VOA慢速英语2009-Economics Report - US Treasury Details Plan to R

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

This week American Treasury¹ Secretary Tim Geithner announced details of a plan aimed at removing billions of dollars in bad debts from American banks.

The government program has two parts. One involves buying groups of loans, like home mortgages. The second involves buying securities or financial investments tied to loans. Under the plan, the federal government will partner with private investors² to buy bad loans made by banks.
　
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner speaking to lawmakers in Washington on Thursday

These bad loans, also called toxic³ assets, have weakened American banks and interfered⁴ with normal lending. The Treasury Department says it will offer low interest loans to private investors so they will buy billions of dollars in toxic assets and get American banks lending again. The Obama administration says if the plan is a success, it could remove as much as one trillion dollars in bad loans.

No one knows how much government money might be needed. But during the past six months, more than seven hundred billion dollars has been committed to cleaning up the bad loans in the banking⁵ system.

The plan was first announced last month without many details. The stock market fell. However this week, news of the plan sent prices higher on the American and international stock markets. Following the announcement Monday, share prices of thirty major American industrial stocks increased almost seven percent. This was the biggest one-day gain since October. Mister Geithner said it will take several weeks for his plan to be properly judged by financial markets.

The deep international economic slowdown began in August, two thousand seven. That is when failures in the American home mortgage market caused financial markets to decrease lending.

First the American and then the world economy slipped into recession. Since then, several efforts to unlock credit have failed. Some experts say there will be no other choice but short-term nationalization of troubled banks if the Geithner plan fails to help the financial system.

This week Secretary Geithner also called for increased powers to control other financial businesses, like the insurance company American International Group. Mister Geithner said the Obama administration will continue working with Congress on details of the proposal.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Brianna Blake. Transcripts⁶, MP3s and podcasts of our programs are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 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。

2 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

3 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

4 interfered   

v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉

参考例句：

• Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

6 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句