大萧条时期报道

IN THE NEWS ——Comparing Today's Economic Crisis to the Depression
时事报道——今日经济危机对比往日经济萧条
This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
这里是VOA特别英语时事报道。

What began more than a year ago is often described as "the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression." The downturn is bad, but it would have to get much worse to compare to the nineteen thirties.
一年多前开始的经济形势经常被描述为“大萧条以来最严重的经济危机”。

经济低迷是不好的，但是与30年代相比就不算太糟了。

Next October will mark the eightieth anniversary of what is generally considered the beginnings of the Depression.
明年十月将标志着一般认为是大萧条初期的80周年纪念日。

In just two days the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost almost twenty-five percent of its value. The stock market continued to drop until July of nineteen thirty-two. By then, the Dow was about ninety percent below its high reached in September of nineteen twenty-nine.
仅仅在两天中，道琼斯工业股票平均指数下跌近25%。

直到1932年7月，股票市场一直持续下跌。

而那时，道琼斯指数低于1931年9月最高点的90%左右。

The Dow hit its all-time high in October of last year. Since last year the Dow has lost about forty percent of its value -- even more for the Standard & Poor's index of five hundred stocks.
去年十月道琼斯指数达到新高，去年道琼斯指数下跌40%左右时，而500强股票之一的标准普尔指数下跌更多。

Like the Depression, the current crisis also involves falling property values. American housing prices fell by almost seventeen percent in the twelve months that ended in September.
和大萧条一样，当前的经济危机还涉及到了财产价值下降的问题。

美国房价在12月内几乎下降了17%，今年九月才结束。

Housing economist Robert Shiller at Yale University has found that home prices fell by about thirty percent during the Depression. Then, as now, many people lost their homes because they could not pay their mortgage loans.
耶鲁大学房产经济学家Robert Shiller发现：在大萧条时期，房价下降了30%。

那么现在很多人因为不能支付按揭贷款而失去了家。

Today people borrow much more of the value of their homes than they used to. In fact, Professor Shiller estimates that ten million Americans owe more than their home is worth.
与比过去相比，今天的人们借了更多的多于房屋价值的钱。

Robert Shiller教授估计，事实上10，000，000的美国人欠更多的多于房子所值的钱。

An estimated nine thousand banks failed during the Depression. Agencies that guarantee savings and supervise the financial system did not exist at the start. When banks failed, people lost everything. Fear of bank failures led people to withdraw their money, leading to more failures.
在大萧条期间，估计有9000家银行倒闭。

保证储备和监管金融体制的部门起初还不存在，当银行倒闭的时候，人们失去了所有。

人们对银行倒闭的恐惧致使他们取回存款，从而导致更多的破产。

In nineteen thirty-three, Congress established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. It currently guarantees bank deposits up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars.
1933年，国会建立联邦存款保险公司。

目前它保证个人银行存款保险达到250，000美元。

Just twenty-two banks have failed this year. But among them was Washington Mutual, the biggest bank collapse in American history.
虽然今年只有32家银行倒闭，但是这其中有华盛顿相互银行，是美国有史以来最大的银行倒闭。

Possibly the best measure of an economic crisis is unemployment. The rate in October was reported at a fourteen-year high of six and one-half percent. Some think it could reach eight percent or higher. During the Depression, however, one of every four workers was unemployed.
也许经济危机的最佳衡量因素是失业率。

十月份公布的失业率升至14年最高，6.5%。

有些人认为失业率可能会上升更高。

然而大萧条期间，25%的工人都失业了。

President Franklin Roosevelt and Congress established agencies to employ people in public works. Yet employment did not completely recover until World War Two.
罗斯福总统和国会建立机构，雇佣人们从事公共事业。

然而就业直到二战也没有完全恢复。

Policy mistakes increased the effects of the Depression. For example, the Federal Reserve let the money supply shrink. This meant there was less money available for lending to people and businesses.
外交失误加重了大萧条的影响。

比如，美联储让货币供应萎缩，这就意味着只有小部分可用钱可以借给人们和用于交易。

In the current crisis, the government has been willing to spend freely; too freely for some critics. On Tuesday the Federal Reserve and the Treasury announced a new plan to provide eight hundred billion dollars to increase credit availability.
在目前的经济危机中，政府乐意自由花费。

对一些批评家而言，这样的花费太自由了。

本周二，美联储和财政部宣布一些计划，提供800，000，000，000美元增加信贷可获量。

Before the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, the Dow and the S&P rose four days in a row for the first time in months.
在周四的感恩节之前，道琼斯指数和标注普尔指数这几个月内第一次连续不断的上涨了4天。

And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.
以上就是VOA特别英语时事报道，由Mario Ritter撰稿，我是Steve Ember。

1. IN THE NEWS ——Comparing Today's Economic Crisis to the Depression
新闻综述——今日经济危机对比“大萧条”
2. This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
这里是VOA慢速英语时事报道。

3. The downturn is bad, but it would have to get much worse to compare to the nineteen thirties.
一年多前开始的经济形势经常被描述为“大萧条以来最严重的经济危机”。

经济低迷是不好的，但是与30年代相比还不算太糟了。

4. In just two days the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost almost twenty-five percent of its value. 仅仅在两天中，道琼斯工业股票指数平均下跌近25%。

直到1932年7月，股票市场一直持续下跌。

5. -- even more for the Standard & Poor's index of five hundred stocks.
而标准普尔500指数下跌更多。

6. Yet employment did not completely recover until World War Two.
然而就业问题直到二战也没有完全恢复。

7. Before the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, the Dow and the S&P rose four days in a row for the first time in months.
在周四感恩节那天之前，道琼斯指数和标准普尔指数这几个月内第一次连续不断的上涨了4天。