第三十章澳大利亚经济 Chapter 30 The EconomyⅠ.工业 Manufacturing Industry澳大利亚的制造业以制砖开始。
86%的制造业为小企业。
Manufacturing in Australia began with the making of bricks. It is estimated that 86% of all manufacturing firms are small businesses.在世界的总格局中，澳大利亚的制造业是独特的。
它的特点包括下面几点:In a world context Australian manufacturing is unique. Its features include the following:1)效率低Inefficiency澳大利亚的市场有限，它在地理上与外界的隔绝以及很高的关税壁垒是影响澳大利亚工业效率的几个因素。
Australia's limited local market, its geographical isolation and high levels of tariff protection are the factors that affect the efficiency of Australian manufacturing.效率最低并且最受保护的工业是汽车、纺织、服装和制鞋工业。
The industries that are most inefficient and most highly protected are automobile, textiles, clothing and footwear industries.2)高度集中Concentration在过去20年里，大的联合企业在澳大利亚经济中一直起中心作用。
Over the last 20 years large conglomerates have been given a central role in the Australian economy.整个钢铁工业由一个公司控制，这就是布洛肯·希尔专卖有限公司。
The entire steel industry is in the hands of one company, the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP).3)外国投资Foreign investment澳大利亚的制造业在很大程度上依靠外国投资。
外资公司比他们的澳大利亚同行获利多。
Australian manufacturing relies heavily on foreign investment. Companies that are foreign-owned tend to be more profitable than their Australian counterparts.Ⅱ.农业 Agriculture200年前，澳大利亚是一个没有农业的大陆。
今天，农业却是这个国家的最大的和最多样化的行业。
澳大利亚是世界上粮食和天然纤维的主要生产国之一。
200 years ago Australia was a land without agriculture. Today, agriculture is the nation's largest and most diverse industry. Australia is one of the world's leadingproducers of food and natural fibers.澳大利亚是世界上最大的羊毛出口国，第二大肉类出口国，第三大小麦出口国，Australia is the world's largest exporter of wool, the second largest exporter of meat, the third largest exporter of wheat。
就面积而言，澳大利亚几乎和美国一样大(除去阿拉斯加和夏威夷)，比整个西欧还大。
In terms of area Australia is almost as large as the USA (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) and larger than the whole of Western Europe.澳大利亚农业史上的一个重要因素是参与世界竞争的能力。
A key factor in the history of agriculture in Australia has been the ability to compete on world markets,起初，澳大利亚享受优先进入英国市场的优惠，这对澳大利亚农业的繁荣是相当重要的。
In the early days, Australia's preferential access to the British market was important to the prosperity of Australian farming.Ⅲ.矿产和能源工业 The Minerals and Energy Industry澳大利亚自然资源丰富，是世界上最大的矿物和金属生产大国。
也是世界上最大的煤出口国Australia is rich in natural resources. It is one of the world's biggest producers of minerals and metals.It is also the world's largest exporter of coal,矿物和能源工业是澳大利亚的经济中心，从19世纪以来，一直是国家发展的主要"催化剂"，现在它是出口创汇的主要来源。
The minerals and energy industry is central to the Australian economy. It has been a major catalyst to national development since the 19th century. It is now a major source of export earnings.在20世纪70年代早期，日本对铁矿石和煤的进口需求衰减了。
这就限制了澳大利亚的市场。
in the early 1970s, because of the energy crisis the demand in Japan for imports of iron ore and coal declined. This limited market opportunities for Australia, 澳大利亚采矿业面临着新问题。
The mining industry in Australia has faced new problems1）以保护环境之名授予土著人土地权力，结果矿藏受到限制Mineral access has been restricted in the name of environmental protection and also as a consequence of the granting of Aboriginal land rights.2）与采矿有关的各种疾病发病率高the high incidence of mining-related diseasesⅣ.服务业 Service Industries澳大利亚的服务业是产业中发展最快的一个部分，Australia's service sector is the fastest-growing sector of industry.Ⅴ.贸易 Trade澳大利亚是中等水平的贸易国家Australia is a middle-level trading nation.澳大利亚贸易的主要特点是以原材料换制成品。
这有两个原因:The main feature of Australia's trade is that it has always involved the exchange of raw materials for finished products. There are two reasons.1）国内市场太小，制造商不能有效地运作;One is that the home market is too small for manufacturers to operate efficiently.2）由于在海外可以达到规模经济，从欧洲、美国以及最近从亚洲来的商品一直比澳大利亚生产的产品便宜。
The other is that goods from Europe, the US and recently Asia have always been cheaper than those produced in Australia because of the economies of scale available overseas.在定居后的第一个一百年，典型的贸易活动是把羊毛运到英国而后运回毛料衣服。
在澳大利亚的第二个一百年，典型的出口一直是把铁矿石运往日本而后运回日本的汽车。
For the first 100 years of settlement, a typical trade transaction was a shipment of wool to Britain and a return shipment of woolen suits, In Australia's second century, a typical export has been iron ore shipped to Japan and a return shipment of Japanese motor cars.这种特殊性有两重效果:Such specialization has been double-edged.1)它意味着可以从全世界买到广泛的制成品，On the one hand, it has meant access to a very broad range of finished goods from around the world.2)它使得澳大利亚非常容易受商品价格涨落周期的影响。