VOA慢速英语:Candidates Target Ohio; US Family Wealth at 1992 Levels

In the American presidential campaign, Ohio is considered one of the battleground or swing states. These are states where the race is close and could decide the winner this November.
在美国的总统竞选当中，俄亥俄州被认为是战场之一或摇摆不定的州。这些州的选票非常接近，而且能决定十一月大选的胜者。

President Obama and Mitt Romney, the Republican Party’s likely candidate, both gave speeches in Ohio on Thursday. The president has been helped by falling unemployment rates in Ohio. The state's jobless rate dropped from over ten percent in twenty-ten to less than seven and a half percent.
周四，奥巴马总统与共和党可能的候选人米特•罗姆尼都在俄亥俄州发表演讲。奥巴马总统帮助降低了俄亥俄州的失业率。该州的失业率从2010年的超过10%下降到少于7.5%。

But President Obama has had a difficult few weeks that began with a disappointing jobs report. The nation’s unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent in May.
但是奥巴马总统接下来几周可能要受到令人失望的就业报告的困扰。五月份，美国的失业率上升到8.2%。

Then, last week at the White House, Mr. Obama made the statement that "The private sector is doing fine." A reporter had asked him about claims that he is blaming the Europeans for failures in his own policies.
然后，上周在白宫，奥巴马先生发表了“私营部门做得很好”的言论。一名记者则问他，该论断是将他自己的政策失败归咎于欧洲。

Mr. Obama answered that more than four million jobs have been created over the past twenty-seven months. He said that where weaknesses are being seen in the economy is in cuts by state and local governments. But his statement that private employers are "doing fine" quickly came under attack. Republicans questioned his understanding of the economy and called him "out of touch."
奥巴马先生回答说，在过去的27个月已经创造了超过400万的就业岗位。他说，正在显露出来的薄弱之处在于国家和地方政府在经济方面的削减。但他声称的私营部门“做得很好”的言论立刻遭到抨击。共和党人质疑他对经济的理解，并称他“脱离现实”。

Mr. Obama, speaking in Cleveland, Ohio, talked about a need to continue investing in manufacturing, the energy industry and education. He also called for economic fair play to help the middle class.
奥巴马在俄亥俄州克利夫兰市的演讲中谈到有必要继续投资制造业、能源工业和教育业。他还呼吁经济公平竞争以帮助中产阶级。

BARACK OBAMA: "The economic vision of Mr. Romney and his allies in Congress was tested just a few years ago. We tried this. Their policies did not grow the economy, they did not grow the middle class, they did not reduce our debt. Why would we think that they would work better this time?"
奥巴马：“罗姆尼先生和他国会中的盟友的经济观点在几年前被验证过了。我们尝试过这么做。但他们的政策无法让经济增长，他们并无法让中产阶级增加，他们无法减少我们的债务。我们为什么会认为，这次他们会做得更好呢？”

Mr. Romney, speaking in Cincinnati, said Mr. Obama's policies have hurt job growth.
罗姆尼先生在辛辛那提市发言时称，奥巴马的政策损害了就业增长。

MITT ROMNEY: "Talking to small employers and big employers, I hear day in and day out they feel this administration sees them as their enemy. They feel that the Obama policies have made it harder for them to put people back to work."
罗姆尼：“在与大、小企业的谈话中，我成天听到他们说这届政府视他们为敌人。他们认为奥巴马的政策让他们更难以让人们重回就业岗位。”

This week, the Federal Reserve, the central bank, reported on changes in family finances from two thousand seven to two thousand ten. Part of that three-year period has been called the Great Recession. So how much wealth did the recession and slow recovery destroy? The report says the median net worth of families in twenty-ten was close to the same levels as in nineteen ninety-two.
 
本周，中央银行美联储报告了2007年到2010年美国家庭经济状况的变化。这三年的一部分阶段被称为大萧条。那么经济衰退和复苏缓慢造成了多大的财富损失呢？该报告称，2010年美国家庭净资产平均值与1992年的水平接近。

Median means the point where half the families were higher and half were lower. Net worth is what remains after removing debts from the value of homes, bank savings and other assets.
平均值是指中间值。净值是指房产、存款和其它资产减去债务后的剩余资产。

Median net worth was one hundred twenty-six thousand four hundred dollars in two thousand seven. Three years later it was down to seventy-seven thousand three hundred dollars. The numbers are corrected for inflation.
2007年，美国家庭净值平均值为126,400美元，3年后下降到了77,300美元。这是纠正通胀影响后的数字。

The report says falling home prices as a result of the collapse of the housing market caused most of the drop in wealth.
报告称，住房市场崩溃导致的房价下跌造成了财富的大幅下降。

Lawrence Yun is chief economist of the National Association of Realtors. He says falling home prices make families less willing to spend money.
Lawrence Yun是全美房地产经纪人协会首席经济学家。他说，房价下跌让很多家庭不愿意消费。

LAWRENCE YUN: "A decline in home value has a major impact on the economy because for most homeowners the largest wealth holding is in their housing. And, therefore, if the home values decline, it makes the homeowners much more conservative about their spending outlook."
LAWRENCE YUN：“房价下跌对经济产生了重大影响，因为对大多数业主来说，住房是他们最大的财产。因此，如果房价下跌，就会使得业主对他们的支出前景更为保守。

Mr. Yun says there are signs that the housing market is improving.
Yun先生称，有迹象表明房地产市场正在好转。