US Labor Market Strengthens

 　　The number of unemployed¹ U.S. workers seeking new jobless benefits fell to a four-year low last week, as the labor² market strengthens in the world's largest economy.

　　The government's Labor Department said that 357,000 workers made first-time claims for unemployment compensation, down 6,000 from the week before. That was the lowest total since April 2008.

　　The government is set to release its jobs report for March on Friday, with economists³ projecting that another 200,000 or more jobs were added last month.

　　But with more unemployed workers starting to look again for jobs, the economists are also predicting that the national unemployment rate will remain at 8.3 percent. The jobless rate had fallen for five straight months in the latter half of 2011 as the U.S. economy slowly recovered from the depths of the country's worst economic downturn in seven decades.

　　The current unemployment figure is still high by U.S. historical standards.

　　The country's economic performance is at the center of the U.S. presidential campaign, leading to the November election.

　　President Barack Obama, a Democrat⁴, is defending his handling of the country's economic recovery and has pointed⁵ to the recent increase in hiring as evidence. His leading Republican opponent, one-time venture capitalist Mitt⁶ Romney, says the U.S. economic advance has not been fast enough and that he would cut governmental regulations to give the economy even more momentum⁷.

1 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

2 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。

3 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

6 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

7 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。