Listen this way听力教程第四册-3

　　Unit 3 "Planting" Money
Part Ⅰ Getting ready
A The following words will appear in this unit. Listen carefully and study the definitions.
1. downside:
2. treat:
3. expertise¹:
4. robust²:
5. chore:
6. disposable:
7. owing:
8. hands-on:
B Listen to a mini-talk about some concepts of investing. Complete the chart.
Investing is a way to make money with your money. First, you have to earn money. As a kid, you get money from allowance, gifts, services, or from selling goods such as lemonade. Try to save some, if not all of this money. The next step is to make your money grow through investing.
There are two main reasons why you should invest. The first is to stay ahead of inflation and the second is to achieve financial goals. Inflation causes the increase of prices. When a Big Mac goes up from $1.20 to $1.50 or when gas goes up from $1.30 to $1.70 a gallon, we say that is inflation. You need to make more money just to keep up with the rising cost of living.
Financial goals can be separated into two types: short-term goals and long-term goals. The first refers to the things that you need or want now or within the year, such as a bike, a computer, or a video game. Generally, it takes less money to reach these short-term goals. However, long-term goals are expensive and require some planning. They are things you need or want in a few years or more, for example, going to college, buying a house, and even starting a business.
Investing is like "planting" money. A small amount of money invested will often grow to a larger sum over time. You've heard the phrase, "Time is money." With investing, time also makes money.
Although investing can make money with money, the downside of investing is that there is a risk of losing your money. The key to investing is to minimize the risk and to maximize the financial reward.
Part Ⅱ National Teach Children to Save Day
A．Listen to the report. Supply the missing information.
On Thursday, April 17, "National Teach Children to Save Day," 2 500 bankers will make 5 000 presentations in elementary school classrooms across the country to teach children how to save money.
"Bankers are committed to investing in the future of children because we want them to be able to make smart financial decisions throughout their lifetime," said American Bankers Association Executive Vice-president Donald G. Ogilvie. "Education and money management skills are keys to a better life."
The ABA Education Foundation declared "National Teach Children to Save Day" as a way to show banking³ industry support for teaching children money management skills and encouraging them to save money for the future. In 1996, Americans saved only 4.9% of their disposable incomes, compared to 1970 when they saved 8%.
The Foundation coordinated⁴ a great effort with state bankers associations to encourage bankers to participate in "National Teach Children to Save Day." It also prepared a resource kit⁵ with tools to help bankers make presentations in classrooms. More than 125 000 students will be part of this national initiative.
The ABA Education Foundation also offers tips for parents to foster the savings⁶ habit in their children:
? Give them an allowance with the understanding that part of it goes into their own savings — a first step towards learning to budget.
? To make their savings visible and real, have them build up savings in a piggy bank. Then help them open their own bank savings account, and have them make deposits each month.
? Use their monthly statements, or the record in their savings passbooks⁷, to show them how their money is multiplying.
? For every dollar your children earn, encourage them to spend 25 cents on what they want or need now, put 25 cents away for a bigger-item purchase later and save or invest the rest. (That's a 50% savings rate!)
? Make savings and investing fun. Give your children play money to "invest" in stocks they can track in local newspapers. If the stocks go up, pay them in more play money; if the stocks decline, they pay you.
B Now listen again. The following are some of the tips for parents to foster the savings habit in their children. Match column A (Purpose) with column B (How to do).
Part Ⅲ Credit cards
A Listen to a mini-lecture about credit cards given by Young American Bank. Complete the outline.
Outline
Credit cards are an important part of American life. Whether we have a positive or negative image of credit cards, they are an inescapable part of our finances, either now or in the future.
Without a credit card, it's just about impossible to rent a car, make a hotel or airline reservation, or even get a membership at a video store.
Since credit cards are so important, yet so many people are in financial trouble because of them, we feel education is extremely important. We want to show our customers that credit cards are not toys; they are an important responsibility.
A credit card can be used to "charge" things like clothes, tapes or CDs, dinner at a restaurant, or maybe a hotel room while you're on vacation. When you charge something, you are agreeing to pay for your purchase at a later date. Basically, you are buying something now and paying for it later.
Credit cards come with a "limit." Let's say your credit card has a limit of $100. That means you can charge up to $100.00 worth of items on your card. You will get a statement in the mail each month that lists the charges you have made. You will also have to make a payment every month that you have a balance owing.
Since we're about educating our customers on the realities of credit and credit cards, we're going to be perfectly⁸ honest. First, using a credit card can be very expensive. Banks don't offer credit cards just because they like you. They offer them because they make money when customers use credit cards.
How do they make money? When you charge something on a credit card, you not only will have to pay for what you bought, but you will also have to pay interest, or a finance charge, if you don't pay your bill in full by the due date. The finance charge is your extra cost for having something now and paying for it later. The interest rate on a credit card can be 15% or even higher. If, however, you pay your bill in full every month by the due date, you do not have to pay interest. And of course, we highly recommend you do that!
It's very easy to make lots of purchases on your card and then be surprised at how quickly they add up when your bill arrives! If you're not careful when you use a credit card, you could find yourself in a lot of debt. And it always takes much longer to pay it off than to spend it.
