美国有线新闻 CNN 2013-09-28

 We're jumping right in today with a milestone¹ you might have noticed but a lot of folks aren't happy about. In the United Sates, the average cost of a gallon of gasoline has been at least 3 dollars for 1000 days in a row. Some folks might be used to it but you also might remember when gas price were lower. Christine Romans looks at some of the driving forces behind increase.

 

The last time the average price of a gallon gas under 3 dollars a gallon was in December 2010. The trend has been higher for a decade now. But look at this, right here in December 2010. It was the last time you saw it below. And here, while you have super low prices here but that was because of global financial crisis. So, why is that so high? A few reasons here. First, global instability. No surprise, the Arab Spring began in December 2010. About the same time, this oil run started.Syria concerns, more recently have kept oil prices high. The world wants more oil and we're still rising demand for gas in developing world, places like China and India. We're not seeing the cheap supplies that we're used to, right? We're getting fuel from fracking and deep water platforms and that is expensive and tightening² supply and demand is something like investors⁴ are watching. It keeps the prices rising when you see this, this fundamental shifts, investors demanding here that investor³ demand also driving up the price of crude oil. So, is this the new normal? Well, we ask Tom Clozes, a chief oil analyst⁵ for gas but says this is where we are now. By the end of the new year, by the end of the year and the new year, you could see maybe 3 bucks⁶ a gallon. Of course, all that depends on Syria and whether conflict can be peacefully resolved there. It also depends on the Fed. If the Fed should begin to taper⁷ back its bond purchases, that could mean demand for commodities would go down, demand for things like oil, investor demand oil and that could mean lower gas prices ahead. So, watch those 2 things: Syria and the Fed. That could matter how much you're paying for a gallon of gas.   

 

You heard Christine says the Fed. She's talking about the US federal reverse, the country's central bank. It's responsible for implementing⁸ monetary⁹ policies. Basically, the Fed controls the country's money supply. In recent years, the Fed has bought bonds and other kinds of securities to try to help the struggling US economy. It's a practice called quantitative¹⁰ easing. Christine mentioned the possibility of the Fed backing off that practice. Yesterday, the federal reverse announced it won't. The Fed said it doesn't see enough improvement in the economy right now. So, it's going to keep buying bonds at the same rate for at least other month. That news went over well on Wall Street. The Dow Jones average and S&P 500. They give an idea of how the whole stock market is doing. They both jumped to record levels yesterday after the Fed's announcement. In the US, a person making just over 11,500 dollars a year is living below the poverty line. For a family of 4, it's just under 23,500. What surprising is that 15% Americans are living in poverty now. According to a new report by the US census¹¹, it's the 3rd year in a row that the poverty rate has been at or above 15%. The last time it was that high for this long was 1965. You'd be right to blame the great recession for part of this. It's same a lot of folks in the poverty but the recession officially ended in June of 2009. Poverty peaked the next year. What worries many economies is that it hasn't significantly decreased since then. One analyst put it like this: The US economy has been growing but that hasn't made a difference yet to many US citizens. Jobs have been coming back but they are just not paying as much. Right now, the median household income is 51,000 dollars a year. In 2007, it was higher and more than 55,000 dollars.

1 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

2 tightening   

上紧，固定，紧密

参考例句：

• Make sure the washer is firmly seated before tightening the pipe. 旋紧水管之前，检查一下洗衣机是否已牢牢地固定在底座上了。
• It needs tightening up a little. 它还需要再收紧些。

3 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

4 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

5 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

6 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 taper   

n.小蜡烛，尖细，渐弱；adj.尖细的；v.逐渐变小

参考例句：

• You'd better taper off the amount of time given to rest.你最好逐渐地减少休息时间。
• Pulmonary arteries taper towards periphery.肺动脉向周围逐渐变细。

8 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

9 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

10 quantitative   

adj.数量的，定量的

参考例句：

• He said it was only a quantitative difference.他说这仅仅是数量上的差别。
• We need to do some quantitative analysis of the drugs.我们对药物要进行定量分析。

11 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。