The German and French economies unexpectedly bounced back in the second quarter, figures showed yesterday, raising hopes that the worst of the economic crisis is coming to an end in the eurozone.

昨天公布的数据显示，德国和法国经济在第二季度意外反弹，引发人们期望欧元区经济危机最严重时期即将结束。

The region's two biggest economies, which had each suffered four consecutive quarters of negative growth, both grew 0.3 per cent in the three months to the end of June.

作为该地区最大的两个经济体，德法两国此前均经历了连续四个季度的负增长，但在截至6月份的三个月内，两国经济均增长了0.3%。

The figures confounded economists who had predicted contractions in each country again after German gross domestic product plummeted 3.5 per cent and French GDP shrank by 1.3 per cent in the first quarter.

一些经济学家曾预测，继一季度德国国内生产总值(GDP)下滑3.5%、法国下滑1.3%之后，两国二季度GDP仍将负增长，但昨天的数据令他们困惑。

As a result, GDP in the 16-nation currency bloc fell only 0.1 per cent in the last quarter, the European statistics office said, cheering economists who had expected a decline of 0.5 per cent after a drop of 2.5 per cent in the previous quarter.

欧盟统计局表示，受德法两国增长的推动，欧元区16国GDP在二季度整体仅下降0.1%，这一结果令经济学家受到鼓舞，他们曾预测在一季度下滑2.5%之后，二季度欧元区经济将缩水0.5%。

The better than expected performance echoed that of the US economy, which shrank only 0.3 per cent in the second quarter. But the UK saw its GDP shrink 0.8 per cent, prompting criticism of the government's handling of the economy.

这一优于预期的经济增长数据，呼应了美国的数据，后者的二季度GDP仅下滑0.3%。但英国GDP缩减了0.8%，引发人们批评政府对经济的处理。

“The size of Britain's banking sector and the extent to which the government allowed debt and the housing bubble to grow left Britain particularly exposed,” said Vince Cable, treasury spokesman for the opposition Liberal Democrats.

“英国银行业的规模，以及政府放任债务泡沫和房地产泡沫膨胀的程度，使得英国受危机的打击尤其巨大，”英国自由民主党(Liberal Democrats)财政事务发言人文斯·凯布尔(Vince Cable)说。

Erik Nielsen, chief economist for Europe at Goldman Sachs in London, said: “If you look at the US and Europe, pretty much everyone had a better second quarter than expected a few months ago – with the exception of the UK.”

高盛(Goldman Sachs)驻伦敦的欧洲首席经济学家埃里克·尼尔森(Erik Nielsen)说：“如果你看看美国和欧洲，几乎每个国家二季度的经济都好于几个月前的预期，只有英国例外。”

Greece and Portugal also grew 0.3 per cent in the second quarter, while the Austrian and Belgian economies shrank 0.4 per cent, Italy's 0.5 per cent and the Dutch economy by 0.9 per cent.

希腊和葡萄牙二季度GDP也增长了0.3%，而奥地利和比利时经济同期下滑了0.4%，意大利下滑0.5%，荷兰下滑0.9%。

Eastern EU countries outside the eurozone again saw recession deepen.

在东欧，欧元区以外的欧盟成员国二季度经济衰退进一步加剧。

Many economists said they expected the eurozone to swing back to growth in the third quarter, although they also warned that rising unemployment, fragile bank lending and the looming end to stimulus spending made for pitfalls.

许多经济学家表示，他们预计欧元区经济在三季度将恢复正增长。但他们也警告，失业率不断攀升、银行放贷力度疲软，以及经济刺激支出行将结束，都是隐藏的风险。

译者/功文