澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2009-09-28

The Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens says the Australian economy is in recovery mode. At a Senate committee hearing in Sydney, he has described the recent economic downturn as mild. Mr. Stevens also says the government's 42-billion-dollar stimulus¹ measures have already had their biggest effects on supporting the economy. And as demand continues to increase, the measures will start to be wound back.

Federal Government has criticized the states and territories for planning to increase public housing rents for pensioners². The states and territories have agreed to quarantine the recent pension increase from public rental³ costs for 12 months. But the government says that's unacceptable and wants the measure in place for longer.

The Philippines has called for international help after a tropical storm caused widespread flooding. Rising waters have killed at least 86 people, and left more than 300,000 others homeless. The storm dropped more than 40 centimeters of rain in just a few hours and brought the worst flooding in four decades.

And the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting calmer weather across Tasmania today. More than 37,000 households lost power and many properties were damaged after flash floods and gale-force winds hit the state yesterday.

Join us for more news later.

1 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。

2 pensioners   

n.领取退休、养老金或抚恤金的人( pensioner的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He intends to redistribute income from the middle class to poorer paid employees and pensioners. 他意图把中产阶级到低薪雇员和退休人员的收入做重新分配。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am myself one of the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. 我自己就是一个我们的高贵的施主遗留基金的养老金领取者。 来自辞典例句

3 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。