英语听力精选进阶版 15623

 

Business Matters: Insuring against climate change 18 Feb 14

Tue, 18 Feb 14

Insurers count the cost of climate change but do they always pass it on to consumers? And are premiums¹ set to keep on rising as extreme weather events become more frequent? Dr Robert Hartwig from the Insurance Information Institute answers these and other questions, while Phil Mercer in Sydney and Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo bring us the latest on the extreme weather affecting Australia and Japan. As Scotland contemplates² independence, we hear from the Foreign Minister of Catalonia on his own region's struggle for nationhood. In New Jersey³, investment strategist and author Daniel Strachman talks greed, motivation and accountability, and tells us why he's a volunteer ambulance driver in his home town of Fanwood. In London, Simon Littlewood, President of Asia Now Consulting Group, talks fashion and sustainability and wonders why his fifteen-year-old son doesn't wash his clothes as often as the rest of us. And Dr John Coates explains the real reason behind the credit crunch⁴.

1 premiums   

n.费用( premium的名词复数 )；保险费；额外费用；（商品定价、贷款利息等以外的）加价

参考例句：

• He paid premiums on his life insurance last year. 他去年付了人寿保险费。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Moves are afoot to increase car insurance premiums. 现正在酝酿提高汽车的保险费。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 contemplates   

深思，细想，仔细考虑( contemplate的第三人称单数 )； 注视，凝视； 考虑接受（发生某事的可能性）； 深思熟虑，沉思，苦思冥想

参考例句：

• She contemplates leaving for the sake of the kids. 她考虑为了孩子而离开。
• Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them. 事物的美存在于细心观察它的人的头脑中。

3 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

4 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。