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The governing body of the International Monetary¹ Fund is meeting Saturday in Washington to discuss a weakening global economy, inflation and proposals to stabilize² financial markets still reeling from bank losses stemming from the U.S. home mortgage crisis.

国际货币基金组织的指导机构国际货币与金融委员会(IMFC)星期六在华盛顿开会，讨论全球经济疲软、通货膨胀和稳定金融市场的建议。世界金融市场仍然处于从美国住房贷款危机造成的银行损失中恢复的过程中。

The finance ministers and central bankers of 24 advanced and developing countries are discussing reforms collectively advanced by the G7 group of industrialized nations - in other words Europe, North America, and Japan.

24个发达国家和发展中国家的财政部长和中央银行行长正在讨论工业化七国集体提出的改革建议。七国集团是指欧洲、北美国家和日本。

Christine Lagarde is the French economy minister.

法国经济部长拉加德说：

"The fact that we are asking for more transparency, more disclosure by the banks, on the one hand; the fact that we're asking for better liquidity³ by the banks as well, is certainly going to help the current crisis," he said.

“事实是，我们要求增加透明度，银行公开更多情况，另一方面，事实是，我们要求银行改善资产折现力。这些事实肯定会有助于应付目前的危机。”

Lagarde spoke⁴ to Bloomberg television.

拉加德通过彭博电视台发表了上述讲话。

The G7 proposals are usually accepted by the IMF's governing board.

七国集团的建议通常会被国际货币基金组织的这个指导机构接受。

On Friday evening, U.S. Treasury⁵ Secretary Henry Paulson hosted a meeting of his colleagues from Europe, Canada and Japan along with commercial bankers impacted by the current credit squeeze, the world's most significant financial turmoil⁶ since the Asian financial crisis 10 years ago.

星期五晚上，美国财政部长保尔森主持了一次会议，与会者包括欧洲、加拿大、日本的财政官员和商业银行的官员。这些银行受到目前的信贷紧缩和世界金融动荡的影响。这些动荡是自10年前亚洲金融危机以来最严重的。

Addressing the IMF panel on Saturday, Paulson said the first six months of 2008 will be difficult for the U.S. economy, which may have already entered its first recession since 2001. Paulson is calling on the 185-member-nation IMF to sharpen its focus on currency exchange rates and to more closely monitor financial markets.

保尔森星期六在国际货币基金组织发表讲话时说，对美国经济来说，2008年头六个月将是困难的。美国经济可能已经进入2001年以来第一次衰退。保尔森呼吁拥有185个成员国的国际货币基金组织更加努力地集中处理货币兑换率问题，并密切监控金融市场的动向。

These weekend meetings are the regular semi-annual gatherings⁷ of the IMF's governing panel, whose developing country members - among others - include China, India, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

这些周末举行的会议是国际货币基金组织这个指导机构每半年举行一次的例会。该机构的发展中国家的成员包括中国、印度、南非、沙特阿拉伯和委内瑞拉。

The challenges currently facing the world economy are unusual since at the same time that economic growth is slowing inflationary pressures are rising. Oil has touched a record $112 a barrel, and the price of rice has nearly doubled in just three months.

目前世界经济面临的挑战是不寻常的。因为在经济增长减慢的同时，通货膨胀的压力在增加。石油价格已经上涨到创记录的每桶112美元。稻米价格在仅仅三个月内将近翻了一番。

IMF economists⁸ expect the world economy to slow to under four percent growth in 2008, its slowest performance in five years.

国际货币基金组织的经济学家们预计，世界经济增长速度在2008年将下降到4%以下。这是5年来的最慢速度。