[长难句突破]

The American economic system is organized around a basically private-enterprise, market-oriented economy in which consumers largely determine what shall be produced by spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most.

主体句式：The American economic system is organized around a economy.

结构分析：本句结构较为复杂，重点在于抓住主干，然后逐步分析其细枝末节。Economy后面的which引导的定语从句用来修饰economy，这个从句中的主干是consumers determine what shall be produced。"what shall be produced"后面的分词结构是一个由by引导的状语，句末的定语从句that they want most 修饰goods and services。需要注意的是本句主要围绕着economy这个词语展开。

If, on the other hand, producing more of a commodity results in reducing its cost, this will tend to increase the supply offered by seller-producers, which in turn will lower the price and permit more consumers to buy the product.

主体句式：This will tend to increase the supply

结构分析：本句开头是一个由if引导的条件从句，该句的主语是一个动名词短语"producing more of a commodity"。在句子的主干中，supply后面的分词结构"offered by seller-producers"后置作supply的定语。句子的最后是由which 引导的定语从句，which指代前面整个主句的内容。

[全文译文]

The American economic system is organized around a basically private-enterprise, market-oriented economy in which consumers largely determine what shall be produced by spending their money in the marketplace for those goods and services that they want most. Private businessmen, striving to make profits, produce these goods and services in competition with other businessmen; and the profit motive, operating under competitive pressures, largely determines how these goods and services are produced. Thus, in the American economic system it is the demand of individual consumers, coupled with the desire of businessmen to maximize profits and the desire of individuals to maximize their incomes, that together determine what shall be produced and how resources are used to produce it.

An important factor in a market-oriented economy is the mechanism by which consumer demands can be expressed and responded to by producers. In the American economy, this mechanism is provided by a price system, a process in which prices rise and fall in response to relative demands of consumers and supplies offered by seller-producers. If the product is in short supply relative to the demand, the price will be bid up and some consumers will be eliminated from the market. If, on the other hand, producing more of a commodity results in reducing its cost, this will tend to increase the supply offered by seller-producers, which in turn will lower the price and permit more consumers to buy the product. Thus, price is the regulating mechanism in the American economic system.

The important factor in a private-enterprise economy is that individuals are allowed to own productive resources (private property), and they are permitted to hire labor, gain control over natural resources, and produce goods and services for sale at a profit. In the American economy, the concept of private property embraces not only the ownership of productive resources but also certain rights, including the right to determine the price of a product or to make a free contract with another private individual.

从根本上说，美国经济体制是围绕私有企业、在以市场为导向的经济基础上建立起来的。在这种体制下需要生产什么在很大程度上是消费者通过到市场花钱购买他们最需要的商品和服务来决定的。为了获取利润，私有企业主在与他人竞争中生产产品，提供服务。在竞争的压力下追求利润的动机以及如何运作在很大程度上决定生产商品和提供服务的方式。因此，在美国经济体制中，消费者个人的需求，加上商人获取最大利润的追求及消费者想最大限度提高购买力的愿望三者共同决定应该生产什么和如何利用资源来生产这些产品。

市场型经济中的一个重要因素是反映消费者需求以及生产者对消费者需求作出反应的机制。在美国经济中，这一机制是由价格体制体现的，价格随消费者的相对需求与生产者的供应情况而上下浮动。如果供不应求，价格就上升，有些消费者就会被排挤出市场。另一方面，某种产品大量生产导致成本下降，生产者提供的产品就会增加，这就会使价格下跌，那么，更多的消费者就会购买该产品。因此，价格是美国经济体制中的调节机制。

私有企业经济的一个重要因素是允许个人拥有生产资料（私有财产），允许他们雇佣劳动力，控制自然资源，通过生产产品、提供服务来获取利润。在美国经济中，私有财产的概念不仅包括生产资料的所有权，也包括一定的其它权利，比如，产品价格的决定权或与其他私有个体的自由签约权。