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　　A Lighter Ball and Chain

　　锁链更轻了

　　During the boom years, Americans borrowed andbinged. The hangover has been long and throbbing,but after five years of water and aspirin, householdfinances are looking healthier. In the fourth quarterof 2012 the average "debt-service ratio" for Americanhouseholds fell to its lowest level since recordsbegan in 1980. That is, households were spendingless of their disposable income on paying intereston mortgages, consumer loans and other types of credit than at any point in the past threedecades.

　　在经济繁荣的年代，美国人大量贷款与放贷。这样的后遗症持续时间长，而且不稳定，但经过五年的处理和治疗，家庭财务状况正逐步好转。2012年第四季度美国家庭的平均"债务偿还比率"跌至自1980年记录以来最低水平。这意味着，美国家庭已减少他们在抵押贷款的利息、消费贷款和其他类型的信贷方面的可支配收入，这比过去三年任一类型的支出都要少。

　　New figures released by the Federal Reserve show a small rise in the first quarter of 2013，butthe household debt-service burden appears to have bottomed out.

　　最新公布的数据显示，美联储在2013年第一季度有小幅度上升，但家庭的债务负担似乎已达到最低限度了。

　　People have been paying down unmanageable old debt and taking out fewer and smaller newloans. Rising house prices have also helped homeowners, at least recently. CoreLogic, a researchfirm, reports that 1.7m households have escaped negative equity over the past year, the valueof their home now exceeds their mortgage debt. Remarkably, household net worth, at $70.3trillion, has hit an all time high (though relative to the overall economy it remains below levelsin previous booms).

　　人们已经将犹如一团乱麻的旧债还清，并且采用既少且小的新贷款。房价的上升对私房房主也有一定的帮助，至少目前还在获利。CoreLogic，一家研究公司报告指出，在过去的一年里，有170万家庭解决了负资产，即他们房屋的市值已经超过他们抵押的债务。神奇的是，家庭净资产达到了70.3万亿美元，也创下了新高(尽管整体经济状况仍低于以前经济繁荣时期)。

(责任编辑：田学江)