VOA慢速英语2020 美国经济录得大衰退以来最严重萎缩

The United States economy shrank at a yearly rate of 32.9 percent between April and June of this year. It is the worst quarterly contraction¹ in the economy ever recorded.

今年4到6月，美国经济的萎缩速度按年化计算达到了32.9%。这是美国经济有史以来最严重的季度萎缩。

The contraction came as the coronavirus pandemic pushed struggling businesses to close for a second time in many parts of the country. The closures have left millions of Americans out of work.

这次萎缩发生在新冠病毒大流行迫使美国许多地区陷入困境的企业再次关闭之际。企业关闭已经导致数百万人失业。

The U.S. Commerce Department released the economic numbers Thursday. Its estimate of the contraction in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the worst since the government began keeping such records in 1947.

美国商务部周四公布了这组经济数据。该部门估计，这次国民生产总值的萎缩是自美国政府1947年开始统计此类数据以来最糟糕的一次。

The decrease comes after a 5 percent drop in economic activity during the first three months of the year. That is when the economy officially entered a recession, ending 11 years of growth, the longest on record in the country.

这次萎缩发生在今年首季度经济活动下降5%之后。当时美国经济结束了该国有记录以来最长的连续11年的增长，正式进入衰退。

The record-setting contraction resulted from a collapse² in consumer spending, which makes up about 70 percent of economic activity. Restaurants, stores, and theaters closed, while Americans stopped traveling. People did not spend as much money because there was nowhere to spend it.

这次创纪录的萎缩是由于消费者支出下降而造成的，这项支出约占经济活动的70%。餐馆、商店和剧院关闭，同时美国人民停止出行。人们没有花那么多钱，是因为没地方消费。

The drop in GDP shows the "unprecedented³ hit to the economy from the pandemic,"said economist⁴ Andrew Hunter. He added that "it will take years" for the economy to recover. Hunter works for Capital Economics, an economic research service based in London.

经济学家安德鲁·亨特表示，国民生产总值的下降表明“大流行给经济造成了了前所未有的打击。”他还表示，经济复苏需要数年时间。亨特就职于凯投宏观，这是伦敦的一家经济研究服务机构。

So great was the contraction that many experts expect economic activity to rise sharply during the current quarter. Some predict the economy will grow as much as 17 percent, or higher, between now and the end of September.

这次萎缩如此严重，以至于很多专家预计本季度的经济活动将会急剧上升。一些人预测从现在到9月底，美国经济将增长17%或更高。

Yet with the rate of confirmed coronavirus cases rising in many states, more businesses are being forced to either cancel their reopening, or close down again. In addition, the U.S. Senate is considering a proposal to cut government aid to the unemployed⁵. So, it is possible the economy could get even worse in the months to come.

然而，随着许多州新冠病毒确诊病例的上升，许多企业被迫取消重新开放或再次关闭。此外，美国参议院正在审议一项削减政府对失业者援助的提案。因此，未来几个月经济可能会变得更糟。

In addition to consumer spending, business investment dropped 27 percent and housing fell 38.7 percent between April and June.

除了消费者支出，4到6月的商业投资下降了27%，住房下降了38.7%。

State and local governments have been hurt by the loss of tax money and job losses. State and local government spending decreased by a yearly rate of 5.6 percent.

州政府和地方政府遭受了税收和就业岗位减少的重击。州政府和地方政府的支出按年化下降了5.6%。

But total government spending was up 2.7 percent because of federal efforts to ease the pain of the recession. Federal spending has risen 17.4 percent, mostly for more than $2 trillion in a coronavirus aid plan. Congress sent many Americans $1,200, gave loans to many businesses and increased unemployment aid.

但是由于联邦政府为缓解经济衰退的痛苦而采取的措施，政府总支出增长了2.7%。联邦支出增长了17.4%，其中大部分用于新冠病毒援助计划中的超2万亿美元支出。美国国会向许多美国人发放了1200美元的援助，为许多企业提供了贷款，并提高了失业援助。

Congressional leaders and the Trump⁶ administration are talking about more aid for people and businesses to fight the recession.

国会领导人和川普政府正在商讨为个人和企业提供更多援助以对抗经济衰退。

In a separate report Thursday, the Labor⁷ Department said requests for unemployment aid increased 12,000 to 1.434 million in the week ending July 25. Nearly 30.2 million jobless Americans are receiving unemployment aid.

在周四的另一份报告中，美国劳工部表示，截至7月25日这周，申请失业救济的人数增加了1.2万人，达到了143.4万人。近3020万美国失业者正在领取失业援助。

President Trump has urged states to reopen businesses. But there are worries that the virus remains⁸ a threat to workers and consumers at service industry jobs that often require face-to-face contact.

川普总统督促各州重新开放企业。但是令人担忧的是，该病毒仍然威胁着服务行业的员工和消费者，该行业通常需要面对面接触。

Many economists⁹ say the economy cannot fully¹⁰ recover until the coronavirus is defeated. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the virus has been endangering a small economic recovery. For that reason, he said, the U.S. central bank plans to keep interest rates near zero well into the future.

许多经济学家表示，除非击败新冠病毒，否则经济无法完全恢复。美联储主席鲍威尔周三表示，该病毒一直在危及经济的小幅复苏。他说，出于这个原因，美国央行计划在未来很长时间内维持利率接近于零的水平。

I'm Susan Shand.

我是苏珊·尚德。

1 contraction   

n.缩略词，缩写式，害病

参考例句：

• The contraction of this muscle raises the lower arm.肌肉的收缩使前臂抬起。
• The forces of expansion are balanced by forces of contraction.扩张力和收缩力相互平衡。

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

4 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

5 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

6 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。

7 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。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 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》

10 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。