on the edge

一年多来，债务危机肆虐（lurch）欧元区，让人心惊胆战(nail-biting)

 with denial and dithering, followed at the eleventh hour with a half-baked rescue plan to buy time. 

极力否认危机存在，，又慌张的不知所措，最后一刻才拿出尚不成熟的救援计划来争取时间

 Yields on ten-year Italian bonds jumped by almost a percentage point

十年期的意大利债券飙升一个百分点

it has hurdled over Spain, supposedly next in line, and reached one of the euro zone’s giants. All its members, but especially Germany, face a stark choice. 

它已经绊倒了西班牙，落入危机似乎已成定局，现在魔爪已经伸向了欧元区的主题经济。德国正在面临一个严峻的选择。

Consider the stakes

纵观全局

Even if the more likely immediate prospect is sustained stress in the Italian bond market

即使意大利国债市场短期内很肯能显现出持续的压力

 how to raise the federal government’s debt ceiling to stave off an American “default” (see article).

增加中央政府的债务上限，让美国避开“债务违约”

once they realise how much is at stake in Italy, it will not help.

一旦他们了解到意大利的利害攸关，这些试图分散注意力的招数就不会有什么用了

 Italian government’s ability to shoulder its huge debt.

意大利政府能否有能力肩负起如此繁重的债务

 Its primary budget  is in surplus

它的基本预算还有盈余

By European standards its banks are decently capitalized

按照欧洲的标准，意大利银行资本化程度很高。

High private saving means that much sovereign borrowing is funded at home

私人储蓄充裕意味着主权债务基本通过本国融资而来。

 they have not chosen to muddle through merely out of cowardice, though there has been plenty of that

他们没有因为害怕而糊弄应付，尽管他们糊弄的也不少了

However the restructuring is pitched, Greece will be in default, so a plan to recapitalise banks hit badly by this, starting with Greece’s own, will be needed too

无论重组从什么名义进行，希腊都会出现违约，因此一个对被此重创的银行的资金重组计划也是必须的。

 issue jointly guaranteed “Eurobonds”.

发行联合担保的 欧元债券

they breached 6%

突破了6%

 with alarming speed

快的令人担忧的速度

push through long overdue structural reforms

推行早就该通过的结构性改革