双语：评级机构降低美国债务预期
Source: VOA    2011-04-19
The Standard and Poors rating agency has cut its long-term outlook for U.S. government debt from "stable" to "negative," but it has kept its high "Triple-A" credit rating in place for now.

S&P said Monday it was lowering its outlook because of the risk that U.S. policymakers may not come to agreement on long-term budget challenges and the U.S. debt ceiling. The ratings agency outlook and concerns about the strength of the U.S. economic recovery helped cause U.S. stock markets to take a sharp drop at the opening of trading in New York Monday.

The triple-A rating means there is likely no short-term increase in the U.S. government's cost of borrowing to fund its estimated $1.5 trillion budget deficit. Current estimates are that the U.S. government debt stands at $14 trillion.

标准普尔评级机构把美国政府债务的长期前景从“稳定”降低到“负面”，但美国的信用评级目前仍保持在“3A”的高水平。

标准普尔评级机构星期一说，它降低了这一预期，原因是美国的决策者们可能无法就长期的预算挑战和美国债务上限达成协议。这个评级机构对美国经济恢复力度的预期和担忧导致美国股市星期一在纽约交易所开盘时大跌。

信用等级3A意味着，美国政府靠借贷资助约1万5千亿美元预算赤字的成本，短期内可能不会增加。目前的预计是，美国政府的债务为14万亿美元。