新托福考试听力特训 CD1-Track08

CD1-track8

Consumer Price Index

What is the lecture mainly about? (Click on 2 answers)

A How to forecast interest-rate out of the Consumer Price Index.

B The disadvantages of the Consumer Price Index.

C The function of the Consumer Price Index.

D How to measure the Consumer Price Index.

(C,D)

听力原文：

CD1-track8

Consumer Price Index

And now class, let's swith gears and discuss a different topic? Consumer Price Index,

CPI for short. If you switched on the TV and heard on the news that the CPI in

Canada was 2.1%, what does that mean? In a nutshell, it means that Canadian

consumers paid 2.1% more than in the previous year for the goods and services

included in the CPI basket. Although prices of goods and services rise and fall over

time, when prices change too dramatically, they can have negative effects on an

economy. In order to tell if an economy is experiencing inflation, deflation or

stagflation, we use the CPI as a gauge¹ of the price of goods and services. Believe it or

not, when the Department of Labor²'s Bureau of Labor Statistic³ releases the CPI date

monthy, you might ask? Well, the CPI play a role for many key financial decision

makers⁴, including individual investors⁵, the Bank of Canada in Canada and the

Federal Reserve in the U.S. The CPI helps the Bank of Canada forecast the interest

rate policy and other decisions of major banks and corporations. I mentioned the CPI

basket before and now I want to expand on what this basket is and how wer get the

information. The base-year market basket, which makes up the CPI, comes from

detailed⁶ expenditure⁷ information collected from surveys of thousands of families.The

information is not randomly⁸ collected, instead, the information is gathered through

interviews and diaries kept by participants who have agreed to disclose their buying

havits. The basket is divided into eight groups: food and beverages⁹, housing, apparel,

transportation, medical care, recreation, education and communication, and other

goods and services, and inclues more than 200 categories. Finally, the prices of 80

000 items in the market basket are collected nonthly from thousands of retail¹⁰ stores,

wervice establishments, rental¹¹ units, and doctors' offices.

1 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

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 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

4 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 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

6 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

7 expenditure   

n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗

参考例句：

• The entry of all expenditure is necessary.有必要把一切开支入账。
• The monthly expenditure of our family is four hundred dollars altogether.我们一家的开销每月共计四百元。

8 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句

9 beverages   

n.饮料( beverage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• laws governing the sale of alcoholic beverages 控制酒类销售的法规
• regulations governing the sale of alcoholic beverages 含酒精饮料的销售管理条例

10 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。

11 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。