VOA慢速英语 2007 1214a

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Imagine that you want to buy a house but are not sure you could meet the monthly 
 
payments. Your credit history is considered subprime -- not good enough for the lowest interest rates available.

But a broker¹ who finds lenders for homebuyers offers you a deal. A loan with payments low enough to fit your budget. After two or three years, however, your payments will go up, possibly thirty percent or more. Do you accept?

In the United States, an estimated two million subprime adjustable-rate mortgages are expected to reset² higher in the next two years. These loans make up about seven percent of all mortgages. But now many of the owners are in danger of losing their homes because of rising payments.

Last week, President Bush announced a plan to help some people with subprime loan troubles. Treasury³ Secretary Henry Paulson brought together a new private alliance called HOPE NOW. He and other government officials met with lenders, loan servicers, investors⁴ and others to work out terms of the plan.

The goal is to help families keep their homes -- and help avoid further injury to the already weak housing market. Lenders generally do not want to be in the business of selling houses reclaimed⁵ through foreclosure.

The White House says as many as one million two hundred thousand homeowners could receive assistance under the plan. They could be helped in one of three ways, depending on their situation.

One way is by refinancing an existing loan into a new private mortgage. Another is by moving their mortgage into a loan secured by the Federal Housing Administration. And the third way is by freezing their current interest rate for five years.

The plan is only for loans that were started between January of two thousand five and July of this year and that have not reset already. Borrowers must be living in the home and facing a payment increase of ten percent or more. 

Democrats⁶ in Congress say the plan does not do enough to protect homeowners. Yet some critics say it does too much, helping⁷ people who borrowed more than they should have.

Not only that, subprime loans were sold to investors worldwide as mortgage-related securities. Some investors could go to court to try to stop the loans from being renegotiated. But with the current troubles in the housing and credit markets, they may have to settle for whatever they can get.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

 

1 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

2 reset   

v.重新安排，复位；n.重新放置；重放之物

参考例句：

• As soon as you arrive at your destination,step out of the aircraft and reset your wristwatch.你一到达目的地，就走出飞机并重新设置手表时间。
• He is recovering from an operation to reset his arm.他做了一个手臂复位手术，正在恢复。

3 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

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 reclaimed   

adj.再生的；翻造的；收复的；回收的v.开拓( reclaim的过去式和过去分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救

参考例句：

• Many sufferers have been reclaimed from a dependence on alcohol. 许多嗜酒成癖的受害者已经被挽救过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They reclaimed him from his evil ways. 他们把他从邪恶中挽救出来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。