Janet Yellen,Fed’s1 First Female Chair

Jessica Irvine

∷言佳 选注

It is not an uncommon sight to see immaculately coiffed wives flanking male candidates at political rallies.2. immaculately: 完美地，整洁地；coiffed: 做过头发的，做过发型的； flank: 位于……的侧面；rally: 集会。Similarly, we expect to see grey-haired men presiding over3. preside over: 当……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，这可算是件新奇事儿：身材矮小的珍妮特·耶伦在国会山于去年11月举行的一场听证会上成为了万众瞩目的焦点，而她灰发、脸上长斑的丈夫——诺贝尔获奖者、经济学家乔治·阿克洛夫则站在她的身边。美国参议院已确认由耶伦接任美国联邦储蓄委员会主席一职。diminutive: 身材矮小的；US Senate: 美国参议院，美国国会的两院之一。其权利与义务之一是：美国总统任命重要人事岗位时，必须斟酌参议院的提议并得到其认可；Capitol Hill: 国会山，也就是通常说的美国国会大厦，指作为美国国会办公机构的国会建筑；bespeckled: 长雀斑的。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: 开始掌管，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·默克尔（1954— ），德国总理，有铁娘子之称，是当今世界最具影响力的女性领导人。.

刚过完百岁“生日”的美联储迎来了新一轮换帅。美联储副主席珍妮特·耶伦正式出任美联储主席。作为美联储百年历史上首位女性主席，耶伦一直是美联储宽松货币政策的强力支持者。她就任后的政策取向将极大地影响全球货币和金融市场，因而成为了各方关注的焦点。有人甚至说，她将超过德国总理默克尔成为全球影响力最大的女性。

Janet Louise Yellen was born in 1946 in the working class district of Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of a local Jewish physician8. physician: 医生，内科医生。. From there, she went on to earn an economics pedigree9. pedigree: 门第，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: 荣誉教授。此段提到的美国大学依次是：布朗大学、耶鲁大学、哈佛大学和加州大学伯克利分校，均是美国顶尖的高校。

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— ），美国犹太裔经济学家，曾任美国联邦储备委员会主席。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. 她是最早对正在酝酿之中的次贷危机发出警报的经济学家之一，而次贷危机在一年后导致了全球金融体系濒临崩溃。brewing: 正在酝酿之中的；subprime mortgage crisis:次贷危机，由美国国内抵押贷款违约急剧增加所引发的金融危机，它对全球各地银行与金融市场产生了重大的不良后果；brink: 边缘。In June 2007 she warned: “I still feel the presence of a 600-pound gorilla13. gorilla: 大猩猩，文中比喻威力无比的东西，影响力巨大的事情。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: 谦卑的，谦虚的。” 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: 与……尘世隔绝，隐居于……；the great unwashed: 底层民众，下层社会。DrWolfers wrote.“Not Janet. It wasn’t unusual to see her in the cafeteria, tray16. tray:（盛食物的）托盘。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: 量化宽松，一种货币政策，简单来说是由中央银行间接增印钞票，为银行体系注入新的流动性，以刺激经济增长的货币政策。”. The job now falls to Yellen to turn off the taps.19. turn off the taps: 关掉水龙头，此处指停止增印货币。

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. 但据说，金融市场视耶伦为“鸽派”——这意味着她更注重降低高失业率，而非通货膨胀——她不会过早地阻碍美国经济复苏。joblessness: 失业率，失业者；prospect: 将要发生的事，前景；choke off: 使……结束，阻止……的生长。

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，取决于。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.