The keen(热心的，积极的) new chancellor, John Healey, responded to last week’s better-than-expected(好于预期的) economic news by claiming the government was “bringing hope back”. Growth did not plunge(暴跌，骤降) as feared after Donald Trump unleash(发动，释放)ed war on Iran – with GDP expanding at(以……速度增长) a pretty decent 0.4% in the second quarter.
新任财政大臣约翰·希利对上周好于预期的经济消息作出回应，声称政府正在“带回希望”。在唐纳德·特朗普对伊朗发动战争后，经济增长并未像人们担心的那样暴跌——第二季度GDP以相当不错的0.4%的速度增长。
But what if we should have held on to a bit more hope all along?(但如果我们一直应该抱有更多希望呢？) A new assessment(评估，评价) of the UK’s recent productivity suggests this critical measure of the country’s economic strength may have been systematically(系统地，有计划地) underestimate(低估)d.
但如果我们一直应该抱有更多希望呢？一项对英国近期生产率的新评估表明，这一衡量国家经济实力的关键指标可能一直被系统性低估。
Instead of stagnation(停滞，不景气), it points to(指向，表明) a “meaningful pickup(回升，好转)” in productivity since mid-2024, with annual growth of about 1.6% – up from(从……上升) an average of 0.3% in the previous decade.
该评估指出，自2024年年中以来，生产率出现了“有意义的回升”，年增长率约为1.6%——而此前十年的平均水平仅为0.3%。