VOA标准英语10月-Britain Unveils Huge British Bank Bail-Out Plan

Britain announced Wednesday a huge, comprehensive government plan that will pump nearly $90 billion of taxypayers' money into the British banking¹ system to shore it up. For VOA, Tom Rivers in London has details.

The British government has moved in to partially² nationalize all of the major banks in Britain.

$87.5 billion of taxpayer³ funds will be invested by the Treasury⁴ department into the country's eight largest banks and mortgage-lending institutions.
　 COLLAPSE¹³: collapse" bordercolor="#111111" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="15%" align="right" border="0">

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown

Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the plan had been worked on for weeks and given the current global turmoil⁵, it was absolutely necessary to roll it out now.

"Our stability and restructuring program is comprehensive, it is specific and it breaks new ground," Mr. Brown said. "The program is designed to restore confidence and trust in the financial system and more than that, to put the British banking system on a sounder footing and to build strength for the future so that it can support jobs and prosperity right across our economy."

British Treasury Secretary Alistair Darling says the plan involves recapitalizing banks, boosting the amount of money lending institutions can borrow from the Bank of England in short-term loans and loan guarantees will be made available at commercial rates to encourage banks to lend to each other.

"It is a really a fundamental step that we are taking but it is part of a process, it is part of a whole range of things that we are doing to support the economy," Darling said. "Stabilizing⁶ the banking system is one important part of that and as I have said on many occasions, we will continue to do whatever it takes to ensure that we see this process through."

Prime Minister Brown says he has been talking to other leaders in Europe about the British program and about further actions that could be launched together.

"Because these are also global problems, global action is required," Mr. Brown said. "This is a long haul and we have invited other European countries to consider proposals we have put to them this morning on medium-term funding and are in active consultation⁷ about how we can adopt a European-wide funding plan."

Although some here say it is wrong for taxpayers⁸ to rescue the banks, Treasury Secretary Darling says to do nothing would have had untold⁹ consequences.

"If you did not do anything, there would be a very significant cost to all of us as taxpayers," Darling said. "I believe this is the right thing to do. People expect us to take decisive, firm action especially to ensure that we stabilize¹⁰ the banking system and help it get through this period."

The deal should for now stop the nervous talk about whether the financial institutions here are safe or not. The government intervention¹¹ has come after days of intense pressure on British banks amid investor¹² fears that they could collapse if they did not receive a large liquidity¹⁴ lifeline.

1 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。

2 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。

3 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

4 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。

5 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

6 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

7 consultation   

n.咨询；商量；商议；会议

参考例句：

• The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
• The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。

8 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。

9 untold   

adj.数不清的，无数的

参考例句：

• She has done untold damage to our chances.她给我们的机遇造成了不可估量的损害。
• They suffered untold terrors in the dark and huddled together for comfort.他们遭受着黑暗中的难以言传的种种恐怖，因而只好挤在一堆互相壮胆。

10 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。

11 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

12 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

13 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

14 liquidity   

n.流动性，偿债能力，流动资产

参考例句：

• The bank has progressively increased its liquidity.银行逐渐地增加其流动资产。
• The demand for and the supply of credit is closely linked to changes in liquidity.信用的供求和流动资金的变化有密切关系。