美国经济威胁布什连任(US Economy: A threat to Bush's Re-election)

白宫表示，它对上个月美国失业率的大幅上升感到担忧，但表示相信即将实施的减税将会刺激经济增长。但是一些专家指出，不景气的经济将会成为布什总统谋求连任的潜在威胁。

注释：
1. unemployment n.失业, 失业人数
2. pundit n.权威性的评论者；（某一学科的）权威
3. recession n.工商业之衰退, 不景气
4. improvement n.改进，改善
5. inherit vt.继承
6. robust adj.强健的
7. indicator n.指示器
8.complicated adj.复杂的

ANCHOR
The White House says it’s concerned about last month’s surge in U.S. unemployment, but it has voiced confidence that upcoming tax cuts will spur economic growth. But some pundits are pointing to the sluggish economy as a potential threat to President Bush’s re-election chances.

More than two million jobs have been lost since Mr. Bush took office in January 2001. Peter Viles has more details.

主播
白宫表示，它对上个月美国失业率的大幅上升感到担忧，但表示相信即将实施的减税将会刺激经济增长。但是一些专家指出，不景气的经济将会成为布什总统谋求连任的潜在威胁。
自从2001年1月布什上任以来，已经有200万人失业。彼得•韦尔斯将进行详细报道。

CORRESPONDENT
More than two years after the economy slipped into recession the labor market shows no signs of improvement. The June numbers are these: unemployment spiked to 6.4%, highest rate in nine years. 30,000 jobs lost in the month. On average those without work have been looking for nearly 20 weeks, that’s the longest average in nearly 20 years. And the economy has now lost 2.6 million jobs since March of 2001. Joe Burgeman last worked full time for an internet marketing company nearly two years ago.

记者
在经济陷入衰退两年多之后，劳动力市场仍没有显现出改观的迹象。六月份的数字如下所示：失业率高达6.4%，为9年来的最高点，当月3万人失业；无业人员寻找工作的时间平均为20周，这是近20年来平均最长的时间；自从2001年三月以来，失业人口已达到260万。乔•伯格曼的上一份工作是约两年前在一家因特网市场营运公司做全职工作。

JOE BURGEMAN, UNEMPLOYED
Well, I have sent out nearly 2,000 resumes, and I’ve gotten 10 responses out of that. I’ve gotten three interviews, all three of those jobs evaporated. Nobody got the job, the job just disappeared. So that’s the market we’re in right now.

乔•伯格曼, 失业者
我发出约2000份个人简历，其中收到10份答复。我面试了三次，这三份工作全都没戏。没有人得到就业机会，工作全都没了。这就是我们目前所面对的就业市场。

CORRESPONDENT
The Bush administration inherited a weakening economy, but acknowledged it is disappointed in the jobless recovery.

记者
布什政府接手的是一个疲软的经济，而且承认其在恢复就业方面没有指望。

ELAINE CHAO, U.S. LABOR SECRETARY
It’s a disappointment that the recovery so far has not been as robust as all of us would like. The president’s job and economic growth plan certainly, recently passed by Congress, certainly should help that.

赵小兰，美国劳工部长
迄今为止经济复苏并不像我们大家所期盼的那样强劲，这令人感到失望。当然，总统的就业和经济增长计划最近在国会获得了通过，这肯定会有助于解决就业问题。

CORRESPONDENT
Wall Street took the jobless streak in stride though, continuing to bet on a second-half recovery. Many economists pointed out a surge of new job seekers actually skewed the June numbers.

记者
然而，面对失业率的现状，华尔街表现的比较乐观，继续预测下半年经济有望复苏。许多经济学家指出，求职人数的增加实际上使六月的数字看起来更糟。

WILLIAM DUDLEY, GOLDMAN SACHS
The unemployment rate rose sharply this month because of a big increase in the labor force. So it’s probably not as disturbing as it looks on the surface. I think the stock market is responding to the fact that expectations are that the economy is going to do better in the second half of the year.

威廉•达德利，Goldman Sachs
由于劳动力人数的大量增加，本月失业率急剧上升，所以情况可能并不像表面上所看到的那样令人烦忧。我认为，股市正在对这样的事实作出反应，即：经济有望在下半年出现较好的复苏态势。

CORRESPONDENT
Investors tend to brush off jobless reports as what they call a lagging indicator. But the jobless rate has never lagged like this before. In the last recession the much talked about jobless recovery lasted 14 months. That is 14 months of growth before the jobless rate peaked, but in the current cycle it has been 20 months since growth resumed. Yet we still don’t know if the unemployment rate has peaked.

记者
投资者希望能摆脱失业报告，他们称之为迟缓的指示器。但此前失业率从未减退得如此之慢。在上一次经济衰退期间，人们谈论很多的失业恢复期持续了14个月，即在失业率达到高峰之前，共持续增长了14个月。但是在目前这个周期中，自从出现失业率开始增长以来，已经持续了20个月。然而，我们仍不知道失业率是否已达到顶点。

Now there are complicated ways to explain why this is happening: they have to do with increased worker productivity and a lack of business investment. There’s also a simple way to explain it and that is this: the economy is just not growing fast enough to create new jobs. Peter Viles, CNN, New York.

现在有复杂的方法来解释出现这种情况的原因：它们与劳动者生产力的增长和商业投入不足有关。也有一种简单的方法来解释这种现象：经济增长不够迅速，因而无法创造新的就业机会。彼得•韦尔斯，CNN，纽约报道。