在线英语听力室_免费在线英语听力学习网站

President Bush says he is optimistic about reaching agreement with opposition¹ legislators on an economic stimulus² package. The U.S. central bank has cut the key interest rate in an effort to boost the troubled U.S. economy and stop a global sell-off of stocks.

美国总统布什说，他对能够和美国国会民主党议员就一项刺激经济的方案达成协议持乐观态度。美国中央银行已经降低了关键的利率，试图推动陷入困境的美国经济，并止住全球抛售股票的风潮。

President Bush met with leaders from both political parties in Congress to brief them on his trip to the Middle East last week. But it was concern about the U.S. economy that dominated Mr. Bush's session with lawmakers.

布什总统会见了美国国会两党的领导人，向他们简要介绍了他上星期的中东之行。不过，布什总统和国会议员们会见的主要话题是对美国经济的关切。

"I believe we can find common ground to get something done that is big enough and effective enough so that an economy that is inherently strong gets a boost to make sure that this uncertainty³ does not translate into more economic woes⁴ for our workers and small business people," said Mr. Bush.

布什总统说：“我相信我们能够找到共同点来采取足够大、也足够有效的行动，使这个一贯强大的经济能够得到推动，并确保这种不确定性不致演变成美国工人和小企业的更大经济困境。”

President Bush says he has reasonable expectations about how quickly an economic stimulus plan can get through Congress, but he is optimistic that it will.

布什总统说，他对国会要多久才会通过这个经济刺激计划有一个合理的预期，不过他对这个计划能获得通过感到乐观。

Mr. Bush says broad-based tax relief must be big enough to make a difference. So he is proposing an amount equal to about one percent of the value of all U.S. goods and services. That is between $140 billion and $150 billion.

布什说，减税的范围一定要足够广泛才能改变现状，所以他提议减少的税收数目相当于所有美国商品和服务价值的1%，也就是在1400亿到1500亿美元之间。

Before their meeting at the White House, Senate Majority Leader Harry⁵ Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with Treasury⁶ Secretary Henry Paulson, who was named by President Bush as his lead negotiator on the stimulus plan.

在白宫举行会晤前，国会参议院多数党领袖里德和众议院议长佩洛西会见了财政部长保尔森。布什总统任命保尔森作为他的首席谈判代表来讨论这个经济刺激计划。

Speaker Pelosi told reporters that congressional Democrats⁷ are ready to work with their Republican colleagues and the president.

佩洛西对记者说，国会民主党人已经做好准备跟共和党议员以及总统合作。

"It's important that we have a stimulus package that is timely, that is temporary, and that is targeted," she said. "To that end, we are going to work in a bipartisan way in Congress and with the president to do just that."

她说：“拿出一个及时、临时和有针对性的经济刺激方案很重要。为了这个目标，我们准备抛开党派分歧，跟国会和总统合作。”

President Bush wants tax incentives⁸ for businesses to make investments this year as well as direct and rapid income tax relief for individuals.

布什总统希望对企业实行税收上的激励措施，使它们能在今年进行投资，还要对个人收入实行直接而快速的减税。

Democrats agree on the need to help individual taxpayers⁹, but they also want to boost unemployment benefits and food aid in the stimulus package. That social spending may face opposition from a president who says the deal should not include spending projects with little immediate¹⁰ impact on the economy.

民主党人同意需要对纳税人进行帮助，但是他们还希望在这一系列刺激经济的措施中加入提高失业救济和食品援助的内容。民主党提出的这些社会福利支出计划可能会遭到布什总统的反对，因为他曾表示新措施不应包括对经济不能立即产生影响的支出项目。

President Bush remains¹¹ determined¹² to make his record tax cuts permanent, but removed what would have been a big obstacle to any deal by agreeing not to include that demand in this request for temporary economic stimulus.

布什总统依然决心把他创纪录的减税政策永久性地实行下去，不过他同意在目前的这项临时性经济刺激计划中不加入永久性减税的要求，这为同国会达成协议去除了一个巨大的障碍。

Stock markets around the world have declined recently as investors¹³ worry that a slowing U.S. economy could hurt businesses in the many nations that trade with the United States. Federal Reserve officials say they cut rates to 3.5 percent to ease tight credit.

由于投资者担心美国经济放缓可能会伤害许多同美国有贸易往来的国家的商业状况，最近世界各地的股票市场都出现下挫的现象。美联储官员表示，他们已将利率下调至3.5%，以缓解信贷紧缩的情况。