英语翻译＋英语口译 -  2008年8月21日经济报道－商品价格涨涨跌跌。

ECONOMICS REPORT - What's Up -- or Down -- With Commodity Prices?
Thu, 21 Aug 2008
This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
经济报道－商品价格涨涨跌跌。
2008年8月21日
这是VOA特别英语的经济报道。
Prices for many widely traded goods have fallen recently after big increases earlier in the year.
许多广泛交易货物的价格，在年初巨幅上涨之后，最近下跌。
Oil, the world's most widely traded commodity by value, led the way. Oil prices fell in part because of a recently stronger dollar. Most oil is traded in dollars. When the dollar's exchange value increases, so do prices in foreign currencies.
以价值计，石油是世界上最广泛交易的商品，领跌。石油价格下跌的部分原因是近期的美元强势。许多石油以美元交易。当美元交换价值上升，则以外币计的价格上升。
Higher prices, in turn, reduce demand. For example, officials say Americans drove fifteen and a half billion fewer kilometers in May than a year before.
而更高的价格降低需求。例如，美官员称，美国人五月份比去年同期少驾驶了155亿公里。
Lower prices are welcome news for buyers. But experts say the drop in demand for oil and other raw materials is also a sign of weakening economies in Europe and Japan. Recent economic reports suggest that they may be in a worse position than the United States.
更低的价格受买家欢迎。但是，专家称，石油和其它原料需求的下降也是欧洲和日本经济疲软的表征。最新经济报告表明，欧洲和日本的状况比美国还糟。
The Economist magazine's index of commodity prices excluding oil fell by more than twelve percent since early July.
《经济学家》杂志的（不含石油）商品价格指数自7月初下跌12%以上。
But this week, commodities have been trading higher -- especially on Thursday as oil prices jumped. Market watchers blamed tensions between the United States and Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter, as well as a weaker dollar.
但本周，商品交易价格上升，尤其是石油价格星期四急升。市场观察人士将上涨归咎于美国与俄罗斯（世界第二大石油出口国）之间的紧张局势以及弱势美元。
Investors sold dollars and moved back into gold and other precious metals along with energy and agriculture futures. A Reuters news agency index showed commodities moving toward their biggest weekly gain in thirty-three years.
投资者出售美元，购回黄金和其它贵金属以及能源与农产品期货。路透新闻社指数表明，商品价格上涨为33年来最大周涨幅。
Oil hit an all-time high of one hundred forty-seven dollars and twenty-seven cents a barrel on July eleventh. Before Thursday's rise it was trading below one hundred twenty dollars a barrel.
7月11日，石油价格达到历史高位，即147.27美元/桶。在星期四的上涨之前，石油交易价格低于120美元/桶。
Which way oil prices will go now is anyone's guess, but the recent drop has helped ease inflation fears. Consumer prices in the United States rose in July at their fastest level in seventeen years. Producer prices rose at their fastest rate in twenty-seven years.
油价走势只是猜测，但是最近的下跌有助于缓和通货膨胀的担忧。美国7月份消费者价格指数（CPI）17年来上升最快。生产者价格指数（PPI）27年来上升最快。
Along with oil, prices for agricultural commodities have fallen recently. The effects, though, may be slow to bring down food prices.
与石油一样，农产品价格最近也下跌。尽管其效应会缓慢体现，从而带动食品价格下跌。
Prices for most grains have fallen by twenty to thirty percent or more since the end of June.
自6月以来，许多谷物的价格下跌20－30%或以上。
One reason was good news from the Midwest, the agricultural heartland in the United States. Heavy rains in May and June caused the worst flooding there in fifteen years. But this month, the Department of Agriculture added about five percent to its latest estimate for this year's corn crop. The crop is expected to be the second largest ever.
一个原因是来自美国中西部农业摇篮的好消息。5月和6月的暴雨造成中西部15年来最大的洪水。但是本月，农业部就今年玉米收成最新估计增加大约5%。玉米收成预计为历史第二高。
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.
这是由Mario Ritter编写的VOA特别英语的经济报道。我是Steve Ember。