Earlier this year the House of Representatives voted to erect a "cap-and-trade" system, which would set a ceiling on such emissions and lower it each year.

在今年早些时候，美国众议院就投票建立起“总体管制与交易”体系，这将限制每个国家二氧化碳的最高排量并将其逐年递减。

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Teams whose payrolls exceed a given threshold would be subject to a punitive tax and prevented from taking advantage of most exceptions to the cap, making it all but equivalent to a firm ceiling.

总薪资超过给定上限的球队将会受到惩罚性的税收，而且不能动用绝大部份的封顶免除，这使得该封顶基本上等同于一个硬性封顶。

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First the lights fused, next a water pipe burst, and then, to cap it all, part of the ceiling fell down.

起先电灯保险丝烧了，接着是水管破裂，然后最最糟的是一些天花板也塌了下来。

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The government borrows money to make up the difference between what it pays and what it takes in, and the debt ceiling is a cap set by Congress on the amount of debt the federal government can legally borrow.

FORBES: How The Debt Ceiling Talks Affect All Americans

Still, the deal has only postponed by two months negotiations over spending cuts and the government debt ceiling - a legal cap on its total borrowing set by Congress.

BBC: US unemployment rate holds steady in December at 7.8%

Just before the New Year, the US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner indicated that the federal government would run up against the debt ceiling - a legal cap on its total borrowing set by Congress - by the end of February.

BBC: Markets rally on US fiscal cliff deal