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　　After a year of gut-wrenching losses, stock markets around the world recorded a positive day amid light trading to close out 2008.
全球股市经过一年令人心痛的暴跌，在2008年的最后一天以上涨收场。
Modest gains on the last day of 2008 cannot erase¹ the massive losses of the last 12 months. Wall Street's Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 35 percent of its value, while Germany and Japan's stock markets finished the year down roughly 40 percent. Many emerging markets from Latin America to Asia fared even worse, making 2008 the most painful year in decades for investors² and countless³ publicly traded companies across the globe.
2008年最后一天股市的温和上涨并不能抹去过去12个月的巨大损失。美国华尔街道琼斯工业平均指数一年来下挫了百分之35，德国和日本股市都大约以百分之40的跌幅结束了2008年。从拉丁美洲到亚洲，许多新兴市场的表现更差，使得2008年成为投资者和全球无数上市公司数十年来最伤心的一年。
The year decimated America's corporate⁴ financial landscape, with many of the nation's best-known investment firms, banks, mortgage insurers and insurance companies bankrupt, sold, taken over by the federal government, or continuing to exist thanks to the biggest taxpayer⁵ bailout in U.S. history.
2008年彻底改变了美国金融行业的格局，许多久负盛名的投资公司、银行、房贷保险机构和其他保险公司宣告破产、被收购、被联邦政府接管，或者幸亏接受了美国历史上规模最大的纳税人救助才能苟延残喘。
"Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, Lehman [Brothers], major companies that were the cornerstone of our financial services business are no longer with us. That is just a big shock," said Hugh Johnson, who heads the New York-based financial firm Johnson Illington Advisors⁶.
休·约翰逊是纽约的金融机构约翰逊-伊灵顿咨询服务公司的主管，他说：“美林、贝尔斯登、雷曼兄弟，这些大公司都曾经是美国金融服务业的支柱，现在它们都不复存在了，这简直是太令人震惊了。”
Over the last 12 months, U.S. unemployment has jumped by more than a percentage point as the nation weathered a deepening recession that has spread around the world. Many economists⁷ are predicting even higher rates of unemployment in 2009.
过去12个月，美国的失业率的攀升超过了一个百分点，全国都在忙于应付不断加深并扩散到全球的经济衰退。许多经济学家都预测，2009年的失业率将会更高。
Wednesday, the U.S. Labor⁸ Department provided a glimmer⁹ of unexpected good news. New claims for unemployment benefits fell by more than 90,000 at the end of last week compared to the previous week. Overall, however, the number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits remains¹⁰ at the highest level seen since 1982.
美国劳工部报告说，上个星期，首次申领失业补贴的人数和前一个星期相比减少了9万多人。但是整体来看，美国的失业人数仍然处于1982年以来的最高水平。
Having been battered¹¹ by a year of sour economic news, U.S. markets were little-impressed by the latest unemployment figure, according to Art Cashin of UBS Financial Services.
瑞银集团金融服务部门的分析师阿尔特·卡辛说，过去一年，美国股市一直受到经济负面消息的折磨，最新的就业数据总算让市场受到一点儿鼓舞。
"To see a number down 92,000, particularly given the economic environment that we have, made the number look a bit suspicious [to investors]," said Cashin.
“看到首次申请失业救济的人数下降了9万2千人，尤其是在现有的经济条件下，对于投资人来说，这个数字显得令人难以置信。”
Oil prices traded just below $40 a barrel Wednesday, capping a wild year for energy prices that saw oil spike¹² to a record-high of nearly $150 a barrel in July. Oil prices have been on an almost-uninterrupted slide downward ever since, pushed lower by a global recession that has weakened demand for fuel.