双语新闻：美国迎接减支自动生效日

2013-03-01 00:00:00来源：互联网

　　US braced as cuts deadline looms

　　The US is braced for across-the-board public spending cuts due to hit on Friday, as new growth data showed the economy was highly vulnerable to reductions in government outlays.

　　美国正准备迎接将于周五开始的全面公共减支。同时，新发布的经济增长数据显示，美国经济极易受到政府支出削减的冲击。

　　The onset of sequestration – which will hit everything from housing vouchers to naval shipbuilding with $85bn in cuts for the rest of this year – threatens growth in the US and globally. It would mark the first time in three years of budget battles that Barack Obama, the US president, has failed to reach a last-minute compromise with Republicans in Congress.

　　在今年剩余时间里将削减850亿美元的自动减支(将冲击从住房券到海军舰艇制造等各行各业)的降临，对美国乃至全球的经济增长构成威胁。它将标志着，美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)在3年的预算斗争中，首次未能与国会中的共和党人在最后一刻达成妥协。

　　The International Monetary Fund warned that it would cut its growth forecast for the US as the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said growth would be 0.6 percentage points slower because of sequestration. The CBO said there would be 750,000 fewer jobs at the end of 2013 if sequestration remained in place.

　　国际货币基金组织(IMF)警告称，它将调低美国的增长预测，而无党派的国会预算办公室(CBO)表示，由于受到自动减支冲击，美国经济增长将降低0.6个百分点。CBO指出，如果自动减支持续下去，到2013年底将减少75万份就业岗位。

　　“I fear that the impact of the sequester would cut a half to 1 per cent off the growth rate and would put us back in the circumstance where growth is not fast enough to shrink the unemployment rate,” said Austan Goolsbee, former chairman of Mr Obama’s council of economic advisers, in testimony to Congress.

　　奥巴马经济顾问委员会前主席奥斯登•古尔斯比(Austan Goolsbee)在国会作证时表示：“我担心，自动减支的冲击将把经济增长率降低0.5%-1%，使我们重现经济增长疲软、不足以降低失业率的情况。”

　　The revision to fourth-quarter gross domestic product came in below expectations of a rise to 0.5 per cent. The main change was an upward revision to net trade, which added 0.24 percentage points to growth, having subtracted 0.24 percentage points in the first estimate.

　　经修订后的去年第四季度国内生产总值(GDP)增长调高至0.5%，低于预期。主要变化是贸易净额上调，该项使增长提高0.24个百分点，而最初的估测是该项使增长下降0.24个百分点。

　　Growth in the fourth quarter was dragged down by big falls in business inventories and federal defence spending. Both are temporary factors that do not reflect underlying demand from US businesses and consumers. That suggests moderate growth will continue, but shows how vulnerable the economy is to further shocks.

　　去年第四季度经济增长受企业库存与联邦国防开支大幅下跌拖累。这两项指标都是临时性因素，不能反映美国企业和消费者的根本需求。这表明，温和增长将持续下去，但也表明美国经济经不起进一步震荡。

　　Desultory efforts to replace sequestration continued on Thursday, as Friday’s deadline loomed, but they were mainly aimed at avoiding blame. Rival Republican and Democratic replacements for sequestration were headed for defeat in the Senate.

　　随着周五的最后期限迫在眉睫，避免自动减支生效的不连贯努力在周四持续，但这些努力主要是为了避免受到指责。共和党与民主党的替代方案针锋相对，在参议院中都在走向溃败。

　　Mr Obama summoned congressional leaders to meet in the White House on Friday but there was little sign of movement towards a solution.

　　奥巴马召集国会领导人周五在白宫开会，但没有拿出解决方案的迹象。

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