when the new federal government took on the debts incurred by individual states in their revolutionary war against Britain
当时美国各个独立的州在与英国对抗的革命战争中产生的债务都由新的联邦政府一手承担了下来
It is holding up even as Republicans in America’s House of Representatives threaten not to increase the congressional limit on federal borrowing.
哪怕就是在美国众议院的共和党议员威胁拒绝提高国会规定的美国债务上限的时候,美国的这种信用仍获得了支撑。
If the ceiling does not rise 这里指债务上限
America’s good credit has survived war and depression 美国经历了战争,经济萧条,但其良好的信用仍旧保留了下来
That debt, wrote Alexander Hamilton, America’s greatest treasury secretary, was “the price of liberty”.
那笔债务,像亚历山大·汉米尔顿所写的那样,美国最大的财政部秘书,就是“自由的代价”。
似乎是“最伟大的财政部长”。。。
IN MAKING their latest deal to save the euro on July 21st, the 17 members of the single currency took another small step towards a fiscal union.
这句貌似应该翻译为:7月21日在为拯救欧元而作出最后决定时,17个独立货币国家为达成财政联盟又有了新进展。或者:7月21日在为拯救欧元而作出最后决定时,17个独立货币国家朝着达成财政联盟的目标又有了新进展。
America made that leap 220 years ago, when the new federal government took on the debts incurred by individual states in their revolutionary war against Britain.
貌似应该翻译为:当美国新联邦政府与英国进行革命战争时,因为各独立州而背负了债务,而这一切使美国在220年前有一次重大的飞跃。
也就是因为各独立州的缘故才背负了债务。