VOA慢速英语：美国国债利率为何重要

The U.S. government needs money to operate.

美国政府需要资金来运作。

A lot of that money comes from taxes. However, much of the money the U.S. government uses to pay its costs comes from borrowing in the form of U.S. Treasury securities.

其中大部分资金来自税收。 然而，美国政府用于支付其成本的大部分资金来自以美国国债形式的借贷。

Investors, who believe the U.S. government will be able to pay them back, agree to loan the government money for a period of time. They receive interest payments regularly or in a way set by the Treasury.

相信美国政府有能力偿还债务的投资者同意向政府提供一段时间的贷款。他们定期或按财政部规定的方式收取利息。

The difference between the loan amount and the investment return is called the yield.

贷款金额与投资回报之间的差额称为收益率。

In past years, the interest rate on the U.S. government 10-year note was low. For example, when the COVID-19 pandemic started, the interest rate for a 10-year government debt security was less than one percent. If you loaned the U.S. government $100, you would receive about one dollar a year in interest until the note "matures," or is paid back.

过去几年，美国政府10年期国债的利率一直很低。例如，在COVID-19大流行开始时，10年期政府债务证券的利率不到1%。也就是说，如果你借给美国政府100美元，你每年将收到大约1美元的利息，直到票据“到期”或还清为止。

Now, however, the yield has jumped to about five percent for a 10-year note. A note is a debt security with a term of between two and 10 years. That means investors who agree to lend money to the U.S. government for a period of 10 years will earn about a five percent return each year.

然而，现在10年期国债的收益率已跃升至5%左右。国债是一种期限为2年至10年的债务证券。这意味着同意借钱给美国政府10年的投资者每年将获得大约5%的回报。

That sounds good for investors. But everyone is not happy about it.

这听起来对投资者来说是个好消息。但是每个人都不高兴。

The reason is that many other interest rates are tied to the U.S. rate for the 10-year note.

原因是许多其他国家的利率都与美国10年期国债的利率挂钩。

In a recent report, the Associated Press called the 10-year note "the centerpiece of the global financial system."

在最近的一份报告中，美联社称10年期美国国债是“全球金融体系的核心”。

Many mortgage rates, the interest rates people pay for their home loans, are connected to the 10-year note. As a result, borrowing money becomes more costly. Over the life of a 30-year home mortgage agreement, a homeowner could pay hundreds of thousands of dollars more in interest than just two or three years ago.

许多抵押贷款利率(人们支付购房贷款的利率)都与10年期国债挂钩。因此，借贷成本变得更高。在一份30年的房屋抵押贷款协议中，房主可能要比两三年前多支付数十万美元的利息。

In addition, the high rates on the 10-year note make it harder for some new businesses to grow. A young business often does not make money. But if it wants to hire new people or create a new product, it will often take out a loan from a bank or agree to pay investors interest. Since the financial crisis of 2008, the cost of these loans has mainly been very low – only a little higher than zero percent interest.

此外，10年期美国国债的高利率加大了一些新企业发展的难度。刚成立的新企业往往不赚钱。但如果它想雇佣新员工或开发新产品，通常会向银行贷款或同意向投资者支付利息。自2008年金融危机以来，这些贷款的成本一直非常低——只比零利率高一点。

The low rates permitted many companies to borrow money at a low cost. Many of the world's economies that were struggling recovered because of the low rates. Individual investors bought stocks because they did not see a large cost to borrow money. They did not see U.S. Treasury securities as a good investment because their interest rates were so low.

低利率使许多公司能够以低成本借款。世界上许多陷入困境的经济体都因为低利率而复苏。个人投资者之所以购买股票，是因为他们认为借钱成本不高。他们不认为美国国债是一种好的投资，因为其利率太低。

But now, interest rates are rising. As a result, some businesses are choosing not to expand. Some are even reducing their workforce in order to reduce operating costs.

但现在，利率正在上升。因此，一些企业选择不再扩张。有些公司甚至开始裁员，以降低运营成本。

Why did the interest rates rise so fast?

为什么利率上升得这么快?

The cost of living increased quickly once many countries re-opened after the pandemic. Cars, food and energy prices all went higher. The war in Ukraine reduced the food and energy supply in Europe and Africa, so those costs increased for Europeans and Africans.

疫情过后，许多国家重新开放，生活成本迅速上升。汽车、食品和能源价格都走高。乌克兰战争减少了欧洲和非洲的粮食和能源供应，导致欧洲人和非洲人的生活成本增加。

Many people found that the usual amount of money did not buy the usual amount of goods. That is called inflation. In some countries, the price of food and energy doubled in a short time. Home prices increased because many people decided they needed more space if they were going to do their jobs from home.

许多人发现，平时的钱买不到平时数量的商品。这就是所谓的通货膨胀。在一些国家，食品和能源的价格在短时间内翻了一番。房价上涨是因为许多人认为，如果他们要在家工作，他们需要更大的空间。

The fast inflation concerned government banks around the world. In countries such as the U.S. and areas like Europe, central banks decided to raise the interest rates they control as a way to reduce, or slow, inflation.

快速的通货膨胀使世界各地的政府银行感到担忧。在美国等国家和欧洲等地区，央行决定提高他们控制的利率，以此来减少或减缓通货膨胀。

Central bankers believe that increasing interest rates can keep people and businesses from spending too much money. To a point, the plan has worked. In the U.S., some data shows inflation is slowing.

央行官员认为，提高利率可以防止人们和企业过度消费。在某种程度上，这个计划奏效了。在美国，一些数据显示通胀正在放缓。

Economists who study the U.S. have been surprised that the economy stayed strong even as interest rates for Treasury securities have increased. People are still spending money and the employment rate is high.

研究美国的经济学家对美国经济在国债利率上升的情况下依然保持强劲感到惊讶。人们仍在消费，就业率也很高。

But some investors are thinking that a yield of about 5 percent is better than putting money into stocks that might lose value. As a result, stocks prices have dropped since the summer.

但一些投资者认为，5%左右的收益率比把钱投入可能会贬值的股票要好。因此，自今年夏天以来，股价一直在下跌。

Because U.S. Treasury securities are not a high-risk investment, the U.S. dollar has gotten stronger compared to the Euro, the British pound and the Australian dollar.

由于美国国债不是高风险投资，美元对欧元、英镑和澳元走强。

High interest rates also hurt some investors who decided to put their money in safe U.S. Treasury securities five or 10 years ago. If those investors purchased bonds paying a lower interest rate than today, they would lose money if they tried to sell those securities on the open market now.

高利率也对一些决定在五年或十年前将资金投入安全的美国国债证券的投资者造成了损失。如果这些投资者购买的债券利率低于今天的利率，如果他们现在想在市场上卖出这些证券，他们就会亏钱。

One large investment fund that purchases U.S. debt securities with different terms has lost three percent of its value this year. If this situation continues, the fund is on track to lose value for the third year in a row.

一家购买不同期限美国债务证券的大型投资基金今年已经损失了 3% 的价值。 如果这种情况继续下去，该基金将连续第三年亏损。

I'm Dan Friedell. And I'm Caty Weaver.

丹·弗里德尔、卡蒂·韦弗联合报道。