VOA慢速英语20060929a

ECONOMICS REPORT - U.S. and China Agree on High-Level Economic TalksBy Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Friday, September 29, 2006

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.


Treasury¹ Secretary Henry Paulson and Chinese President Hu Jintao

The United States and China plan to hold high-level meetings two times each year to discuss economic issues. The talks, called the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue, will be the first of their kind. The first meeting is expected before the end of the year.

The agreement was announced last week during a visit to China by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. The announcement was the main result of his trip. Mister Paulson says the meetings will be part of a long-term process. But he noted² in Beijing that his job is also to get short-term results.

He will lead the American side. China's top negotiator will be Vice³ Premier⁴ Wu Yi. She noted that President Bush proposed the talks to President Hu Jintao in a telephone call in August.

Probably the top issue facing the negotiators will be the conflict over the Chinese yuan. Until July of last year, China directly set the exchange rate of the yuan against the dollar. Since then, China has tied the rate to a small group of foreign currencies, including the dollar and the euro.

The immediate⁵ effect was a two percent rise in value. The yuan has slowly risen further as the value of the dollar has fallen against other currencies. But the increase has only been an additional two percent.

That is too little for many American businesses, especially manufacturers. They say China's policies have kept the cost of Chinese goods unfairly low on world markets.

Many experts also blame what is seen as a highly undervalued yuan for huge United States trade deficits⁶ with China.

But the Bush administration opposes a bill in the Senate to punish China for not letting markets set the value of the yuan. Two senators, Democrat⁷ Charles Schumer of New York and Republican Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, proposed the bill. It would place an import tax of almost thirty percent on Chinese goods.

A vote has been delayed, and the House of Representatives would also have to agree to the measure. Congress is about to leave to campaign for November elections.

Secretary Paulson urged China to put market-based reforms in place. He said China's economy is expanding too quickly for government controls to be enough.

Mister Paulson did business in China when he led the investment bank Goldman Sachs. He has visited China about seventy times. This was his first visit since he became Treasury secretary in July.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. Read and download our reports on the Web at www.unsv.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 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

5 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

6 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

7 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。