美国有线新闻 CNN 经济学家预测美国失业人数达2200万人

The U.S. government's monthly jobs report is due out today. It gives a snapshot of two major factors in the economy — the number of jobs gained or lost from the month before and the unemployment rate from the month before, the percentage of American workers who didn't have a job. Economists¹ say they expect the report will have a lot of bad news as far as those statistics go. They predict that roughly 22 million jobs were lost last month as the U.S. shutdown because of coronavirus fears and they think that the unemployment rate jumped to 16 percent.

美国政府的月度就业报告将于今天公布。报告会对美国经济中的两大主要因素进行简要说明：上个月增加或减少的工作岗位以及上个月的失业率，即没有工作的美国劳动力的占比。经济学家表示，就这些统计数据而言，他们预计这份报告将带来很多坏消息。他们预测，由于美国因担忧冠状病毒疫情而停工停产，上个月有约2200万人失业，失业率升至16%。

These numbers, if they hold up in the government report, would reflect America's worst layoffs² ever recorded in such a short amount of time. Is there any good news here? Maybe. The number of initial jobless claims, the number of Americans asking the Federal government for help because they've just been laid off, has been decreasing for five weeks in a row. They're still historically high. The Department of Labor³ says last week 3.2 million Americans started asking for unemployment benefits. The number was around 200,000 each week before the pandemic hit. But because initial jobless claims have been decreasing weekly since late March, economists say that's a sign the employment picture isn't getting worse. What no one knows is how long the economic toll⁴ of COVID-19 will last, whether it's a temporary scrape that heals in the months ahead or a deeper cut that leaves longer-lasting scars.

如果这些数据在政府报告中得到证实，那表明美国裁员人数在如此短的时间内创下了历史最差记录。是否会有好消息？也许有。首次申请失业救济人数，即因刚被解雇而向联邦政府求助的人数，已连续五周下降。但这些数据可能仍处于历史高位。美国劳工部表示，上周有320万名美国公民首次申请失业救济。疫情爆发前，这一数字约为每周20万人。但由于首次申请失业救济人数自3月底以来一直在下降，经济学家认为这表明就业形势并未恶化。目前没有人知道新冠肺炎造成的经济损失会持续多久，也没人知道这是会在未来几个月愈合的小擦伤，还是会留下持久伤痕的更深伤口。

Meantime, research into coronavirus treatment is in overdrive around the world. There are some medicines already in existence that are being tested for their effectiveness against the disease, one of them, an antiviral drug named Remdesivir has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency use against coronavirus. It's also been approved in Japan. The U.S. government funded study found that Remdesivir helped COVID-19 patients recover faster. There are also international efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine⁵ though one of those is likely months away.

与此同时，全球各地对冠状病毒治疗的研究正在超速进行。目前已有一些药物正在测试其对抗新冠肺炎的有效性，其中一种名为瑞德西韦的药物已经得到了美国食品药品监督管理局的批准，可在紧急情况下用于对抗冠状病毒。该药物在日本也得到了批准。美国政府资助的研究发现，瑞德西韦有助于新冠肺炎患者更快康复。国际社会也在努力研发冠状病毒疫苗，不过这可能还需要数个月的时间。

1 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 layoffs   

临时解雇( layoff的名词复数 )； 停工，停止活动

参考例句：

• Textile companies announced 2000 fresh layoffs last week. 各纺织公司上周宣布再次裁员两千人。
• Stock prices broke when the firm suddenly announced layoffs. 当公司突然宣布裁员时，股票价格便大跌

3 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。

4 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

5 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。