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What prevented the Asian crisis from becoming a full-scale global economic downturn has been the astonishing US economy.
正是由于美國經濟的驚人增長，才阻止了亞洲金融危機演變成全球范圍的經濟衰退。
Its relentless growth helped the rest of the world by purchasing more and more of their exports. Since 1996, the US current-account deficit in its balance of payments—the broadest measure of the country's international trade—has more than doubled, from $129 billion to an estimated total of $330 billion in 1999.
美國經濟的持續增長使它能越來越多地購買其他國家的出口產品，這樣也有助于這些國家的經濟發展。從1996年起，美國國際收支往來賬目赤字——這是衡量一個國家國際貿易最全面的指標——從1，290億美元上升到1999年的大約3，300億美元，翻了一番還多。
The world economy, as Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers has repeatedly said, has been flying on one engine. The trouble is, as Mr. Summers has also warned, this cannot go on forever.
正如美國財政部部長勞倫斯·薩默斯多次強調的，世界經濟是靠一個引擎在飛行。但同時薩默斯先生警告說，問題在于這種情況不能夠永遠持續下去。
The great danger is that the world has become too dependent on American prosperity and that a slowdown or recession—reflecting a decline in the stock market, a loss of consumer confidence or higher interest rates—might snowball into an international slump.
巨大的危險在于世界太過于依賴美國經濟的繁榮，所以一旦美國經濟出現減速或衰退——反映在股市的下跌、消費者信心的喪失或利率較高等方面——就會像滾雪球般發展成為全球范圍的經濟衰退。
By economic forecasts, Europe and Japan are going to do better. In 2000, the European Union's gross domestic product will grow 2.8 percent, up from 2.1 percent in 1999, according to projections by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. Japan is projected to grow 1.4 percent, the same as the OECD is predicting for 1999 but a big improvement from the 2.8 percent drop in 1998.
根據經濟預測，歐洲和日本經濟走勢會更好。另據總部設在巴黎的經濟合作與發展組織（OECD）的預測，2000年歐盟的國內生產總值將增長2.8%，而1999年增長了2.1%。日本的國內生產總值預計將增長1.4%，與經濟合作與發展組織對1999年的預測一致，但相對于1998年2.8%的下滑而言已是一個很大的進步。
