President Bush on Thursday said he has not yet decided what government assistance to provide the distressed U.S. automobile industry. The president says he worries about the economic consequences that an automaker bankruptcy could cause.
布什总统星期四说，他还没有决定政府应该对陷入困境的美国汽车工业施以何种援助。
Mr. Bush said he is concerned about how an uncontrolled bankruptcy could affect the psychology of financial markets. He said he is also worried about putting good money after bad.
布什总统说，他担心一旦汽车工业破产并失去控制后，会对金融市场心态产生影响。他说，他还对资金使用不当后，如何有效使用资金感到担忧。
The administration is near a decision on what kind of government assistance to provided U.S. car companies. They have asked for $14 billion in loans to assure their survival.
布什政府对美国汽车公司的援助方案即将最后拍板。汽车公司要求政府提供140亿美元的贷款，以确保可以存活下来。
"The president is not going to allow a disorderly collapse of the companies," said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino. "That is not an option. Some people have assumed that is one of things we would decide. That is not going to be the case."
白宫新闻发言人佩里诺说：“总统不会随意让这些公司倒闭。这不是选择。一些人认为政府会这样决定，但是事情不是这样的。”
In Detroit, the U.S. automotive capital, the mood is somber. Chrysler - the weakest of the "Big Three" carmakers - is closing all of its U.S. assembly plants for a month, beginning next week. General Motors and Ford are also closing some plants beyond the usual two-week end of year production break. Unionized workers at the plants will continue to receive at least 85 percent of their pay, as stipulated in their contracts.
在美国汽车工业之都底特律，气氛一片萧瑟。从下星期开始，三巨头当中状态最糟糕的克莱斯勒公司在美国的所有装配厂将关闭一个月。通用汽车和福特也准备在年终通常的两个星期停产时间外，再延长一些工厂的关闭时间。根据合同规定，工会工人将继续领取原工资的85%。
The credit squeeze and recession have caused U.S. car sales to plummet - down 37 percent in November, 25 percent for the year overall.
信贷停滞以及经济衰退使得美国汽车销售下滑。11月汽车销售下跌37%，全年销售量下降25%。
Jack Nerad is a marketing analyst for Kelley Blue Book, which keeps close watch on the auto industry.
内拉德是新旧车辆信息供应公司凯利蓝皮书(Kelley Blue Book)的市场分析员，他一直在密切关注着汽车工业。
"I think it is devastating," Nerad spoke to Bloomberg Television. "It is hard to overestimate the importance of this industry and the importance of what is going on right now. It is as if sales absolutely hit a wall in October. They're not recovering. And one of the major industrial corporations of the world-of all time [General Motors] could be on the brink."
他在接受彭博电视采访时说：“我认为这是灾难性的。很难过高估计汽车工业的重要性以及现在面临问题的严重性。但是，10月份汽车销售看起来好像确实停滞不前，而且也一直没有恢复元气。一直以来在全球工业公司中占主导地位的通用汽车可能面临破产。”
It is not just the U.S.-based auto industry that is suffering. Sales of British-made cars in the United Kingdom were down 33 percent in November. And Fiat in Italy is closing all of its production plants for one month because of lagging car sales in Europe.
美国汽车工业并不是唯一受影响的。英国产汽车在英国的销售11月份下降了33%。另外，由于欧洲汽车销售的不景气，意大利菲亚特汽车公司决定将所有生产厂关闭一个月。 |