VOA常速英语2013--美国政府关门引发全球担心

 

Global Fears Grow Over US Shutdown 美国政府关门引发全球担心

There are new worries about the consequences of the U.S. government shutdown.  The Treasury¹ Department says failure to reach a deal on the country’s financial obligations, including the debt ceiling, could plunge² the U.S. economy into a recession.  On Thursday, the International Monetary³ Fund said that, without a deal soon, the ongoing⁴ fiscal⁵ problems of the United States could drag the rest of the world with it.

The economic cost of the country’s first government shutdown in 17 years is staggering. One estimate pegs⁶ the daily losses to businesses, tourism and lost wages at $300 million a day - or $1.6 billion each week..

美国政府17年来首次关门的经济成本令人吃惊，有人估计商业、旅游业损失和工资损失为每天3亿美元，即每周16亿美元。

And that’s just the shutdown.  The bigger worry is a possible impasse⁷ over the government's debt ceiling.  

这还只是关门的后果，更大的担心是涉及政府债务限额可能带来的僵局。

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde:

IMF总裁克里斯蒂娜·拉加德：

“The government shutdown is bad enough, but failure to raise the debt ceiling would be far worse and could very seriously damage not only the U.S. economy but also the entire global economy," she said.

“政府关门够糟糕了，但未能提高借债限额将更糟，可能不仅影响美国经济，还影响全球经济。”

If lawmakers don’t reach a deal to raise the country’s $16.7 trillion debt limit, the Treasury Department says the U.S. will run out of money to pay its obligations by October 17.  

如果议员们不能达成协议以提高美国16.7万亿的债务限额，财政部称美国将在10月7日无钱支付债务。

If that happens, investors⁸ would lose faith in the U.S. economy, the value of the dollar would plunge, interest rates would soar and unemployment would rise.

一旦这一情况发生，投资者将失去对美国经济的信心，美元的价值将大幅下跌，利率将上涨，失业率将上升。

That's the worst case scenario⁹ - but one that grows more probable each day the shutdown continues.  

这是最糟糕的情况，但关门继续持续下去的可能进一步增加。

Tony Crescenzi is an investment manager at Pimco.

太平洋投资管理公司投资经理托尼·克里森斯：

“It is a serious matter, defaulting.  And markets, while they assign a very low probability and so would we, are starting to worry a little bit because of the lack of getting together, the acrimony that exists in Washington," said Crescenzi.

“违约是个严重问题，他们给市场提供了低概率，由于缺少团结和华盛顿目前存在的争执，我们开始有点担心。”

On Wall Street, the stock sell-off intensified¹⁰ Thursday, after Republicans and Democrats¹¹ emerged from a White House meeting no closer to an agreement than when they started.

周四华尔街纷纷抛售股票，此前，共和党和民主党在白宫会谈中未能达成协议。

Adding to the frustration¹²,  the Labor¹³ Department says monthly job numbers,  an important indicator¹⁴ of U.S. economic health, will not be released as planned on Friday.

更糟糕的是，劳工部称，衡量美国经济健康度的重要指标月就业人数不会如期在周五发布。

Without that data, Stan Collender, the head of the financial communications firm Qorvis, says the Federal Reserve is now more likely to delay plans to scale back its monetary stimulus¹⁵.

Qorvis财经公关公司负责人斯坦·科伦德说，没有这个数据，联邦储备现在更可能推迟减少货币刺激的计划。

“The lack of a jobs report probably freezes the Fed in place, unless they’ve got their own information and they may very well have what would indicate what the jobs report might have been," said Collender.

“缺少就业报告使得联邦政府无能为力，除非他们获得自己的信息，他们原本会有有关就业报告的信息。”

Given the likely financial impact of the shutdown, Collender says keeping the stimulus in place is a good thing.  But the daily uncertainty¹⁶ carries a heavy price for U.S. businesses. Retailers¹⁷ are worried that a prolonged shutdown could make consumers anxious.  Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of the country’s economic output.

考虑到关门可能带来的金融影响，科伦德说保持刺激措施是正确的。但每日的不确定给美国商业带来了沉重的代价，零售商担心持久的关门会令消费者担忧。消费者开支占美国经济产出的近70%。

1 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

2 plunge   

v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲

参考例句：

• Test pool's water temperature before you plunge in.在你跳入之前你应该测试水温。
• That would plunge them in the broil of the two countries.那将会使他们陷入这两国的争斗之中。

3 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

4 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

5 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

6 pegs   

n.衣夹( peg的名词复数 )；挂钉；系帐篷的桩；弦钮v.用夹子或钉子固定( peg的第三人称单数 )；使固定在某水平

参考例句：

• She hung up the shirt with two (clothes) pegs. 她用两只衣夹挂上衬衫。 来自辞典例句
• The vice-presidents were all square pegs in round holes. 各位副总裁也都安排得不得其所。 来自辞典例句

7 impasse   

n.僵局；死路

参考例句：

• The government had reached an impasse.政府陷入绝境。
• Negotiations seemed to have reached an impasse.谈判似乎已经陷入僵局。

8 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

9 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

10 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

13 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

14 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

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。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

15 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

16 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

17 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。