關注美國大選:總統候選人大戰俄亥俄州
In the American presidential campaign, Ohio is considered one of the battleground or swing states. These are states where the race is close and could decide the winner this November.
在美國總統競選中，俄亥俄州被認爲是主戰場或搖擺州之一。美國有些州在競選中的選情非常接近，這些州能夠決定大選的最終結果。President Obama and Mitt Romney, the Republican Party's likely candidate, both gave speeches in Ohio on Thursday. The president has been helped by falling unemployment rates in Ohio. The state's jobless rate dropped from over ten percent in twenty-ten to less than seven and a half percent.
本週四，奧巴馬總統和共和黨最有可能的候選人羅姆尼同時在俄亥俄州發表了演講。奧巴馬總統受益於俄亥俄州失業率的下降。該州的失業率從2010年的10%以上，降到了現在的7.5%以下。But President Obama has had a difficult few weeks that began with a disappointing jobs report. The nation's unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent in May.
但奧巴馬總統剛度過了艱難的幾周，這源於一份令人失望的就業報告。今年5月，美國失業率上升到了8.2%。
Then, last week at the White House, Mr. Obama made the statement that "The private sector is doing fine." A reporter had asked him about claims that he is blaming the Europeans for failures in his own policies.
奧巴馬上週在白宮發言稱“私營企業表現不錯”。一名記者曾問奧巴馬有關於他將自己政策的失敗歸咎於歐洲人的這一主張。Mr. Obama answered that more than four million jobs have been created over the past twenty-seven months. He said that where weaknesses are being seen in the economy is in cuts by state and local governments. But his statement that private employers are "doing fine" quickly came under attack.
奧巴馬先生回答說，過去27個月裏創造了超過400萬個就業崗位，各州和地方政府正在減少當前經濟中不足。但他所說的私營企業“表現不錯”很快遭到了攻擊。Mr. Obama, speaking in Cleveland, Ohio, talked about a need to continue investing in manufacturing, the energy industry and education. He also called for economic fair play to help the middle class.
奧巴馬在俄亥俄州克利夫蘭市的演講中談到了繼續投資於製造業、能源行業及教育業的必要性。他還呼籲經濟公平競爭以幫助中產階級。BARACK OBAMA: "The economic vision of Mr. Romney and his allies in Congress was tested just a few years ago. We tried this. Their policies did not grow the economy, they did not grow the middle class, they did not reduce our debt. Why would we think that they would work better this time?"
奧巴馬：“羅姆尼先生及其國會中的盟友的經濟觀點在幾年前被驗證過了。美國當時試過這麼做。但他們的政策無法讓經濟增長，無法讓中產階級增加，無法讓債務減少。我們爲什麼會認爲，這次他們會做得更好呢？”Mr. Romney, speaking in Cincinnati, said Mr. Obama's policies have hurt job growth.
羅姆尼先生在俄亥俄州辛辛那提市發表演講時說，奧巴馬的政策損害了就業增長。MITT ROMNEY: "Talking to small employers and big employers, I hear day in and day out they feel this administration sees them as their enemy. They feel that the Obama policies have made it harder for them to put people back to work."
羅姆尼：“在和大、小企業的談話中，我成天聽到他們說這屆政府將他們視爲敵人。他們認爲奧巴馬的政策使得他們更難以讓人們重新就業。”This week, the Federal Reserve, the central bank, reported on changes in family finances from two thousand seven to two thousand ten. Part of that three-year period has been called the Great Recession. So how much wealth did the recession and slow recovery destroy? The report says the median net worth of families in twenty-ten was close to the same levels as in nineteen ninety-two.
本週，美聯儲報告了2007年到2010年美國家庭經濟狀況的變化。這三年的部分階段被稱爲大蕭條。那麼經濟衰退和復甦緩慢造成了多大的財富損失呢？該報告稱，2010年美國家庭淨資產平均值接近於1992年的水平。Median means the point where half the families were higher and half were lower. Net worth is what remains after removing debts from the value of homes, bank savings and other assets.
平均值是指中間值。淨資產是指房產、存款和其它資產減去債務後的剩餘資產。Median net worth was one hundred twenty-six thousand four hundred dollars in two thousand seven. Three years later it was down to seventy-seven thousand three hundred dollars. The numbers are corrected for inflation.
2007年，美國家庭淨資產平均值爲126,400美元，3年後下降到了77,300美元。這是修正通貨膨脹影響後的數字。The report says falling home prices as a result of the collapse of the housing market caused most of the drop in wealth.
報告稱，住房市場崩潰導致的房價下跌造成了財富的大幅縮水。Lawrence Yun is chief economist of the National Association of Realtors. He says falling home prices make families less willing to spend money.
勞倫斯·雲（Lawrence Yun）是美國房地產經紀人協會首席經濟學家。他說，房價下跌使得家庭消費意願下降。LAWRENCE YUN: "A decline in home value has a major impact on the economy because for most homeowners the largest wealth holding is in their housing. And, therefore, if the home values decline, it makes the homeowners much more conservative about their spending outlook."
雲：“房價下跌對經濟產生了重大影響，因爲對大多數房主來說，房產是他們最大的財產。因此，如果房價下跌，就會使得房主對他們的支出前景更爲保守。Mr. Yun says there are signs that the housing market is improving.
雲先生表示，有跡象表明，住房市場正在好轉。
