VOA慢速英语2011--Italy Considers Budget Cuts, Rising Borrowing Costs（在线收听）

Economics Report - Italy Considers Budget Cuts, Rising Borrowing Costs

经济报道 - 意大利削减预算导致借贷成本上升

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道。

The economic situation in Italy is worrying investors and may have cost its prime minister his job. Like Greece, Italy is facing pressure to make unpopular cuts in government spending. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been seeking to enact measures meant to satisfy his country’s creditors. The interest rate Italy can expect to pay for borrowing money is increasing and recently passed seven percent.

意大利的经济形势让投资者担忧，也可能让其总理丢掉工作。像希腊一样，意大利正面临着做出不受公众欢迎的削减政府开支的压力。总理贝卢斯科尼（Silvio Berlusconi）一直在寻求制定相应措施来满足意大利债权人的要求。意大利可能要支付的借贷利率不断攀升，最近更超过了7%。

This week, Mister Berlusconi won a budget vote in Italy’s lower house of parliament.

本周，贝卢斯科尼在意大利下议院赢得了预算投票。

(SOUND)

TRANSLATOR: Three-hundred-nine attending, three-hundred-eight in favor, one boycotted, no vote against the chamber approves…”

翻译：“309人出席，308票支持，一票反对，无人反对，表决通过...”

But the prime minister lost something else. A majority of lawmakers in the lower house refused to vote. It appeared Mister Berlusconi had lost their support. He announced on Tuesday that he would resign after parliament passes budget cutting measures.

但总理也有所损失，大多数下议院议员拒绝投票，这显示出贝卢斯科尼已经失去了他们的支持。贝卢斯科尼周二宣布，他将在议会通过预算削减措施后辞职。
　

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, center, attends a meeting of parliament Tuesday. Mister Berlusconi's side won the vote, but he lost his majority.

Italian government debt is about one hundred twenty percent the size of the country’s economy. That is second only to Greece in Europe. Greece, Ireland and Portugal have all required rescue loans to help them pay creditors. But unlike those nations, Italy has the third largest economy using the euro. And it is among the ten largest economies in the world.

意大利政府债务大约是其经济规模的120%，这在欧洲仅次于希腊。希腊、爱尔兰、葡萄牙已经全部申请救援贷款用来帮助他们偿付债权人。但和这些国家不同，意大利是使用欧元的第三大经济体，同时位居全球十大经济体之列。

On Monday, European finance ministers met in Brussels to discuss the deepening debt crisis among nations using the euro. European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said Italy needs to enact reforms.

周一，欧洲各国财长在布鲁塞尔举行会议讨论欧元区国家不断深化的债务危机。欧洲经济和货币事物专员奥利·雷恩（Olli Rehn）表示，意大利必须推行改革。

OLLI REHN: "[It is] essential now that Italy will stick to its fiscal targets, ensure their implementation and intensify the structural reforms that can boost growth and job creation."

雷恩：“意大利现在必须坚持其财政目标，确保落实，深化能够促进经济增长和创造就业的结构改革。”

Unlike Greece, Italy’s budget deficit is not out of control. Of greatest concern, however, is Italy’s lack of growth and job creation.

和希腊不同，意大利的财政赤字并未失控。然而最令人担忧的是意大利缺乏经济增长和新就业机会。

Financial officials and market watchers are also concerned that Italy’s debt problems may be too big to solve for the seventeen nations using the euro. European leaders have yet to agree on the size and conditions of a rescue fund, or plan.

财政官员和市场也担心，对欧元区17国来说，意大利债务问题可能过于庞大而无法解决。

In Brussels, Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager said the rescue fund needed to be bigger. But he said budget reform of euro nations was important, too.

在布鲁塞尔，荷兰财政大臣扬·凯斯·德亚赫（Jan Kees de Jager）表示，必须扩大欧洲救助基金规模。但他表示，欧元区国家的预算改革也非常重要。

JAN KEES DE JAGER: "We have to increase the capacity of the emergency fund, that's very important, but it's not the only thing. Economic reforms and budget cuts in countries currently under attack of the financial markets are at least as important than more money in the emergency fund.''

德亚赫：“我们必须扩大紧急基金的规模，这是非常重要的，但这不是唯一要做的。正面临金融市场攻击的国家经济改革和预算削减措施和增加紧急基金规模同等重要。”

On Wednesday, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano named former European commissioner Mario Monti a Senator for life. Mister Monti is now considered a leading candidate to replace Mister Berlusconi.

周三，意大利总统纳波利塔诺（Giorgio Napolitano）任命前欧盟委员会委员马里奥·蒙蒂（Mario Monti）为终生终身参议员。蒙蒂目前被认为是取代贝卢斯科尼的最佳人选。

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Mario Ritter.