Britain has officially sunk into recession, with its economy shrinking by 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. This comes amid the growing financial crisis around the world.
英国正式陷入了衰退，去年第四季度的增长收缩了1.5%。这个消息是在金融危机还在世界各地继续扩大的时候发布的。
It's official - the British economy is in recession. Government figures released Friday show the economy contracted by a larger than expected 1.5 percent in the last three months of 2008, after a 0.6 percent drop in the previous quarter.
英国经济陷入衰退现在是正式的了。英国政府星期五公布的数据显示，在2008年的最后三个月，英国经济收缩了1.5%，超过了预期。在第三季度，英国经济下滑了0.6%。
Britain's finance chief, Chancellor Alistair Darling acknowledged the economy had taken a sharper downturn than anticipated.
英国财政大臣达林承认，英国经济滑坡的程度比预期的还要糟糕。
"If you look at today's figures, what you're seeing is a very significant fall in industrial production and that's been caused because world trade has really fallen away very rapidly over the past few weeks and months," said Chancellor Darling.
他说：“如果你看今天的数据，你所看到的是工业生产上出现的很大下滑。这是因为全球贸易在过去几个星期和几个月的时间里出现了急剧减少所造成的。”
What started as a crisis in the financial sector in Britain continues to infect the wider economy. Unemployment is accelerating sharply, with nearly two million people now out of work, the housing market remains severely depressed and retail sales are weak. For the U.K., Friday's figures show the biggest decline in nearly 30 years.
英国始于金融行业的危机继续对更广泛的经济造成损害。失业率正在急剧攀升，现在将近有2百万人失业，住房市场仍然极为低迷，零售销售也相当疲软。
But, Chancellor Darling was quick to point out Britain is certainly not alone.
不过，财政大臣达林很快的指出，英国并不是唯一处于这种状态的国家。
"We're facing this problem everywhere," he said. "America has been in recession for a year now, even Germany, Italy, Japan. Countries in the Far East are seeing a substantial slowdown in growth."
他说：“我们大家都面临这个问题。美国陷入衰退已经有一年的时间了，就连德国、意大利和日本也陷入了衰退。远东国家的增长也出现了严重的滑坡。”
The British government has moved to bail out failing banks and has put in place a multi-billion dollar stimulus package to shore up the ailing economy, including a cut in the national sales tax and help for businesses, homeowners and low-income families.
英国政府已经采取了行动，对银行提供救助，而且制订了几十亿美元的刺激方案来支撑萎靡不振的经济，包括削减全国销售税以及对企业、房屋拥有者以及低收入家庭提供帮助。
Prime Minister Gordon Brown says these measures will work, but he says there needs to be a coordinated international effort.
英国首相布朗表示，这些措施将会起作用，不过他说，国际社会需要采取协调一致的努力。
"What we need is a degree of international cooperation here, so that all countries who are affected by this can work together to do similar things," he said.
他说：“我们需要的是一定程度的国际合作，这样所有受到危机影响的国家可以共同采取类似的行动。”
Mr. Brown says he is talking with world leaders about ways to overcome this crisis.
布朗说，他正在同世界各国领导人讨论克服这个危机的途径。
Britain is due to host the next financial crisis summit of the G-20 group of industrialized and emerging economies in April.
英国将在今年4月主办下一次由工业化国家和新兴经济体组成的20国集团金融危机峰会。 |