这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道。
On Wednesday, President Obama signed into law the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
周三，奥巴马总统将《华尔街改革与消费者保护法案》签署生效。
BARACK OBAMA: "These reforms represent the strongest consumer financial protections in history -- in history."
奥巴马：“这项改革代表着美国历史上最强有力的消费者金融保护。”。
Together, the changes represent the biggest rewrite of financial rules since the Great Depression. At the heart of the two thousand three hundred pages in the bill are promises to protect average Americans.
总之，这些改革意味着大萧条以来金融秩序一次规模最大的改写。这份长达2300页的议案的核心是承诺保护美国大众。
Congress agreed to create a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But the Federal Reserve will pay for it. The central bank will budget about five hundred million dollars a year.
国会同意建立一个消费者金融保护局，但由美联储出资。美联储每年将为消费者金融保护局提供大约5亿美元的预算。
Travis Plunkett is legislative director of the Consumer Federation of America, a consumer rights group. He says this new independent office will have a lot of responsibility -- and that is a good thing.
特拉维斯·普朗凯是美国消费者协会这一消费者权益保护组织的立法主管。他说，这个新的独立部门将承担更多责任 - 这是一件好事情。
TRAVIS PLUNKETT: "We're going to have one federal consumer financial protection bureau. If it succeeds, people will know it. If it fails, people will know it. And they will try to hold it accountable."
特拉维斯·普朗凯：“我们将拥有一个联邦消费者金融保护局。无论成败，人们都会知道这一点。而他们也将试图追究责任。”
The bureau will set rules for the marketplace and enforce existing laws. One goal is to keep home buyers from getting bigger loans than they can pay for. But two areas where the bureau will not have power is over auto lenders or banks with assets of less than ten billion dollars.
该局被授权设立市场规则，执行现有法律。其中一个目标就是防止购房者申请超过他们支付能力的贷款。但对汽车信贷机构和资产在100亿美元以下的银行，该局无权管理。
Financial interests spent millions fighting the bill. The House of Representatives passed its version in December. Last week the Senate voted final approval with the aid of three Republican senators.
金融利益方耗资数百万反对该法案。但众议院12月通过了其自身版本法案，上周，在三位共和党参议员的帮助下，美国参议院又投票批准了最终法案。
House Minority Leader John Boehner called the financial reform bill "ill-conceived."
众议院少数党领袖约翰·博纳称金融改革法案“构想拙劣”。
JOHN BOEHNER: "I think it's going to make credit harder for the American people to get, clearly harder for businesses to get."
约翰·博纳：“我认为这将会使美国人民更难获得信贷，显然企业也更难获得。”
But President Obama says Wall Street took irresponsible risks that threatened the financial system.
但美国总统奥巴马说，华尔街对威胁到金融体系的风险不负责任。
Under the new law, banks can no longer own or invest in certain trading operations. The government has new powers to seize failing financial companies. These include businesses that, during the financial crisis, were considered "too big to fail."
根据新法律，银行不能再持有或投资某些交易业务。政府有权接管陷入困境的金融公司。这包括在金融危机中曾被认为是“大而不能倒”的那些企业。”
And President Obama says the law does something else.
奥巴马总统同时表示，这项法律别有意义。
BARACK OBAMA: "Finally, because of this law, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street's mistakes. There will be no more tax-funded bailouts. Period."
奥巴马说：“最终，由于这项法律，美国人民将永远不用再为华尔街的错误买单，在紧急时期也不会再有税款援助。”
Regulatory agencies will write hundreds of new rules for banks and other financial companies. This follows years of deregulation.
监管机构将为银行和其他金融公司制定数百条新规则，而此前已放松除管制数年。
Opponents in Congress say they will try to block some measures in the new law. But even if those efforts fail, it is too soon to know just how strong the new rules will be.
国会中的反对者称，他们将设法阻止新法案中的一些措施。但是，即使这些努力失败，也将尽早知道新规则有多强大。