Europe waits nervously as lawmakers in Washington continue to wrangle over a $700 billion rescue package for U.S. financial institutions. Talks between the Bush administration and congressional negotiators continue Friday after reportedly contentious discussions a day earlier ended with no agreement.
当华盛顿的国会议员继续就动用7000亿美元拯救美国金融体系的计划争得不可开交时，欧洲在焦虑地等待。布什政府和国会谈判人员之间的会谈星期五继续进行，据报导，前一天的激烈辩论结束时仍未达成协议。
Speaking in Washington Friday morning, President Bush promised that a financial rescue package would be passed, warning there is no choice but to act.
美国总统布什星期五早上在华盛顿发表讲话，保证救市计划会得到通过，他警告说，除了采取行动之外，别无选择。
Meanwhile, for financial markets in Europe and around the world, it's a nervous wait-and-see.
与此同时，欧洲和世界金融市场都在焦虑地等待着。
Economist Margaret Bray of the London School of Economics says there is good reason to be nervous. "This is a situation where panic feeds upon itself," she said. "The financial markets are very jittery and until some sort of more normal action comes back to these markets it does make it very difficult for important aspects of the economy to function."
伦敦经济研究院的经济学家布雷说，人们有充分理由感到不安。她说：“在这种形势下，恐惧感会越来越强。金融市场非常敏感，在市场尚未恢复某种比较正常的活动之前，重要经济领域很难运作。”
And that normal economic activity affects not just the movers and shakers in London's financial district or on Wall Street, but small businesses and average workers, as Bray explains.
布雷解释说，正常的经济活动不仅影响运筹帷幄于伦敦金融区和华尔街的人，也影响到小企业和普通工薪阶层。
"You're running a business, you need to borrow to meet your payroll this month because you're not going to get in money for what you're selling for another month - you want to have a loan to put your daughter through college - you want to buy a house - it affects all these things and those have a knock-on effect for people's jobs," she said.
他说：“要是你在经营一家企业，这个月你必需借贷来支付雇员的工资，因为你要过一个月才会收到售货款，你还要贷款供女儿上大学，或者供你买房子，这一切都会受到影响，而且那些经济活动还直接影响到人们的就业机会。”
To keep economic activity flowing, central banks around the world have coordinated efforts to inject funds into the banking system. Major European central banks pumped billions of dollars into the system on Friday. Margaret Bray says that is a necessary and effective measure.
世界各国的中央银行为了保持经济活动继续进行，已经采取协调措施，把资金注入银行系统。欧洲主要的中央银行星期五把数百亿美元注入银行体系。布雷说，这是必要和有效的措施。
"It's being done because the banks are unwilling to lend to each other," she said. "They don't trust each other and because of that it's hard for them to lend to us. It makes their depositors anxious also and the central bank injection of funds is about lending short-term to the banks to oil the wheels of the financial system, to keep these from seizing up altogether."
她说：“他们这样做是因为银行间不愿相互借贷。他们互不信任，而且因为它们向我们提供贷款也有难度。这样做也使他们的储户焦虑不安，中央银行注入资金是向银行提供短期借贷，以润滑金融体系的运作部件，避免它们完全停摆。”
Bray says it is important to have a larger financial rescue package such as the one under discussion in Washington. But, she says the outlines have thus far been very vague and the success of any such package will depend on the details.
布雷说，重要的是得有一个大规模金融救市计划，正如目前在华盛顿商讨的那个方案。但是她又说，这个方案的纲要到目前为止还相当含糊不清，而任何这类方案的成功与否将取决于具体细节。 |