美国劳工部近日公布，美国6月消费者价格指数（CPI）环比上涨1.3%，同比上涨9.1%，再次刷新40年来的最高纪录。

 

US inflation surged to a new four-decade high in June because of rising prices for gas, food and rent, squeezing household budgets and pressuring the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates aggressively -- trends that raise the risk of a recession.

由于汽油、食品和房租价格上涨，美国家庭预算紧缩，迫使美联储大幅加息，6月份美国通胀率飙升至40年来新高。该趋势增加了美国经济衰退的风险。

 

The government's consumer price index soared 9.1% over the past year, the biggest yearly increase since 1981, with nearly half of the increase due to higher energy costs.

消费者价格指数（CPI）同比增长9.1%，这是自1981年以来最大同比涨幅，其中近一半增长是因为能源成本的上涨。

 

Lower-income and Black and Hispanic American have been hit especially hard, since a disproportionate share of their income goes toward essentials such as transportation, housing and food. But with the cost of many goods and services rising faster than average incomes, a vast majority of Americans are feeling the pinch in their daily routines.

低收入人群、黑人和西班牙裔美国人受到的打击尤其严重，因为他们收入的大部分用于交通、住房和食品等必需品。但随着许多商品和服务的成本上涨比平均收入上涨得更快，绝大多数美国人在日常生活中都感到压力。

 

Accelerating inflation is a vexing¹ problem for the Federal Reserve, too. The Fed is already engaged in the fastest series of interest rate hikes in three decades, which it hopes will cool inflation by tamping² down borrowing and spending by consumers and businesses.

通胀加剧对美联储来说也是一个头痛的问题。美联储已经采取了近三十年来的最大加息动作，希望通过抑制消费者和企业的借贷和支出冷却通胀。

 

The US economy shrank in the first three months of the year, and many analysts³ believe the trend continued in the second quarter.

今年一季度美国经济出现萎缩，许多分析师认为这一趋势在第二季度仍在继续。

 

"The Fed's rate hikes are doing what they are supposed to do, which is kill off demand," said Megan Greene, global chief economist⁴ at the Kroll Institute. "The trick is if they kill off too much and we get a recession."

克罗尔研究所全球首席经济学家梅根·格林表示：“美联储加息是在做他们应该做的事情，那就是扼杀需求。问题是，如果他们扼杀掉太多需求，经济就会陷入衰退。”

 

Republican members of Congress have blamed the higher prices on Biden's economic policies, specifically his $1.9 trillion financial support package approved in March.

美国共和党议员将物价上涨归咎于拜登的经济政策，特别是他在今年3月签署的1.9万亿美元经济救助计划。

 

"There may be some relief in the July numbers — commodity prices have come off the boil, at least — but we are a very, very long way from inflation normalizing, and there is no tangible⁵ sign of downward momentum," said Eric Winograd, an economist at asset manager AllianceBernstein.

资产管理公司联博基金经济学家埃里克·温诺格拉德表示：“7月份的数据可能会有所缓解，至少大宗商品价格已经回落，但我们离通胀正常化还有很长很长的路要走，通胀势头没有明显的下降迹象。”

 

For now, the relentless⁶ pace of price increases is frustrating⁷ many Americans.

目前，物价持续上涨令许多美国人感到沮丧。

 

Delores Bledsoe, a truck driver hauling freight from Carlisle, Pennsylvania to Wisconsin on Wednesday, said her fuel costs have tripled. "It's making me want to get out of the truck and go drive an Uber," said Bledsoe, who lives in Houston. "It's depressing."

7月12日，住在休斯顿的卡车司机德洛雷斯·布莱索的工作是将货物从宾夕法尼亚州的卡莱尔运往威斯康星州。布莱索表示，燃料成本已经增加了两倍，“这让我想放弃开卡车，去开网约车，太令人沮丧了”。

 

Housing and rental⁸ costs are rising steadily⁹ as solid job gains encourage more Americans to move out on their own. Rents have risen 5.8% compared with a year ago, the most since 1986. And the cost of decorating homes is still increasing at a rapid pace — furniture prices are up 13% from a year ago — even as retailers¹⁰ such as Walmart and Target experience rising inventories¹¹, which should help lower prices.

稳定的就业增长促使更多美国人搬出去自己住，住房和租金成本因此稳步上升。租房成本同比上涨5.8%，达到1986年以来的最高水平。尽管沃尔玛和塔吉特等零售商不断增加库存帮助降低价格，但家庭装修成本仍在快速增长，家具价格同比增长13%。

 

The biggest shock has been energy prices, which soared 7.5% just from May to June. Gas prices have skyrocketed nearly 60% compared with a year ago.

受冲击最大的是能源价格，6月份环比增长7.5%。天然气价格同比上涨近60%。

 

Excluding the volatile¹² food and energy categories, so-called core prices rose 0.7% from May to June, the biggest such spike¹³ in a year. Core prices jumped 5.9% from a year ago.

除去波动性较大的食品和能源类别，6月核心消费价格指数环比上涨0.7%，为近一年最大涨幅。6月核心消费价格指数相比去年同期上涨了5.9%。

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