VOA标准英语2009年-US Economy Showing More Positive Signs

By Michael Bowman
Washington
08 October 2009

The U.S. economy is showing modest but welcome signs of life in employment and retail¹ sales, adding to expectations of recovery from the longest and deepest recession of the post-World War II era.

 The number of newly-laid off Americans filing for jobless benefits fell last week to the lowest level since the beginning of the year. According to the U.S. Labor² Department, new unemployment insurance claims totaled 521,000, down from 554,000 the previous week.

Joel Naroff heads Naroff Economic Advisers³ consulting firm.

"This was a somewhat better-than-expected number," said Naroff. "What this is telling us is that the really great problems in the unemployment situation are behind us. We are still having too many people file for unemployment claims, but we are beginning to see some firming in the labor market."

Naroff says the number of new jobless benefits claimants will have to fall even further, to about 450,000 a week, to prevent overall unemployment from continuing to rise. The unemployment rate stands at 9.8 percent, and is widely expected to top 10 percent in coming months - even if the U.S. economy records positive growth in the final quarter of the year.

Among the hardest hit segments of the U.S. economy is the retail sector⁴. But, collectively, America's stores recorded the first sales gains in more than a year in September. The 0.1 percent rise may seem miniscule, but compares favorably to a 1 percent drop a year ago.

Retail analyst⁵ Candace Corlett says consumers remain frugal⁶.

"There is a real movement afoot that says, 'I do not want to go back to the debt I used to carry.' Consumers are being selective," said Corlett. "It is not that they do not have some money to spend. But they just are not going to spend it everywhere."

The consensus⁷ view among economists⁸ is that consumer spending is urgently needed in the short term to spark economic expansion, but that ultimately Americans must save more and consume less than they did before last year's financial meltdown.

Earlier this week, Australia became the first industrialized nation to raise interest rates since the financial crisis and global economic slowdown struck last year. Thursday, the European Central Bank left a key interest rate unchanged at a record-low one percent, but said the worst of the recession is over. 

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

4 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

5 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

6 frugal   

adj.节俭的，节约的，少量的，微量的

参考例句：

• He was a VIP,but he had a frugal life.他是位要人，但生活俭朴。
• The old woman is frugal to the extreme.那老妇人节约到了极点。

7 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

8 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》