华盛顿邮报 美国经济真的变好了吗(2)

 

    So, let's back up a little bit. Why have people been so worried about the economy? Why did they think there was going to be a recession¹?

    让我们回看之前的情况。为什么人们对经济如此担忧? 人们为什么认为会出现衰退?

    So, when we think about the ways that people experience the economy, inflation² is really top of mind.

    当我们思考人们体验经济的方式时，通货膨胀放在第一位。

    And people are very aware of higher prices for milk and bread and cars and their rent.

    人们非常清楚牛奶、面包、汽车和房租的价格都在上涨。

    For a while, gas prices were over $5 a gallon.

    有一段时间，汽油价格超过每加仑5美元。

    And these are things that have really weighed on people's behavior, the way they feel about the economy, and their worries about the future, their worries that such high inflation would become a real permanent marker of daily life.

    价格上涨确实让人焦虑不安，影响了人们的行为，影响了人们对经济的看法，影响了人们对未来的担忧，人们担心如此高的通货膨胀会成为日常生活中永久性的标志。

    The solution to getting control of inflation also makes people worried about a recession, though.

    然而，控制通胀的解决方案也让人们担心经济陷入衰退。

    In order to control inflation, the Federal Reserve has to raise interest rates very, very high, high enough to a level to slow the economy down, cool spending, cool demand for new workers.

    为了控制通货膨胀，美联储不得不将利率提高到非常高的水平，以减缓经济增长，抑制消费，抑制对新员工的需求。

    And often, the economic models would tell us that when you have very high interest rates, especially rates that go up so quickly, that that causes a recession, too.

    通常，经济模式会告诉我们，当利率很高时，尤其是利率上涨速度快时，也会导致经济衰退。

    So when you put these two things together -- people are already grappling with high prices for the things that they spend money on, then they're told that the federal government is trying to actually really slow the economy down so much that it could cause a recession -- it's hard to see another way out of it.

    当你把这两件事放在一起考虑——人们已经在努力应对物价高昂的问题，可是，人们又被告知，联邦政府实际上正试图放缓经济，力度很大，可能会导致经济衰退——很难找到解决问题的另一条出路。

    So, is there some kind of delicate line that the Fed tries to walk where they're -- you know, they're raising the interest rates. They realize that could throw us into recession.

    美联储是否努力行走在某种微妙的界限上，他们正在提高利率。他们意识到这会让我们陷入衰退。

    Is there anything they can do to avoid that?

    他们能做些什么来避免这种情况吗?

    So, the trade-offs are really tricky³.

    权衡取舍非常棘手。

    The Fed can't say, "Oh, I want to get control of inflation over here, but I want to protect the job market over here."美联储不能说，“我既要控制通胀，又要保护就业市场。”

    They've got one rate, and it does one thing.

    美联储只可以调节利率，它只能做一件事。

    The Fed has been very, very clear, as they've been raising interest rates at a really historic⁴ pace, that their number-one priority⁵ is controlling inflation.

    美联储一直非常明确地表示，他们一直在以历史性的速度提高利率，他们的首要任务是控制通胀。

    And even though there is no part of the Fed that wants to see people put out of work or any kind of economic pain that comes with slowing the economy down,尽管美联储不希望看到人们失业，也不希望看到经济放缓带来的任何形式的经济痛苦，their message consistently⁶ has been, "We have got to get inflation under control, because there's no way of coming back from that. We can't afford to not fully⁷ end this economic crisis⁸, period."但他们传递的信息一直是，“我们必须控制通胀，因为没有办法从通胀中恢复过来。我们承担不起不彻底结束这场经济危机的后果。”

    And especially the longer inflation goes on, it hurts some of the most vulnerable⁹ Americans the most.

    特别是通货膨胀持续的时间越长，对一些最脆弱的美国人的伤害就越大。

1 recession   

n.（工商业的）衷退（期），萧条（期）

参考例句：

• Manufacturing fell sharply under the impact of the recession.受到经济萧条的影响，制造业急剧衰退。
• A rise in interest rates plunged Britain deeper into recession.利率的提高导致英国经济更加萧条。

2 inflation   

n.胀大，夸张，通货膨胀

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• The inflation of the airbed took several minutes.给空气床垫充气花了几分钟时间。

3 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

4 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

5 priority   

n.优先处理的事，居先，优先（权）

参考例句：

• The development of the national economy is a top priority.发展国民经济是应予以最优先考虑的事。
• Things should be taken up in order of priority.办事应有个先后次序。

6 consistently   

ad.一贯地，一直

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。
• The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law. 部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 crisis   

n.危机，危急关头，决定性时刻，关键阶段

参考例句：

• He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明，在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
• The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。

9 vulnerable   

adj.易受伤的，脆弱的，易受攻击的

参考例句：

• He volunteered to protect her as she looked so vulnerable.她看上去很脆弱，他就主动去保护她。
• The company is in an economically vulnerable position.该公司目前经济状况不稳定。