VOA标准英语2009年-UK Sinks into Recession

Britain has officially sunk into recession, with its economy shrinking by 1.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year. This comes amid the growing financial crisis around the world.

It's official - the British economy is in recession. Government figures released Friday show the economy contracted by a larger than expected 1.5 percent in the last three months of 2008, after a 0.6 percent drop in the previous quarter.
　
Alistair Darling (file photo)

Britain's finance chief, Chancellor¹ Alistair Darling acknowledged the economy had taken a sharper downturn than anticipated.

"If you look at today's figures, what you're seeing is a very significant fall in industrial production and that's been caused because world trade has really fallen away very rapidly over the past few weeks and months," said Chancellor Darling.

What started as a crisis in the financial sector² in Britain continues to infect the wider economy. Unemployment is accelerating sharply, with nearly two million people now out of work, the housing market remains³ severely⁴ depressed⁵ and retail⁶ sales are weak. For the U.K., Friday's figures show the biggest decline in nearly 30 years.

But, Chancellor Darling was quick to point out Britain is certainly not alone.

"We're facing this problem everywhere," he said. "America has been in recession for a year now, even Germany, Italy, Japan. Countries in the Far East are seeing a substantial slowdown in growth."

The British government has moved to bail⁷ out failing banks and has put in place a multi-billion dollar stimulus⁹ package to shore up the ailing⁸ economy, including a cut in the national sales tax and help for businesses, homeowners and low-income families.
　
Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown speaks at an Employment Summit in London, 12 Jan 2009

Prime Minister Gordon Brown says these measures will work, but he says there needs to be a coordinated¹⁰ international effort.

"What we need is a degree of international cooperation here, so that all countries who are affected¹¹ by this can work together to do similar things," he said.

Mr. Brown says he is talking with world leaders about ways to overcome this crisis.

Britain is due to host the next financial crisis summit of the G-20 group of industrialized and emerging economies in April.

1 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

2 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。

3 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。

4 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

5 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

6 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。

7 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

8 ailing   

v.生病

参考例句：

• They discussed the problems ailing the steel industry. 他们讨论了困扰钢铁工业的问题。
• She looked after her ailing father. 她照顾有病的父亲。

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。

10 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

11 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。