英语听力精选进阶版 13723

 Eurozone unemployment

Summary

3 April 2012

Unemployment in countries which use the Euro – the Eurozone - has increased according to new official figures. Over 17 million people, or 10.8 per cent of the workforce¹ were unemployed² in February.

Reporter

Andrew Walker

Report

The new figures from the European Union's statistical³ agency show the Eurozone's persistent⁴ economic problems. Aggressive action by the European Central Bank - in the shape of a trillion Euro of three-year loans to the financial institutions - has certainly brought relative calm to the markets.

But parts of the wider economy are still struggling. The number of unemployed across the Eurozone is nearly one and a half million higher than a year ago.

There remains⁵ a striking divergence⁶ between the region's struggling countries and the more successful ones. Unemployment is below six per cent in Austria, the Netherlands and Germany, but over 20 per cent in Spain and Greece. In both the latter countries, the unemployment rate for young people is over 50 per cent.

A separate private-sector survey of managers in industry points to a continued decline in manufacturing production. That adds to evidence suggesting the Eurozone economy as a whole may have contracted in the first quarter of the year, as it did at the end of 2011. If that does turn out to be the case it would be a recession.

1 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

2 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

3 statistical   

adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table.他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• They're making detailed statistical analysis.他们正在做具体的统计分析。

4 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 divergence   

n.分歧，岔开

参考例句：

• There is no sure cure for this transatlantic divergence.没有什么灵丹妙药可以消除大西洋两岸的分歧。
• In short,it was an age full of conflicts and divergence of values.总之，这一时期是矛盾与价值观分歧的时期。