美国有线新闻 CNN 白宫和参议院推出2万亿美元经济刺激计划

Stimulus¹ is the word in Washington, District of Columbia. The U.S. Congress and the White House have joined the Federal Reserve, the country's central bank, in trying to lessen² the economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic. The big focus here is on a stimulus package, a massive plan of government spending, intended to stimulate³ the U.S. economy. How massive? The Senate deal which is supported by the Trump⁴ Administration is worth $2 trillion. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell described it as a wartime level of investment for America. Here's what the money would be spent on.

“刺激”是哥伦比亚特区华盛顿的关键词。美国国会和白宫与美国央行美联储联手，试图减轻冠状病毒大流行对经济造成的损害。重点是一项经济刺激计划，即大规模政府支出计划，旨在刺激美国经济。规模有多大？这项特朗普政府支持的参议院协议价值2万亿美元。参议院多数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔称这项协议的规模堪比美国战时投资水平。下面来解释一下这笔钱的具体用途。

$500 billion would be intended to help big companies get through this coronavirus pandemic. $350 billion would be in loans for small businesses in the hopes it will help them stay in business. $250 billion would be given directly to American taxpayers⁵ in the hopes that they'll spend it. But those payments would only go to individuals who earn less than $99,000 a year or couples who earn less than $198,000 a year. Hundreds of billions more would go to help hospitals, Americans who've lost their jobs and state and local governments.

5000亿美元将用于帮助大型企业度过这场冠状病毒疫情。3500亿美元将为小企业提供贷款，希望这将有助于他们继续经营。2500亿美元将直接补贴给美国纳税人，希望他们能花掉这笔钱。但这些补贴只会提供给年收入少于9.9万美元的个人或年收入少于19.8万美元的夫妻。还有数千亿美元将用于援助医院和美国失业者以及各州和地方政府。

The agreement would still have to be passed by the U.S. House of Representatives before it goes to President Donald Trump's desk for signature. So the bill is not finalized⁶ and it's not clear how long that will take. But the news of it was welcomed on Wall Street. After setting several records for single day point losses in recent weeks, the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 important stocks set a new record on Tuesday for its biggest ever single point gain.

这项协议仍需得到美国众议院的批准，之后才能提交给唐纳德·特朗普总统进行签署。因此，这项法案尚未最终确定，目前并不清楚这需要多长时间。但这个消息受到了华尔街的欢迎。在最近几周连续创下单日下跌点数记录后，拥有30只重要股票的道琼斯工业平均指数在周二创下了新记录——史上最大单日上涨点数记录。

1 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。

2 lessen   

vt.减少，减轻；缩小

参考例句：

• Regular exercise can help to lessen the pain.经常运动有助于减轻痛感。
• They've made great effort to lessen the noise of planes.他们尽力减小飞机的噪音。

3 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

6 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》