VOA慢速英语:Bernanke Meets the Press in a First for US Central Bank

Central bankers have to choose their words carefully. So they often say little in public -- or little that makes sense. But the United States central bank says it is trying to be more clear and timely in communicating its policies.
央行官员们必须小心措辞。所以，他们在公共场合经常说得很少——或者有意义的话很少。但是美国中央银行称，他们尝试与公众沟通的相关政策将会更加清晰,更加及时。

The latest example: a press conference by Chairman Ben Bernanke. Wednesday's event was the first of its kind in the ninety-eight-year history of the Federal Reserve.
最新的例子：美联储主席本．伯南克(Ben Bernanke)召开新闻发布会。周三的新闻发布会在美联储98年的历史上尚属首次。

In his opening comments. Mr. Bernanke explained a decision by the Federal Open Market Committee to leave its main short-term interest rate near zero. The committee had just completed a two-day meeting.
在他的公开讲话中，伯南克解释了联邦公开市场委员会(FOMC)保持短期利率接近零的决定。该委员会刚刚结束了为期两天的会议。

BEN BERNANKE: "The committee continues to anticipate that the economic conditions -- including low rates of resource utilization, subdued inflation trends and stable inflation expectations -- are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate for an extended period."
伯南克：“联邦公开市场委员会继续预测经济形势——包括资源利用率低，通胀趋势温和，以及通胀预期稳定——可能保证更长时间内保持较低的联邦贷款利率。”

In other words, the economy is not growing fast enough to worry about inflation. A reporter asked what an "extended period" means to the Fed. Mr. Bernanke said it suggests "a couple of meetings probably" but it all depends on the economy.
换言之，目前经济增长速度还不够快，无需担心通胀压力。一名记者问道，“更长的时期”对美联储来说意味着什么。伯南克回答说，这可能还需要“几次会议来决定”，但是一切都取决于经济形势。

The chairman said it is very hard to blame the American public for being impatient with the speed of the recovery. But he pointed out that unemployment is still high -- 8.8 percent in March. Oil and gasoline prices are high. And the housing market remains very weak.
美联储主席称，很难指责美国公众对经济复苏的速度失去耐心。但是他指出，目前的失业率仍然很高——三月份的失业率为8.8%。石油和汽油的价格很高。房产市场还很脆弱。

The committee said it will complete purchases of six hundred billion dollars in Treasury securities in June. The Fed launched the bond buying program late last year in an effort to keep interest rates low and strengthen the economy.
联邦公开市场委员会表示，他们将在六月份完成6000亿美元国库券的收购。去年年底美联储发起了购买国库券的项目，目的是保持低利率，强化经济。

Some economists say this second round of what is known as quantitative easing, or "QE2," has not been effective. Mr. Bernanke disagreed and pointed to examples like gains in stock prices.
一些经济学家表示，第二轮“量化宽松”政策并不是那么有效。伯南克并不赞同，他列举了股票价格上涨等例子。

The Fed has two main goals for its monetary policy: the highest possible employment rates and stable prices. The bank faced criticism for intervening either too little to some critics or too much to others in the financial crisis.
美联储的货币政策主要有两个目标：尽可能高的就业率和稳定的物价。中央银行面临着诸多批评，对一些批评家来说，美联储在金融危机期间干预太少，而对另一些批评家来说又干预太多。

The press conference produced no surprises. Yet, as recently as the middle of the nineteen nineties, the Fed did not even release its decisions or its interest rate targets to the public.
这次新闻发布会并没有出现出人意料的结果。然而，在上世纪90年代中期以前，美联储甚至从来没有向公众公布过自己的决定或利率目标。

Today the Fed is trying to reach out to Americans through ways like this video on its website.
现今,美联储试图通过多种方式与公众沟通，就像这种在它的网站上发布视频。

BEN BERNANKE: "Hi, I'm Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve System. The Fed, as it's often called, is the central bank of the United States … "
伯南克：“嗨，我是本．伯南克，美联储主席。美联储是美国的中央银行……”

The Fed announced in March that Mr. Bernanke will hold four press briefings a year. The next of three planned for this year will follow a decision on interest rates in June.
美联储在三月份宣布,伯南克每年将召开四次新闻发布会。今年计划举行的另外三场将在六月份做出关于利率的决定之后举行。