美國政府债务面临严峻考验一托福阅读机经背景.docxVIP

智课网TOEFL备考资料美国政府债务面临严峻考验一托福阅读机经背景 The political wrangling in Washington about federal budgets is likely to get more intense as the stakes rise from billions of dollars to trillions. Some of the focus is changing from a squabble over government spending for one year, to a bigger battle over the soaring debt accumulated over many years. Some of the bickering is over the debt limit, an issue that is generally not well understood. 华盛顿关于联邦预算的政治争吵看来将愈演愈烈，涉及的预算金额已从数十亿美元上升到数万亿美元。争论的焦点也从本年度的政府开支扩展到了多年累积起来的政府债务。其中颇为引人注目的一个问题就是所谓的“债务限额”。 U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says the stakes in the fight over the debt limit are very high. 美国财政部长盖特纳认为，有关债务限额的纷争所引起的风险非常高。 The consequences would be catastrophic to the United States. Default by the United States would precipitate a crisis worse than the one we just went through, said Geithner. I think it would make the crisis we just went through look modest in comparison. 盖特纳说：“其后果对于美国来说可能是灾难性的。美国政府如果违约，势必引起一场比我们刚刚经历的这场金融危机更加严重的危机。跟美国违约引起的危机相比，最近这场危机将是小巫见大巫。” Geithners point is that if Congress does not take action to raise the debt limit, current spending commitments and the need to refinance the governments earlier loans might force Washington to miss payments on existing U.S. debt. That could cause major economic problems because investors might drastically raise interest rates which would raise costs and compound the problem. 盖特纳财长的意思是：假如国会不采取行动提高债务上限，不增加当前的开支额度，不允许借新债还旧债，那么华盛顿就将被迫拖延偿还现存的欠债。那将造成重大的经济问题，因为投资者会因此而大幅提高利率，增加美国的借贷成本，使问题进一步恶化。 [Default] would be a reckless and irresponsible act of this country. I find it inconceivable that Congress would not act to increase the limit, added Geithner. 盖特纳说：“违约等于这个国家在采取一种不计后果和不负责任的行动。我难以想象国会在提高债务限额问题上会无动于衷。” For many years, Washington has been spending more than it takes in from taxes and other sources of revenue. That leaves a deficit in the annual budget. The government has to borrow money to cover the shortfall. All these annual deficits add up to the total debt. 多少