G-20 Summit

An economic crisis is destroying the United States. It’s also creating serious problems for the rest of the world. To deal with all of it, 20 world leaders are getting together to patch things up. But they’re taking just one day to do it. Will they succeed? Many experts have no illusions. Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize winner in Economics and New York Times columnist. He calls the summit a “major non-meeting of minds.” He says no binding agreements will come out of it.
经济危机正在摧毁美国。而且也为世界其他地区带来严重问题。为了应对整个危机，20位世界各国的领导聚集到一起纠正这一问题。但他们将只用一天时间。他们会成功吗？许多专家都不抱幻想。Paul Krugman是诺贝尔经济学奖得主和《纽约时报》的专栏作家。他称此次峰会是一次“基本上未达成一致”的会议。他说峰会不会得出任何有约束力的协议。
"It’s more of a touchy-feely kind of meeting right now. You know, we’re not going to reach a pact for everybody to spend three percent of GDP on stimulus. Possibly, there could be at least a commitment in principle to some kind of exchange rate stabilization for emerging markets, but I don’t---I wouldn’t put, uh, set the expectations too high right now.”
“目前阶段更像是一次试探性的会晤。你知道，我们不会让大家花费GDP的百分之三进行刺激的协定。至少可能会在原则上承诺保持新兴市场汇率稳定在某种程度，但我不——我现在没有过高的期望。”
The US is at the core of the ongoing financial crisis. However, American President-elect Barack Obama won’t even be attending the gathering of world leaders. Instead, George Bush is hosting the summit, even though he’s leaving the White House walls in just two months. This made many wonder why the summit is being held at all. Dennis Kucinich is an outspoken critic of the Bush administration, who has called for George Bush’s impeachment dozens of times.
美国是这场仍在进行的金融危机的中心，但美国当选总统巴拉克·奥巴马甚至没有参加世界领导人的聚会，而是由乔治·布什主持峰会，虽然他将在两个月内离开白宫。这让很多人疑惑为什么要举行这场峰会。Dennis Kucinich是布什政府的大声批评者之一，他曾多次呼吁弹劾乔治·布什。
“Mr. Bush, unfortunately, is not in a position where anything that he says is going to be relied on by the world community, ‘cause everyone knows a new president is coming in.”
“很不幸，布什先生并不具备这样的地位：他说的任何话都会得到全世界的信赖。因为大家都知道新总统就要上台了。”
The population of the G-20 states makes up for two-thirds of people on the planet. The countries also make up for 80 percent of the world’s GDP. They are also members of the IMF. The International Monetary Fund is an international organization that oversees the global financial system and is an international lender of last resort. Many analysts say the IMF is at the core of the problem. The calls for the reform are growing if a new financial architecture is what the world needs. Quotas and voting power within the IMF do not reflect the current sizes of economies and their ability to contribute resources.
G-20国家的人口占世界人口的三分之二。这些国家的GDP占全球的80%，他们也是国际货币基金会的成员。国际货币基金会是一个监管全球金融系统的国际组织，也是终极国际借贷者。许多分析家说国际货币基金会是问题的核心。如果全新的金融体系是世界所需的，对改革的呼唤就会不断增长。国际货币基金会内的配额和投票权不反映他们所代表国家当前的经济规模和贡献能力。
“49.5 percent of the voting shares in the fund, as all of you know, are represented by the United States and Europe. Only 5.6 percentage of voting structure of the IMF is in the hands of China and India. This is ridicule. It’s---it just doesn’t make sense.”
“正如大家所知，基金会中49.5%的投票权代表着美国和欧洲，只有5.6%的投票在中国和印度手中。这太荒谬了。这根本不符合常理。”
Russia and the EU have called upon reform of both the IMF and the World Bank. Meanwhile, the US has been sending mixed signals in terms of the specific action it would want to see taken.
俄罗斯和欧盟呼吁改革国际货币基金会和世界银行。与此同时，美国就图和采取具体行动一直发出模棱两可的信号。
The time for action is now. The global economy needs emergency help. Leaders have just one day to deal with the crisis affecting the entire world. And even though expectations are not over the top, what’s important is for the first brick to be laid, and that could already be a step forward. I’m Statzia Chergonov…
现在就是行动的时候了。全球经济需要紧急救助。领导人们只有一天时间应对影响整个世界的危机。即使期望不是很高，但重要的是垒下了第一块砖头，而那可能已经是前进一步了。Statzia Chergonov为您报道。