美国有线新闻 CNN 道指狂泻两千余点 美股触发熔断（在线收听）

Yesterday did not go well for international stock markets. After drops in other exchanges around the world, the U.S. stock market set a record and not a good one.

昨天，国际股市走势不佳。在全球其他交易所纷纷出现下跌后，美国股市创下了新记录，不过并不是好记录。

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is an index of 30 significant stocks. It includes companies like Disney and McDonalds and it's one major indicator of how the market as a whole is doing. The Dow dropped so far so fast yesterday that a circuit breaker kicked in, a temporary stop to trading to give investors a chance to catch their breaths. It lasted 15 minutes. And when everything was said and done with at the end of the day, the Dow had lost more than 2,000 points, its worst point drop than on any other day in history.

道琼斯工业平均指数由30支重要股票组成。这一指数包括迪斯尼和麦当劳等公司，是衡量市场整体表现的一个主要指标。道指昨日下跌幅度如此之大、下跌速度如此之快，以至于触发了熔断机制，即暂时停止交易，给投资者一个喘息的机会。这持续了15分钟。当一切都结束时，道指收盘下跌超过2000点，创下该指数史上最大单日点数跌幅。

What's more important to investors than the points though are percentages. The Dow lost 7.8 percent of its value. That's not its biggest percentage drop ever but it was its worst day since October of 2008 when the "Great Recession" was dragging down the world economy. Why did this happen? Two main reasons.

对投资者来说，比点数更重要的是百分比。道指跌幅达7.8%。这并不是该指数史上最大跌幅，但却是自2008年10月以来的最大单日跌幅，当时“大萧条”正在拖累全球经济。为什么会这样？有两个主要原因。

One of them was oil prices. They collapsed on Monday after a disagreement over oil production between Saudi Arabia and Russia. They are two major producers of oil. And though lower oil prices can translate to lower gas prices, which many drivers see as a good thing, investors don't like falling oil prices because they often correspond with a weakening global economy. So this was a big reason why there was a sell off in the U.S. stock market yesterday and that triggered the circuit breaker.

其中之一是油价。因沙特阿拉伯和俄罗斯在石油生产上产生分析，油价在周一出现暴跌。沙特和俄罗斯是两大主要石油生产国。尽管石油价格下跌可以转化为汽油价格下跌，而且许多司机认为这是件好事，但投资者并不希望石油价格下跌，因为这往往与全球经济疲软相对应。这就是昨天美国股市出现抛售的一个重要原因，而且这还触发了熔断机制。

But there was another reason for the market dive yesterday. And if you've been watching you know what I'm about to say, coronavirus. According to information put together by Johns Hopkins University, more than 113,000 cases have been confirmed around the world. Almost 4,000 people who've caught the virus have died. That's about three and a half percent of total cases. And more than 62,000 people almost half the total cases have recovered from the virus.

但昨日股市跳水还有一个原因。如果大家一直在收听我们的节目就会知道我要说什么，没错，冠状病毒。根据约翰霍普金斯大学汇总的数据，目前全球确诊病例超过11.3万例。近4000名感染该病毒者死亡。这大约占全球病例的3.5%左右。超过6.2万例病例从病毒中康复，占总确诊病例的近一半。

But the fear of this disease spreading has led to school closures for hundreds of millions of students around the world. The nation of Italy, which has seen the largest outbreak in Europe, is under lockdown with schools, movie theaters, and night clubs closed. Ireland has called off its St. Patrick's Day parades. Theme parks and museums have been closed. Sports events and some religious gatherings have been called off.

但人们对这种疾病的传播感到担心，这导致全球多所学校关闭，数亿名学生受到影响。意大利是欧洲疫情最严重的国家，目前该国已经封国，学校、电影院和夜店全部关闭。爱尔兰取消了圣帕特里克节大游行。主题公园和博物馆也已关闭。同时，体育赛事和一些宗教集会则被取消。