VOA标准英语2009年-Japan's New Finance Minister Promises to C

By Akiko Fujita
Tokyo
27 October 2009

Japan's new finance minister vows¹ to cut wasteful² spending and give money back to taxpayers³ to revive the country's economy. Hirohisa Fujii's comments come as the country struggles to pay down its ballooning debt.

 
Japanese Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii (File)
Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii says the key to Japan's economic recovery will be a policy that puts money in the hands of taxpayers. Speaking to journalists Tuesday, he reiterated⁴ the Democratic Party of Japan's campaign promise to increase child allowances, reduce the cost of education, and cut the gasoline tax.

Fujii says the government is saying goodbye to an old concept of growth, a concept that relied on large investments on public projects, an idea that whoever is making money should make more money to help the economy.

The policy to promote domestic spending over exports is a stark⁵ contrast to previous administrations, led by the Liberal Democratic Party. The LDP relied heavily on exports to drive the economy.

Fujii blames the "export whatever you want economy" for the country's current social disparity.

Japan is the world's second largest economy, but it has suffered more than 15 years of recession or slow growth. Over the past year, it has suffered a deep recession, although the economy now appears to be growing slowly now.

To jump-start its recovery plan, Fujii says, the government has identified $98 billion worth of wasteful spending to cut. He also says the administration plans to re-allocate about $32 billion from this year's supplementary⁶ budget to go to programs that "help the public in their daily lives."

Fujii also says there is "no doubt" the dollar remains⁷ the strongest currency in the world. And, he added that Japan would continue to invest the country's foreign reserves in dollars.

All of this talk comes in the face of mounting national debt. Fujii says that Japan is in the worst financial situation among industrialized nations, because of its massive debt. But he says that solutions to those financial problems will not come before the country's economy is back on track.

He says it is important to stabilize⁸ finances but the government is not in a position to do so. The Japanese economy, he says, is not strong enough for the government to discuss ending stimulus⁹ programs yet.

1 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

2 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

3 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

4 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

5 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

6 supplementary   

adj.补充的，附加的

参考例句：

• There is a supplementary water supply in case the rain supply fails.万一主水源断了，我们另外有供水的地方。
• A supplementary volume has been published containing the index.附有索引的增补卷已经出版。

7 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。

8 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

9 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。