美国有线新闻 CNN 美债接近23万亿美元 财政赤字也创下2012年以来新高

 

Who is the current U.S. Treasury¹ secretary?

Jack² Lew, Kathleen Sebelius, Wilbur Ross, or Steven Mnuchin?

The role is currently filled by Steven Mnuchin, the nation's 77th secretary of the treasury.

One role of Secretary Mnuchin's department is to manage America's public debt, the amount of money the U.S. government owes to other governments, groups, investors³ or businesses. Right now, that number stands at $22.9 trillion.

The thing that makes that number grow is the deficit⁴, when the government spends more money than it takes in. And America has been doing that for centuries. The only time in history it didn't have a national debt was in 1835 under President Andrew Jackson.

On Friday, though, the gap between what the government spends and what it takes in reach $984 billion for a 12-month period ending in September.

That's its biggest gap since 2012 when it had been exceeding a trillion dollars for several years. But if U.S. trade disputes with other countries continue and if global growth slows down, as many analysts⁵ expect it to, the U.S. deficit could exceed $1 trillion once again next year.

Why is it so high? Secretary Mnuchin says wasteful⁶ government spending needs to be cut. Also, the tax cuts that were passed in 2017 reduced the government's revenue.

But when you're looking at the debt and the deficit that causes it, the numbers are also in flux⁷.

1 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

2 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

3 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

4 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

5 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

6 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

7 flux   

n.流动；不断的改变

参考例句：

• The market is in a constant state of flux.市场行情在不断变化。
• In most reactors,there is a significant flux of fast neutrons.在大部分反应堆中都有一定强度的快中子流。