商务英语听力:华尔街赚钱经 第84期:中国消费者与美国消费者的"较量" (1)

Can Chinese Consumers Replace America's 中国消费者与美国消费者的“较量”

International trade data could show whether anybody else in the world is ready to replace the U.S. consumer as a global growth engine. 国际贸易数据显示，世界上是否有人能取代美国消费者成为全球经济增长的引擎。

The Census Bureau is due to release March trade data on Tuesday. Economists, on average, think the U.S. recorded yet another trade deficit and that the gap widened to $29.7 billion from a surprising 1O-year low of $26 billion in February. 美国统计局预定星期二（5月12日）发布了三月的贸易数据。经济学家们普遍认为美国面临又一个贸易赤字记录，贸易逆差将从二月份惊人的260亿美元这个十年最低点扩大到297亿美元。

Since imports subtract from gross domestic product and exports add to it, a smaller trade gap-fewer imports and more exports-is generally good for the economy. 因为进口会从国内生产总值中减去，而出口要加到其中。所以，以减少进口增加出口形成较小的贸易赤字是有利于经济的。

February's relatively skinny deficit-which was less than half the size of the gap in October 2008-was driven partly by falling oil imports and an unexpected surge in exports. 二月份的贸易赤字相对减少，还不到2008年10月贸易赤字的一半，很大程度上是因为石油进口量下降和出口的意外猛增。