The way of looking at the balance of payments is to examine the three sections in more detail. Figure 1 shows that a nation’s receipts less its payments equals the nation’s balance of payments. The settlement account entries are those that affect the imbalance on current and capital account, the so-called basic balance, and that will eventually bring the balance of payments of one nation into equilibrium with the rest of the world.
　　检查国际收支的方法是更详细地检查三个部分。图1显示，一国的收入减去支出等于该国的国际收支差额。结算项目分录是那些引起经常项目和资本项目不平衡的科目，即所谓的基本差额，它将最终带来一国的收支差额与世界其他国家的平衡。
　　Perhaps the most important section in the balance of payments is the balance of trade, the net balance of exports and imports of merchandise trade. When a surplus or deficit is mentioned, it is the balance of trade to which the commentator is most often referring. In the U.S. balance of payments, for example, net merchandise trade was in surplus for all of the twentieth century, until
　　1971.或许国际收支当中最重要的部分是贸易差额，即商品进出口贸易的净差额。每当提到顺差或逆差时，评论家往往指的是贸易差额。例如，在美国的国际收支平衡表中，在（直到1971年）整个二十世纪中，商品贸易净额都是顺差。
　　Since 1971, when the balance of trade was -$2.7 billion, it has been in deficit almost every year. The U.S. trade deficit in 1994 was $166.1 billion, up 25 percent from the 1993 trade deficit of $132.6 billion, which was 38 percent higher than the deficit in 1992. The 1992 deficit amounted to $96.1 billion, up 30 percent from the trade deficit of $73.8 billion in 1991. It was the threat of a trade deficit that forced President Nixon to devalue the dollar and officially close the gold door on August 15, 1971, and it was the $6.4 billion U.S. trade deficit in 1972 that led him to devalue the dollar again in early 1973.自1971年以来，当贸易差额为–27亿美元时，它几乎每年都是逆差。1994年美国的贸易逆差是1661亿美元，从1993年的1326亿美元的贸易逆差上升了25%,比1992年的逆差高出38%。1992年逆差额达到961亿美元，比1991年的731亿美元贸易逆差高出30%。正是贸易逆差的威胁，迫使尼克松总统将美元贬值，在1971年8月15日正式关闭了黄金之门，也正是1972年发生的64亿美元的贸易逆差，使他在1973年早些时候又一次将美元贬值。
　　In the world of perfect competition in which only two nations trade a single good with each other, the balance of payments of a nation will reflect only a current account balance composed of the trade balance. It is only when the global economy becomes sufficiently complex that nations settle their trade imbalances with long-term loans or when investment is placed abroad that the capital account is needed to reflect these long-term capital flows. Mature debtor nations will have extensive capital account transactions.
　　在完全竞争的世界里，只有两个国家互相交易一种产品，一国的国际收支平衡表只会反映构成贸易差额的经常项目差额。只有在全球经济异常复杂的情况下，各国才会用长期贷款结清他们的贸易不平衡部分，或在对外投资的时候，才需要用资本账户去反映那些长期资本流动。债务到期的国家将会进行广泛的资本项目交易。