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The United States government has a history of paying its bills on time.
美国政府有按时支付账单的历史。
Many people, however, are worried about what would happen if the U.S. defaults on debt that it owes lenders.
然而，许多人担心，如果美国拖欠贷款机构的债务，将会发生什么。
Default means to fail to do what rule or law requires.
Default的意思是没有按照规定或法律的要求去做。
In finance, it means being unable or unwilling to pay back loans.
在金融领域，它的意思是没有能力或不愿偿还贷款。
"No corner of the global economy will be spared" if the U.S. government defaulted and the problem were not solved quickly, said Mark Zandi.
马克·赞迪说，如果美国政府违约，问题得不到迅速解决，“全球经济将无一幸免”。
He is chief economist at Moody's Analytics, a risk advising business.
他是风险咨询公司穆迪分析的首席经济学家。
The Associated Press reports that Zandi and two of his coworkers suggested that, even if the U.S. did not pay its debt for only a week, 1.5 million jobs in the U.S. could be lost.
据美联社报道，赞迪和他的两名同事表示，即使美国仅一周不偿还债务，美国也可能会失去150万个工作岗位。
If the default were to last longer into the summer, Zandi's team's research suggests 7.8 million jobs could be lost.
赞迪团队的研究表明，如果违约持续到夏季，美国可能会失去780万个工作岗位。
And they estimate a huge decrease in the stock market would cause a $10 trillion loss in household wealth.
他们估计，股市的大幅下跌将会导致家庭损失10万亿美元的财富。
The reason people are talking about default is because U.S. law limits the amount of debt securities the government can hold at one time.
人们之所以谈论违约，是因为美国法律限制了政府一次可以持有的债务证券的数量。
It is called the public debt limit.
这就是所谓的公共债务上限。
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who is a member of the Republican Party, has been meeting with President Joe Biden, a Democrat, to discuss the problem.
众议院议长、共和党人凯文·麦卡锡一直在与民主党人、美国总统乔·拜登会面讨论这一问题。
The two met on Monday.
两人在周一会过面。
Republicans want to pull back government spending increases and place limits on future spending.
共和党人希望减少政府支出，并对未来的支出进行限制。
In return, they have said they would increase the debt limit, which is what the president wants.
作为回报，他们表示将提高债务上限，而这正是总统想要的。
Congress has raised, changed, or extended the borrowing limit 78 times since 1960, most recently in 2021.
自1960年以来，国会已经78次提高、改变或延长了债务上限，最近一次是在2021年。
The U.S. government borrows money from the public and from other countries by offering bonds and other securities that investors buy from the U.S. Treasury.
美国政府通过发行债券和其他证券向公众和其他国家借钱，投资者从美国财政部购买债券和其他证券。
The public buys the securities because they pay interest or increase in value over time.
公众购买这些证券是因为它们支付利息或随着时间的推移而增值。
But, if the U.S. defaults, that might mean some investors might not get money the U.S. government owes them.
但是，如果美国违约，这可能意味着一些投资者可能拿不到美国政府欠他们的钱。
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that the government could default as soon as June 1 if lawmakers do not raise or suspend the borrowing limit.
美国财政部长珍妮特·耶伦警告称，如果国会议员不提高债务上限或推迟还债期限，美国政府最早可能会在6月1日违约。
She called June 1 a "hard deadline," meaning an important time limit.
她将6月1日称为“硬性期限”，意思是一个重要的时间限制。
Governments and international businesses use U.S. securities to secure credit and protect against bank losses.
各国政府和国际企业利用美国证券来确保信贷安全，防止银行蒙受损失。
They also use and keep U.S. dollar securities for trade.
他们还使用和持有美元证券进行交易。
Because of the trust in U.S. securities, international bank officials give U.S. government debt a risk rating of zero.
由于对美国证券的信任，国际银行官员给美国政府债务的风险评级为零。
Foreign governments and private investors hold nearly $7.6 trillion of the debt.
外国政府和私人投资者持有近7.6万亿美元的美国国债。
That is about 31 percent of the U.S. securities in financial markets.
这约占金融市场上美国证券的31%。
The high demand for the U.S. dollar makes it more secure than other currencies.
对美元的高需求使其比其他货币更安全。
Because of demand around the world, the U.S. can borrow money.
由于全球需求旺盛，美国可以借到钱。
U.S. dollars make up 58 percent of all foreign money held by the world's central banks.
美元占世界各国中央银行持有的所有外汇的58%。
The International Monetary Fund says the euro is second, at 20 percent, and China's yuan is less than three percent.
国际货币基金组织表示，欧元位居第二，占20%，而中国的人民币占比不到3%。
Researchers at the Federal Reserve have said that from 1999 to 2019, 96 percent of trade in the Americas used U.S. dollars.
美联储的研究人员表示，从1999年到2019年，美洲96%的贸易使用美元。
And 74 percent of trade in Asia used dollars.
亚洲74%的贸易使用美元。
Buyers in some weak economies demand payment in dollars instead of their own country's currency.
一些疲软经济体的买家要求用美元而不是本国货币付款。
For example, in Sri Lanka earlier this year, shippers refused to release 1,000 containers of urgently needed food unless they were paid in dollars.
例如，今年早些时候在斯里兰卡，发货人拒绝放行1000集装箱的急需食品，除非他们以美元付款。
The shipments stayed in Colombo, the capital, because the importers were not able to get dollars to pay for the food.
这些货物滞留在首都科伦坡，因为进口商无法获得美元来支付食品费用。
Some countries also use the U.S. dollar as their official currency.
有些国家还使用美元作为其官方货币。
In 2000, Ecuador responded to an economic crisis by replacing its own currency with the U.S. dollar.
2000年，厄瓜多尔为了应对经济危机，将本国货币换成了美元。
El Salvador, Panama, and Zimbabwe are among the countries using the U.S. dollar as currency.
萨尔瓦多、巴拿马和津巴布韦等国都使用美元作为货币。
Zandi and his coworkers think that if the U.S. defaults, people might still hold onto dollars near the beginning of the financial crisis.
赞迪和他的同事认为，如果美国违约，人们可能仍会在金融危机开始时持有美元。
That's because the U.S. will likely continue to pay some of the money it owes.
这是因为美国可能会继续支付部分欠款。
They think the dollar may still be considered safer than other currencies.
他们认为美元可能仍被认为比其他货币更安全。
But people might start moving money into private money market funds or the bonds of top U.S. corporations.
但人们可能会开始将资金转移到私人货币市场基金或美国顶级公司的债券中。
Zandi said growing doubts would decrease the dollar's value and keep that value down.
赞迪说，越来越多的疑虑将会使美元贬值，并使美元价值保持在较低水平。
A high value of the dollar can have negative effects in some countries.
美元的高价值可能会对一些国家产生负面影响。
It can make their currencies less valuable.
这可能会使他们的货币贬值。
It can also make it more likely for people and businesses to invest outside of their country.
它还可能会使个人和企业更有可能在国外投资。
However, there is not yet any other clear choice besides the dollar.
然而，除了美元之外，目前还没有任何其他明确的选择。
The euro is far behind the dollar.
欧元远远落后于美元。
The debt limit issue is likely to increase questions about the financial power of the United States and the dollar.
债务上限问题可能会增加人们对美国金融实力和美元的质疑。
I'm Andrew Smith. And I'm Caty Weaver.
安德鲁·史密斯、凯蒂·韦弗为您共同播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
