The 1920s is boom time in America.

20世纪20年代是美国的繁荣时期

Money flows and oil wells explode.

金钱如潮涌来，油井不断开采

Though farmers are struggling, cities expand.

农民们挣扎求生，城市却飞速扩张

Skyscrapers go higher than the stock market.

摩天大楼擎天之势让高攀的股指也望尘莫及

Aspirations run wild for cars and suburban housing projects like Hollywoodland.

对汽车和类似好莱坞的近郊豪宅的渴望急剧膨胀

By 1929,more money is spent on advertising than on education.

到1929年，广告业产值超过了国民教育支出

We got a little carried away with consumerism and capitalism and it bite us in the butt.

所谓消费至上和资本主义，让我们有点飘飘然了，到头来反受其害

The boom is built on credit.

繁荣的根基 是银行信用体系

In 1929,$6 billion of goods are bought on credit,

1929年，美国人用信用卡买了60亿美元的商品

but 80% of Americans have no savings at all.

与此同时，80%的美国人却没有丝毫积蓄

Some stocks are valued at 50 times what they're really worth.

有的股票市值高达其实际价值的50倍

A giant bubble just ready to burst.

一个巨大的泡沫即将破灭

By October 1929, the inevitable happens.

1929年10月，该来的还是来了

The stock market loses 12 times more money in three weeks,

股票市场3个星期内蒸发掉的市值

than the US government uses in a year.

相当于美国政府一年财政开支的12倍还多

The entire country could've gone down--and almost did, from an economic point of view.

整个国家很可能就此一蹶不振，从经济角度来看也确实几乎如此

For a year after the stock-market crash,

股市崩溃后整整一年

America's economy teeters on the edge of the abyss.

美国经济徘徊在深渊的边缘

December 1930.The streets of New York are quiet.

1930年12月，纽约街头非常平静

It's been a year since the stock-market crash of 1929,

离1929年股市崩溃已经一年多了

but only 2% of the population own stocks.

不过只有2%的人口是股民

The other 98% get on with their lives.

其他98%的人生活依旧如常

Until today.

直到这一天