US Trade Deficit Grows

 　　The U.S. trade deficit¹ got nearly 4 percent worse in December as a reviving² economy boosted³ demand for imported goods.

　　Both imports and exports hit record highs, but imports grew even more than the flow of goods exported from the United States.

　　Friday's report from the Commerce Department says the gap between what foreigners sell to U.S. buyers and what Americans sell overseas rose to $48.8 billion for the month.

　　For all of 2011, the trade deficit rose 11.6 percent to a total of $558 billion, the worst showing since 2008.

　　The trade gap with China hit a record-high of nearly $296 billion for the year, and is likely to focus more attention on this political issue in the United States.

　　One reason for the rising U.S. trade deficit is the increasing cost of oil imported to the United States. A study by the University of Michigan shows those rising fuel prices made consumers a bit more gloomy⁴ about the economic situation in early February.

1 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

2 reviving   

v.恢复( revive的现在分词 )；苏醒；使再生效；回忆起

参考例句：

• There was a reviving pleasure in this intercourse. 交谈中，有一种令人振奋的乐趣。 来自辞典例句
• He had accused them of deliberately reviving militarism. 他曾指控他们蓄意复活军国主义。 来自辞典例句

3 boosted   

v.促进( boost的过去式和过去分词 )；增加；吹捧；向上推起

参考例句：

• The shop's new look has boosted its takings considerably. 焕然一新的店铺大大提高了销售额。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The boy had to be boosted up onto the large horse. 那男孩必须让人托着才能骑上那高头大马。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 gloomy   

adj.阴暗的，阴沉的，令人沮丧的，阴郁的

参考例句：

• A few faint gleams of sunshine lit up the gloomy afternoon.几束隐约的阳光使阴暗的下午有些明亮。
• When I saw their gloomy faces,I knew something was wrong.当我看到他们沮丧的脸时，我知道出事了。