You will also want to be careful about buying things with credit card you wouldn't normally be able to afford. Again, you can get in over your head and end up paying a tremendous amount of interest.
However, when used correctly, credit cards can be very helpful. It's sometimes hard to do certain things without a credit card. Credit cards are also helpful for emergencies and are good for travel. Some credit cards even insure your purchase, meaning if something is lost, stolen, or broken, it can be replaced.
We believe the best way to become responsible with credit is to learn through hands-on experience. If you begin at a young age with a low limit, you won't be likely to blow it and get in financial trouble later on.
B Now try this: listen to a more authentic⁹ version of the material.
Part Ⅳ More about the topic: How do Children Spend Their Money?
A. Listen to the report. Supply the missing information on Mr. McMill's survey.
Teenagers and children everywhere like to buy toys and special treats if they have the money to spend. Indeed studies show there are quite a few young consumers in the world today. But there are some real differences from country to country. An American business school professor has been traveling around the world studying just how children tend to spend their money. He is trying to predict the international market place trends of the future.
University Professor James McMill can tell you what type of consumers your economy is going to have in 15 years just by watching the way your children spend money today. He has been making spending predictions like that for thirty years now and is considered so accurate in the United States that advertising¹⁰ agencies frequently call upon his expertise. Over the last decade Mr. McMill began studying children in cultures outside the United States. His most recent stop was Beijing, China, where he studied the consumer behavior patterns of 780 children between the ages of 8 and 12, whose parents' jobs range from professionals to unskilled workers. Mr. McMill said he anticipated finding very little consumer behavior among China's children. But he was wrong.
"Those children are participating in the market place. Typically there is one child in the household and the child has two, four, six parents. In other words there are two parents and four grandparents, and they're receiving a great deal of money. But I think it was a surprise to me how robust the economy was, you know firsthand, and how robust the participation¹¹ in the economy was by the children."
Mr. McMill says most of the money Chinese children spend comes from gifts from their parents and grandparents. In addition, he says, 15% of the (Beijing) children he surveyed are given money for performing household chores and another 6% receive money for work outside the home. China's children average three and a half store visits a week during which they average one and a half purchases. He estimates children in China receive only 66% as much money as their U.S. counterparts and they spend only 40% as much as children in the United States because Chinese children save more of their income than U.S. children. Mr. McMill says the number one purchase for children in both the United States and China is the same thing — snacks.
"But when you get to number two then, for our children it's play, it's toys, it's play items; for their children it's reading material we'll call it. When you get to number three item, for the Chinese children, it will probably be school supplies and for our children it will be clothing. And when you get to the number four for their children it'll be toys, play items because they like to play too, and for our children it will probably be electronics of some sort."
B Now try this: listen to a more authentic version of the report. Finish the findings of the survey.
Part Ⅴ Do you know ...?
A Listen to a passage about the origins of money. Fill in the blanks with missing words.
When we think of money today, we picture it either as round, flat pieces of metal which we call coins, or as printed paper notes.
However, the earliest method of exchange was barter¹² in which goods were exchanged directly for other goods. Problems arose when either someone did not want what was being offered in exchange for the other good, or if no agreement could be reached over how much one good was worth in terms of the other.
Valuable metals such as gold and silver began acting¹³ as a medium of exchange. Governments then decided¹⁴ to melt down these metals into coins. By the seventeenth century people were leaving gold with the local goldsmith for safe keeping. Receipts of ￡1 and ￡5 were issued which could then be converted back into gold at any time. Soon these receipts were recognized as being "as good as gold" and were readily taken in exchange for goods. Goldsmiths became the first specialist bankers and their receipts began to circulate as banknotes.
Nowadays, however, notes are not usually used to buy expensive items such as cars. The buyer is more likely to write out a check which instructs his bank to transfer money from his account into the account of the seller. Hence bank deposits act as money.
B． Now try this: listen to a more authentic version of the material.

1 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

2 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

3 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。

4 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

5 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

6 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

7 passbooks   

（建房互助会的）存取款记录簿( passbook的名词复数 )； （种族隔离时期所有黑人随身携带的）有色人种身份证

参考例句：

• Customer: Do account customers have passbooks? 顾客：支票用户有存折吗？

8 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

9 authentic   

a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的

参考例句：

• This is an authentic news report. We can depend on it. 这是篇可靠的新闻报道, 我们相信它。
• Autumn is also the authentic season of renewal. 秋天才是真正的除旧布新的季节。

10 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

11 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

12 barter   

n.物物交换，以货易货，实物交易

参考例句：

• Chickens,goats and rabbits were offered for barter at the bazaar.在集市上，鸡、山羊和兔子被摆出来作物物交换之用。
• They have arranged food imports on a barter basis.他们以易货贸易的方式安排食品进口。

13 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

14 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。