VOA慢速英语2010年-Economics Report - Greek Lawmakers Pas

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Greece's debt crisis has shaken investors¹ in the United States and worldwide. They worry that it could spread far beyond Greece.

On Thursday, a day after huge protests in Athens, the Greek parliament approved a series of spending cuts.

Greece has to cut thirty billion dollars as part of a bailout deal with the European Union and the International Monetary² Fund. The deal is for one hundred forty-five billion dollars in loans.

The cuts include wage freezes and reductions in retirement³ pay for government workers. A new requirement raises the retirement age for women from sixty to sixty-five.

Critics say the austerity plan will hurt the poor especially. But Greek labor⁴ costs are high even for Europe. And Greece's public debt is equal to at least one hundred fifteen percent of its economy. The cuts may be the only hope to avoid declaring bankruptcy⁵.

On Thursday afternoon, the Dow Jones industrial average in New York lost almost 1,000 points -- the most ever within a trading day. But the stock market partially⁶ recovered. The Greek debt crisis was blamed as one, but not the only, cause.

Sebastien Galy is senior currency strategist for the French bank BNP Paribas. He says other European countries delayed rescuing Greece because it was politically unpopular. Now they are paying for it.

SEBASTIEN GALY: "They certainly lost an opportunity that we had in January where it would have cost roughly sixty billion euros to save Greece."

On Sunday, European countries promised to make eighty billion euros in loans available over the next three years. The International Monetary Fund promised thirty billion.

The quality of Greek government debt is now rated at "junk" levels. The high risk has investors demanding higher interest rates, and not only on Greek debt.

Portugal and Spain have also had their credit ratings reduced. Both borrowed from credit markets in the last few days. And both had to pay far higher rates than Germany, the safest investment in the euro area.

The euro is eleven years old and used as the currency of sixteen countries. But less trust in the euro has reduced its value to the lowest levels in over a year.

Sebastien Galy says growth expectations for the euro area have dropped. This has affected⁷ producers of raw materials such as Australia, Brazil and Canada.

But he says the falling euro should help ease the crisis. He expects the exchange rate against the dollar to reach one-to-one within a year. That would be good news for European countries with heavy debt loads.

SEBASTIEN GALY: "The lower the euro is, the more competitive these economies become and, therefore, the more the fiscal⁸ concerns are going to be reduced."

While the euro has fallen, the dollar has gained value. Investors fleeing risk have bought dollars and American debt.

And that’s the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I’m Jim Tedder⁹.

 

1 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

2 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

3 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

4 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。

5 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

6 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

9 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网