US Economic Growth Slows

     U.S. economic growth slowed in the first three months of this year, as energy prices rose and state and local government spending fell.  But many experts expect growth to recover later this year.

    The U.S. Commerce Department said Thursday that the U.S. gross domestic product grew at a 1.8 percent annual rate during the first quarter. That is sharply lower than the 3.1 percent annual rate of expansion seen in the last three months of 2010.

    Economists（经济学家） say rising gasoline prices hurt the growth rate.  When consumers have to spend more money on energy, they have less to spend on everything else.  Consumer spending drives about 70 percent of all U.S. economic activity, so lower spending cuts demand and growth.

    The chief financial economist¹ of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Chris Rupkey, sees signs that personal spending and business investment will rebound² and bring growth back up.

    "The heart and soul of GDP, consumer spending, is at 2.7 percent, stronger than it looked a month ago.  And business capital spending is still strong at 11.6 percent," he said.

    Rupkey spoke³ on the Bloomberg financial news service.

    Officials at the U.S. central bank have said they expect the higher gasoline prices to be a temporary problem, and predict U.S. economic growth will return to around 3 percent later this year.

    White House economic advisor⁴ Austan Goolsbee says the administration has helped growth with tax cuts and incentives⁵ for business investment.  He says faster growth is needed to replace the millions of jobs lost in the recession.

    There was discouraging news on the issue of jobs Thursday, as the number of Americans signing up for unemployment compensation rose 25,000 to reach a total of 429,000.

    That is higher than the number seen in a healthy job market, but well below the number seen at the worst of the recent recession.

    Economist Rupkey says the weekly jobless claims will have to drop if economic growth is to improve. "We need to see initial unemployment claims fall sharply below 400,000 in coming weeks to make sure the economy is not slowing due to this latest headwind of higher gasoline prices," Rupkey said.

    GDP growth was also hurt by the lingering effects of the recession.  The economic slowdown hurt the tax revenue collected by state and city governments, forcing them to cut budgets, spending, and jobs.

    Economists and investors⁶ watch the GDP closely because it is the broadest measure of the economy, and accounts for all the goods and services produced in the country.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

2 rebound   

v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回

参考例句：

• The vibrations accompanying the rebound are the earth quake.伴随这种回弹的振动就是地震。
• Our evil example will rebound upon ourselves.我们的坏榜样会回到我们自己头上的。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

5 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

6 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