VOA慢速英语2010年-IN THE NEWS - G-20 Leaders Promise Ste

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
Leaders of the world's twenty largest economies met this week in Seoul, South Korea. They agreed to try to let market forces drive currency exchange rates. Their declaration Friday also promised to avoid competitive devaluation of currencies.
A weaker currency lowers the price of a country's exports. That angers other exporters with stronger currencies, and it can lead to so-called currency wars.
Leaders from the Group of 20 urged "advanced economies" to guard against disorderly movements in exchange rates. At the same time, they rejected the idea of setting target amounts for national trade balances.
The United States and South Korea supported the idea. Others, including China, Germany and Japan, opposed it.
Instead, the leaders said they will order their finance ministers to develop a set of "indicative guidelines" early next year. These will measure trade and economic balances, to signal when deficits¹ or surpluses are becoming too large.
President Obama noted² that the G-20 leaders made progress in areas like approving reforms for the International Monetary³ Fund. But he himself failed in efforts to secure a free trade agreement with South Korea. And he made little progress in his push to get China to let the value of its currency rise.
President Obama is welcomed to a G-20 dinner in Seoul on Thursday Mr. Obama says the yuan is undervalued. He also said he believes China will continue to make progress on the issue.
BARACK OBAMA: "Letting currencies reflect market fundamentals, allowing your currency to move up and down depending on the role that you’re playing in the international trading system, is the best way to assure that everybody benefits from trade rather than just some."G-20 leaders say their Seoul Action Plan will help further strengthen the global economy. Stephen Schwartz is an economist⁴ at the Spanish investment bank BBVA in Hong Kong.
STEPHEN SCHWARTZ: "It should help ease some of the recent rhetoric⁵ and tensions over currency issues and imbalances for a little while. I stress a little while because as long as we have this very unbalanced global recovery we are going to get periodic tensions in policy setting."Chinese President Hu Jintao and German Chancellor⁶ Angela Merkel at the G-20 dinner at the National Museum of Korea After two days in Seoul, President Obama arrived in Japan. Leaders of APEC, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, are meeting Saturday and Sunday in Yokohama.
The United States is leading the effort for a Trans-Pacific Partnership⁷. This would cut import taxes for nine countries, including Japan. But Japanese farmers are fiercely opposed.
Last week, the United States central bank announced a plan to pump more money into the economy to support growth. Some Asian leaders and economists⁸ say the plan by the Federal Reserve could send a flood of dollars into Asia. They say prices could rise quickly and form "bubbles," whose collapse⁹ could cause another financial crisis.
Japan is the last stop on President Obama's ten-day trip to Asia. In India, he became the first American president to openly support a permanent seat for that country on the United Nations Security Council.
He also visited Indonesia, where he spent four years as a boy.
And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.
___Contributing: Heda Bayron, Akiko Fujita, Steve Herman, Ravi Khanna, Brian Padden, Robert Raffaele and Dan Robinson

1 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

2 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

4 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。

5 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

6 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

7 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

8 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》

9 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。