場(chǎng)，因而成為了各方關(guān)注的焦點(diǎn)。有人甚至說(shuō)，她將超過(guò)德國(guó)總理默克爾成為全球影響力最大的女性。

Janet Louise Yellen was born in 1946 in the working class district of Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of a local Jewish physician8. physician: 醫(yī)生，內(nèi)科醫(yī)生。. From there, she went on to earn an economics pedigree9. pedigree: 門第，家系。of the highest order. An economics degree from Brown University.A PhD from Yale. An assistant professorship at Harvard University.Professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.10. professor emeritus: 榮譽(yù)教授。此段提到的美國(guó)大學(xué)依次是：布朗大學(xué)、耶魯大學(xué)、哈佛大學(xué)和加州大學(xué)伯克利分校，均是美國(guó)頂尖的高校。

She served as chair of President Bill Clinton’s board of economic advisers before being appointed as President herself of the San Francisco Federal Reserve in 2004. The US Federal Reserve system has 12 regional reserve banks, and one central committee for setting national interest rates, of which Yellen had been vice chair to former chair Ben Bernanke11. Ben Bernanke: 本·伯南克（1953— ），美國(guó)猶太裔經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家，曾任美國(guó)聯(lián)邦儲(chǔ)備委員會(huì)主席。since 2010.

She was one of the first economists to raise alarm about the brewing subprime mortgage crisis that would a year later bring the global financial system to the brink of destruction.12. 她是最早對(duì)正在醞釀之中的次貸危機(jī)發(fā)出警報(bào)的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家之一，而次貸危機(jī)在一年后導(dǎo)致了全球金融體系瀕臨崩潰。brewing: 正在醞釀之中的；subprime mortgage crisis:次貸危機(jī)，由美國(guó)國(guó)內(nèi)抵押貸款違約急劇增加所引發(fā)的金融危機(jī)，它對(duì)全球各地銀行與金融市場(chǎng)產(chǎn)生了重大的不良后果；brink: 邊緣。In June 2007 she warned: “I still feel the presence of a 600-pound gorilla13. gorilla: 大猩猩，文中比喻威力無(wú)比的東西，影響力巨大的事情。in the room and that is the housing sector.”

Justin Wolfers, an Australian born economist based in Washington DC, recalled in an article for Bloomberg last year working with Yellen at the San Francisco Fed when she was president. He remembers a “remarkably humble14. humble: 謙卑的，謙虛的。” woman, but also a “tough and natural leader”. “Typically, Fed presidents remain safely cloistered in the executive of fices, away from the great unwashed,”15. cloister: 與……塵世隔絕，隱居于……；the great unwashed: 底層民眾，下層社會(huì)。DrWolfers wrote.“Not Janet. It wasn’t unusual to see her in the cafeteria, tray16. tray:（盛食物的）托盤。in hand, looking for a table of friendly economists to join.”

Janet Yellen和丈夫George Akerlof

This was, in fact, how she met George Ackerlof in 1977 when they both worked at the US Federal Reserve in Washington DC.“We liked each other immediately and decided to get married,” Akerlof would later recall. They wed the following June and have a 32-year-old son—an economist, of course.

So what will Yellen’s appointment17. appointment: 任命，委派。mean for the American economy? With US interests already at zero, the Fed is currently printing billions of dollars each month to stimulate the US economy—a process known as “quantitative easing18. quantitative easing: 量化寬松，一種貨幣政策，簡(jiǎn)單來(lái)說(shuō)是由中央銀行間接增印鈔票，為銀行體系注入新的流動(dòng)性，以刺激經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)的貨幣政策?！? The job now falls to Yellen to turn off the taps.19. turn off the taps: 關(guān)掉水龍頭，此處指停止增印貨幣。

But it is said that financial markets see Yellen as a “dove”—meaning she is more concerned by high joblessness than the prospect of in flation—who will take care not to choke off the US economic recovery too soon.20. 但據(jù)說(shuō)，金融市場(chǎng)視耶倫為“鴿派”——這意味著她更注重降低高失業(yè)率，而非通貨膨脹——她不會(huì)過(guò)早地阻礙美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)復(fù)蘇。joblessness: 失業(yè)率，失業(yè)者；prospect: 將要發(fā)生的事，前景；choke off: 使……結(jié)束，阻止……的生長(zhǎng)。

According to McKay, Yellen’s more cautious approach to turning off the money taps means interest rates around the world are going to be lower for longer. He expects that will have signi ficant in fluence on other nations’ currency rates. Financial markets have entered anew year with a sense of optimism.

Yellen’s job will be to ensure sprits remain high. Much is riding on21. ride on: 依靠，取決于。her ability not to surprise markets with any unexpected moves. This will not be a problem, says Wolfers: “I expect policy statements issued in Yellen’s Brooklyn accent to be clear and direct, as she says precisely what she means.”

When the world’s most powerful woman speaks, you can bet financial markets will be listening.