Step by Step 3000 第1册 Unit8:Trends in Economics(1)

 　　Unit 8. Trends in Economics.

　　Part 1. Warming up.

　　A. Keywords. buy, meeting, trend, sell, release oil,aid, common import tax, market drops, stock prices, interest rates.

　　Vocabulary. aerospace¹, interest rate, loan, Rangoon, Burma,

　　the Gulf² Cooperation Council, the New York Stock Exchange.

　　You are going to hear some simple news items which include numbers ranging from 0.25 to 37,000,000,000.

　　Listen carefully, write down the numbers rapidly.

　　British Aerospace plans to buy the part of General electric Company of Britain that makes defence electronics.

　　The deal is worth 25 thousand million (25,000,000,000) dollars.

　　Canada will hold a meeting of American leaders in April to discuss trade and economic issues.

　　Canada now has a trade surplus of 161 million (161,000,000) dollars a year with Central America.

　　Owners of MCI Communications have agreed to sell the company to the American Communications Company WorldCom.

　　The price is 37 thousand million (37,000,000,000) dollars in stock.

　　WorldCom defeated a 28 thousand million dollar offer by GGE.

　　MCI also refused the British Company Telecom's offer to unite the two companies by an agreement worth about 24 thousand million (24,000,000,000) dollars.

　　President Clinton will release 30 million barrels of oil from the United States' emergency supply,

　　The move is designed to ease heated oil shortage expected this year.

　　Rangoon, the United Nations and the World Bank have offered Burma one thousand million (1000,000,000) dollars in aid.

　　An UN special diplomat³ made the offer to Burmese leaders last month.

　　Representatives of the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council have agreed to common import taxes.

　　Official at the meeting in Riyad said representatives agreed to set the common tax on some goods at 5.5%.

　　The tax on other goods will be 7.5%.

　　The New York Stock Exchange halted trading early after suffering one of the worst market drops in history.

　　Stock prices fell more than 550 points, that is a lose of more than 7%.

　　United States' Central Bank officials are reducing interest rates for the third time this year.

　　The bank officials cut by 0.25%, the rate the banks charge each other for short-turn loans, that rate now will be 4.75%.

　　The Central Bank made the same reduction in the rate it charges members banks for overnight loans, the rate now will be 4.5%.

　　B. Keywords. protests, meeting, EU members, low prizes,cut taxes, trade, peace and security, policies, inflation, Japanese ports. economy.

　　Vocabulary. demonstrator, senate, inflation, Dutch, Manila, the Federal Reserve Board.

　　Now, listen to some simple news items, focus your attention on who, what, when, where, why and how in each lead and write down what you hear in the given spaces.

　　Angry demonstrators are increasing their protests against rising fuel prices.

　　World oil prices have reached a ten year high of about 135 dollars a barrel.

　　China has opened a meeting of African nations, representatives of more than 40 African nations are attending the three-day meeting in Beijing.

　　Dutch Prime Minister says the Czech Republic could become a member of the European Union by early 2003.

　　The prime Minister told reporters that the final date would be decided⁴ by a conference of EU members.

　　Financial administrators⁵ and Central Bank governors of 7 leading industrial nations are meeting in Washington.

　　Officials from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United States are attending the meeting.

　　Iran and Saudi Arabia say they will try to reduce the amount of oil now on the world market in an attempt to increase the loan prices that are harming their economies.

　　Leaders of the Organization of Petrolem Exporting Countries have urged rich countries to lower oil prices by cutting taxes on oil products.

　　Leaders of the ten-number Association of Southeastern Asian Nations have promised to speed efforts to increase trade and to bring peace and security to the area.

　　They made the statement at the end of their yearly meeting in the Manila.

　　The chairman of the Federal Reserve Board has told a senate committee that he will support policies that keeping inflation low.

　　The United States and Japan have signed an agreement that will open Japanese ports to foreign companies.

　　And in Singapore, Prime Minister says his country's economy has increased almost 4% for the first half in 1998.

　　Experts say the country has became a leading manufactory and financial center.

　　C. Keywords. shares, trading, reduced, rate, loan, budget plan, limiting production,index, rose, unemployment, owes, wholesale⁶ prices, increased.

　　Vocabulary. prime rate, cabinet, budget, barrel, indicator⁷, work force.

　　You are going to hear some simple news items, which include numbers ranging from 0.1 to 27,000,000,000.

　　Listen carefully, write down the numbers rapidly.

　　A record number of shares, almost 93 million were traded Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

　　Trading was heavy again Friday on the New York Stock Exchange, about 97 million shares were traded, a number second only to the record 133 million shares traded Wednesday.

　　Manufacturers' Hanover Trust Company of New York and the First National Bank of Chicago both reduce their prime rate 1.5% to 16%.

　　The World Bank has approved a 100 million dollar loan to the Ivory Coast.

　　Japan's cabinet has approved a proposed budget plan for next year, the 210 thousand million dollar budget will reduce total spending, military spending will be increased 5.1%.

　　Oil ministers of the Organization of Petroleum⁸ Exporting Countries have agreed to continue limiting production to 17,500,000 barrels of oil a day.

　　The Commerce Department said its index of leading economic indicators⁹ rose 1.3% in July, the fourth mouth it has increased.

　　Unemployment in the United States rose last mouth to 9.5% of the American work force, the highest rate since World War Ⅱ.

　　The Labor¹⁰ Department said that unemployment rose in May by 0.1%.e

　　It's said 10,500,000 Americans were out of work.

　　Poland owes foreign countries about 27 thousand million dollars.

　　A Labor Department reports the wholesale prices increased by 0.6% in August.

1 aerospace   

adj.航空的，宇宙航行的

参考例句：

• The world's entire aerospace industry is feeling the chill winds of recession.全世界的航空航天工业都感受到了经济衰退的寒意。
• Edward Murphy was an aerospace engineer for the US Army.爱德华·墨菲是一名美军的航宇工程师。

2 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

3 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

6 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

7 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

8 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

9 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。