Falling fuel prices and an accelerating economy provided a powerful boost to US car sales in December, helping to make 2014 one of the strongest years on record for an industry that five years ago appeared to be facing collapse.
燃油价格不断下跌以及美国经济增速加快，有力提振了美国去年12月的汽车销量，这让2014年成为有记录以来美国汽车行业表现最为强劲的年份之一，而在5年前，该行业似乎将面临破产。
Sales across the industry jumped a seasonally-adjusted 13 per cent over December 2013, according to preliminary estimates from Chrysler, the US arm of Italy’s Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
根据意大利菲亚特克莱斯勒汽车(Fiat Chrysler Automobiles)美国分公司克莱斯勒(Chrysler)的初步估算，去年12月美国汽车销量同比增长13%（经季节调整）。

Low interest rates, coupled with news in December that the US economy recorded its fastest growth in a decade at 5 per cent in the third quarter, also made consumers more willing to spend on new cars, analysts said.
此外，分析人士表示，低利率以及12月美国经济录得10年来最快增速的消息，令消费者更愿意花钱购置新车。去年第三季度，美国经济增长5%。
The importance of falling petrol prices was underscored by the fact that the biggest beneficiaries were carmakers with the strongest line-ups of more fuel-hungry pick-up trucks and sports utility vehicles.
油价下跌的重要性突出反映在这个事实上：最大的受益者是那些拥有最多皮卡和SUV系列的汽车制造商，这类车型往往耗油更多。
Sales in December for General Motors, the US’s largest carmaker by sales, were 19 per cent up year-on-year. Sales for Chrysler, which manufactures the fashionable Jeep SUV and Ram pick-up truck brands, were 20 per cent ahead of December 2013.
美国销量最大的汽车制造商通用汽车(GM)12月销量同比增长19%。生产时尚的Jeep SUV和Ram皮卡品牌的克莱斯勒销量同比增长20%。
December’s strong figures partly reflected the US economy’s general strength, but the fuel price fall was the “icing on the cake”, she said: “If you’re spending less on gas, you have more money in your household budget and you can put that towards a new vehicle.”
12月的强劲数据部分反映出美国经济的整体强势，但汽车信息网站autotrader.com分析师米歇尔•克雷布斯(Michelle Krebs)表示，燃料价格下跌是“锦上添花”，“如果天然气支出下降，家庭预算就会增加，可以用来购置新车。”
The average price for a US gallon of fuel fell to $2.30 in the week starting December 29, according to Washington’s Energy Information Administration, 31 per cent down from a year earlier and 37 per cent down from June’s $3.64 peak.
根据华盛顿美国能源情报署(Energy Information Administration)的数据，自12月29日开始的一周，美国燃料价格平均跌至每加仑2.30美元，同比下跌31%，较去年6月的3.64美元峰值水平下跌37%。