ECONOMICS REPORT - Insurance, Part 1

ECONOMICS¹ REPORT - Insurance, Part 1
By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Friday, March 11, 2005

I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Insurance is a guarantee against financial loss. Insurance policies can be bought for all sorts of things. The most common kinds of insurance include life, health and property.

For example, an insurance company will pay to repair or replace the property if it is damaged or stolen. How much a company will pay in the event of a claim depends on how much insurance the policyholder has bought. The amount may also depend on the conditions that led to the damage.

The Insurance Information Institute says Americans paid forty-nine thousand million dollars for homeowners insurance in two thousand three. The payments that policyholders make to an insurance company are called premiums². Premiums for car insurance totaled sixty-five thousand million.

Insurance is an ancient idea. Early forms of insurance were used over three thousand years ago in Babylonia, the country that is now Iraq. Also, the Phoenician, Greek and Roman cultures had forms of insurance in case of loss or death. By the fourteen hundreds, the European shipping³ trade had developed its own system of insurance.

There are two main kinds of insurance companies. Insurance carriers provide insurance to individuals, groups and businesses. Re-insurance companies help reduce the financial risk to carriers. These are insurance companies for insurance companies.

Carriers usually sell their policies through insurance agencies or brokers⁴. Brokers bring together buyers and sellers. Large businesses often use brokers when choosing products to insure their workers, property and interests against risk.

Independent sales agents sell insurance from many companies. Others sales agents sell insurance from only one company.

Over two million Americans work in the insurance industry. A government report shows that more than ninety percent of insurance-related businesses employ fewer than twenty workers. Yet, as of three years ago, just a few large companies employed almost forty percent of all the workers in the industry.

Employment experts say job growth in the insurance industry is slower than in other industries. They say technology has increased productivity⁵, which means fewer workers are needed to do the work.

Listen next week for part two of our look at insurance.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. I'm Gwen Outen.

1 economics   

n.经济学，经济情况

参考例句：

• He is studying economics,which subject is very important.他正在学习经济学，该学科是很重要的。
• One can't separate politics from economics.不能把政治与经济割裂开来。

2 premiums   

n.费用( premium的名词复数 )；保险费；额外费用；（商品定价、贷款利息等以外的）加价

参考例句：

• He paid premiums on his life insurance last year. 他去年付了人寿保险费。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Moves are afoot to increase car insurance premiums. 现正在酝酿提高汽车的保险费。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

4 brokers   

n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• The firm in question was Alsbery & Co., whiskey brokers. 那家公司叫阿尔斯伯里公司，经销威士忌。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• From time to time a telephone would ring in the brokers' offices. 那两排经纪人房间里不时响着叮令的电话。 来自子夜部分

5 productivity   

n.生产力，生产率，多产

参考例句：

• Farmers are introducing in novations which increase the productivity.农民们正引进提高生产力的新方法。
• The workers try to put up productivity.工人设法提高生产率。