The unemployment rate, at 8.3%, is higher under Mr. Obama than it has been for any president seeking re-election since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. On its face, that bodes poorly for Mr. Obama. But considering how high it was when he took office, at 7.8%, the figure is a more nuanced indicator.
奥巴马时期的失业率为8.3%，比罗斯福(Franklin Delano Roosevelt)以来寻求连任的任何一位总统在任时的失业率都高。表面来看这似乎对奥巴马不利。但考虑到他就任时高达7.8%的失业率，这个数字就是一个更微妙的指标了。
That is because the jobless rate rose more sharply, although from lower levels, during the first terms of some re-elected presidents. Since Mr. Obama's inauguration in January 2009, it has risen half a percentage point. During George W. Bush's first 42 months in office, it rose 1.3 percentage points, from 4.2% to 5.5%; and during Richard Nixon's first term it rose more than two points, from 3.4% to 5.6%.
这是因为在某些连任总统的首任任期中，失业率增长得更剧烈，尽管本来水平就比较低。自奥巴马2009年1月就任以来，失业率增长了0.5个百分点。小布什(George W. Bush)上任后的42个月中，失业率从4.2%升至5.5%，涨了1.3个百分点;在尼克松(Richard Nixon)的第一个任期期间，失业率的涨幅超过了两个点，从3.4%升至5.6%。
Presidents George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter saw rising unemployment during what turned out to be their last year in office, and they weren't re-elected. Under Mr. Obama, the rate has stagnated in 2012─a more favorable trend than the defeated presidents' showing.
在老布什(George H.W. Bush)和卡特(Jimmy Carter)的任期内，有一段时间失业率飙升，而这正好是他们任期的最后一年，最终他们没有连任。奥巴马任期内，失业率在2012年没有波动，与上述两位未能连任的总统相比，这是个更有利的趋势。
With the U.S. economy still balanced on a knife's edge between improvement and decline, movements one way or another in coming weeks could affect voter views more than usual. Growth in the second quarter of the year slowed to 1.5%, the government reported last month, too little to bring down unemployment.
美国经济会好转还是衰退，这还很难说，但无论如何，未来几周的动作都会异乎寻常地影响选民的看法。政府上个月公布，今年第二季度的增长减缓至1.5%，不足以拉低失业率。
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