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International travel will get easier, but restrictions will remain

导语

Cross-border travel will probably not recover to pre-covid levels until 2024
知识点：

  • cross-border 跨境的 这里注意的是cross-,这个前缀
    • cross-cultural && cross-party

  • pre-covid 这个词的前缀pre-「在…之前」

    • “反义” 前缀为 post- 「在…之后」
      • postwar adj.战后
        第一段
        The start of the pandemic was characterised by empty supermarket shelves, as global supply chains creaked under the strain of panic buying and the disruption caused by covid-19.
        知识点：

  • characterise 以…为代表

    • 这里平时翻译的时候，一般不会直译。一般搭配be characterised by以…为特点使用
  • creak 嘎吱作响
    • If something creaks, it makes a short, high-pitched sound when it moves.
    • creak under the strain 这里可以作为一个整体翻译过来：负担过重导致效率低下
  • panic buying/selling
    • 恐慌性购买/抛售：前者常见于危机事件爆发时（比如本次疫情爆发），后者常见于金融市场恐慌的时候

The system soon adjusted. But one shortage that has not been alleviated is that of international travellers.
知识点：

  • alleviate vt. 减轻、缓和
    • 可以结合词根lev-「轻」来记忆

Planes are still often half-full at best and many of the world’s airports remain sparsely populated. International arrivals fell by nearly 75% in 2020, according to the UN’s World Travel Organisation, with 1bn fewer people taking trips abroad.
知识点：

  • at best 充其量（表达乐观的估计）
  • sparsely sparse
    • sparsely populated 「人口稀少的」

The figures for 2021 are not expected to be much better. But the prospects for 2022 look less gloomy.

  • prospects 前景、成功的机会

    • 作「成功的机会」含义时，prospect一般以复数prospects的形式出现，后接介词for或of；
    • 和for连用时，一般表示xxx的前景
    • 但作「可能性」这个含义时，它多作不可数名词，后接介词of；
      第二段
      More people will rediscover the pleasures of jumping on a plane to go on a spontaneous city break, attend a long-planned family wedding or take the holiday of a lifetime.
      知识点：

  • spontaneous adj. 心血来潮的、一时兴起的； 不一样的含义噢

  • city break n. 在城市过的小短假
  • chance/experience of a lifetime 终生难遇的机会/经历；

And while executives will continue to spend a lot of time sitting bolt upright in video calls, more will also recline in business-class seats.
知识点：

  • sit/stand bolt upright 笔挺地坐着/站着
  • recline v. 斜倚、斜躺：如果要表示「斜躺在某处」，可以用recline in sth.来表达；
  • business class 商务舱：除了商务舱，飞机上还有first class「头等舱」和economy class「经济舱」

In the decades before the pandemic, international travel grew rapidly, with the number of visitors to foreign countries tripling between 1990 and 2019.
知识点：

  • triple vi. 增至原来的三倍
    • quadruple、quintuplet、sextuple = increase fourfold、fivefold、sixfold

Budget airlines, growing prosperity and more leisure time underpinned this growth. These forces will eventually reassert themselves.

  • budget adj. 廉价的
  • underpin vt. 巩固、加强

  • reassert vt. 重复主张；再断言

    • reassert itself: 重新发挥作用，有点类似于固定搭配
      第三段
      Early in the pandemic, most forecasters reckoned that international travel would not recover to the levels of 2019 before 2023 at the earliest, and more likely in 2024. That still seems a reasonable bet.
      知识点：

  • bet n.预计、估计：

    • a good/safe bet 「有望成功的方法」
    • the best bet「最好的方法」

Restrictions on international jaunts are still tight and are lifting only slowly.
知识点：

  • jaunt n. （短途）旅行； 这里相对于trip，不经常使用词汇，意义不大

Even now only three countries—Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico—impose no restrictions on visitors, while 88 countries are still closed completely and many more have draconian policies in place.
知识点：

  • even now 即使现在
  • draconian adj. 严酷的、严厉的; 标黑的地方是形容词的后缀
    • 古雅典立法者Draco「德拉古」，相传其制定法律极其严格
  • in place 准备就绪

But as vaccination rates climb and infections fall, rules will be relaxed and routes will reopen. Much of the world’s population was barred from entering the United States until its rules changed in November.

第四段

The recovery will be uneven. Domestic travel in large countries has already bounced back—America is getting closer to pre-covid levels and China has surpassed them already.
知识点：

  • uneven 不均衡
  • 绿色为插入语

Regional travel is picking up. IATA, an airline-industry body, reckons Europe could be back to nearly four-fifths of pre-pandemic levels in 2022.
知识点：

  • 绿色为插入语——这里body的意思是机构的意思
    • a regulatory body就是「监管机构」，a review body就是「评审机构」

But Asia’s recovery has been slow and may continue to lag the rest of the world. Long-haul travel will remain at low levels until vaccinations are more widespread and the plethora of rules and regulations become easier to navigate.

  • lag 落后于
    • lag behind std./sth 落后于某事/某人
  • long-haul adj. 长途的：反义词自然就是short-haul「短途的」；
    • long-haul flight 长途飞行
  • plethora n. 过多、过剩
    • a plethora of sth.表示「过多的某物」
  • navigate vt. 理解、应付

第五段

Leisure bookings surge whenever countries lift restrictions on foreign travel, and unless a new, more dangerous mutation of covid-19 emerges, that huge pent-up demand will help fill planes again on short-haul routes.
知识点：

  • mutation n. 变异
    • mutant 「变异的」、「异形、变异者」
  • pent-up 积压的
    • pen vt 关起来、圈起来
    • pen up 被约束、束缚

Businesses, however, plan to spend less on travel. Surveys suggest that budgets are typically being cut by 20-40%. The gloomiest prognosticators reckon half of all business travel could be gone for good. Many meetings and conferences will remain virtual, or at least take place in hybrid form with far fewer people attending in person.
知识点：

  • prognosticator
    • 来自动词prognosticate「预测」，近义词就是前面的forecast；

  • for good(and all) 永远

    第六段

    Even if a more virulent mutation of the virus emerges, potentially putting everything into reverse again, one type of globetrotter will fly above the lingering dark clouds—the rich.
    知识点：

  • virulent adj. 致命的、恶性的：形容人的时候，这个词表示「恶毒的」；

    • 另外，该词与virus同源，可以联想记忆；
  • put sth. into reverse 使某事逆转
  • globetrotter n. 环球旅行者：
    • 来自动词globetrot「环球旅行」，相应的形容词是globetrotting「环球旅行的」；
  • lingering adj. 挥之不去的；

Soaring demand for seats on private jets is likely to continue as the wealthy sidestep many of the barriers facing the masses. The first eight months of 2021 saw 2.9m flights by business jets, 70% more than in 2020 and a tad higher than in 2019, while commercial flights still languish around 40% below pre-pandemic levels, according to WingX, a private-aviation data firm.
知识点：

  • sidestep vt. 回避、规避（问题）
  • the masses 群众、老百姓
  • a tad 一点儿、少量

  • languish 滞留、衰弱

    第七段

    If that is not exclusive enough, a new covid-free destination took off in 2021 and is expected to welcome many more visitors in the coming years. If you have several hundred thousand dollars to spare, you can book a ticket for a flight to outer space.
    知识点：

  • exclusive adj. 独有的、专享的；