2006年VOA标准英语-Retiring Federal Reserve Chairman Hailed a

By Barry Wood
Washington, DC
23 January 2006
 
watch Greenspan Legacy¹ report

Alan Greenspan  
  
After more than 18 years on the job, Alan Greenspan retires on January 31st as head of the Federal Reserve Board, the independent U.S. central bank. The nearly 80-year-old Mr. Greenspan is being hailed as the most influential² central banker ever, with one of his former colleagues saying that Mr. Greenspan's statements came to be as closely scrutinized³ in financial markets as Mao Tse Tung's declarations once were in China. 

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It is a record of extraordinary achievement. Over the past 18 years the American economy averaged 3.1 percent annual growth while the average citizen's wealth rose by 300 percent. Inflation came down and stayed low while the jobless total fell to a very low five percent. 

 

 
Catherine Mann 
  

Catherine Mann spent a decade working for Mr. Greenspan at the Federal Reserve. She says it is no surprise that Mr. Greenspan is highly respected. "That's because both the U.S. and global economy did extremely well over his tenure,” said the economist⁴.  “For the U.S. economy we had almost no slowdown in economic growth up until 2001."

And that slowdown was relatively⁵ mild.  Mr. Greenspan's skill in calming panicky financial markets was tested on several occasions: from the October 1987 stock market crash, to the late 1990s Asian financial crisis, to the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.

Here's what he had to say soon after the latter: "Even a subdued⁶ recovery beginning soon would constitute a truly remarkable⁷ performance for the American economy in the face of so severe a decline in equity⁸ asset values and an unprecedented⁹ blow from terrorists to the foundations of our market systems."

It is the responsibility of a central bank to promote economic growth and employment, to keep inflation low, and safeguard the value of the currency.  In recent years Mr. Greenspan has repeatedly urged U.S. policy makers¹⁰ to do something about America's huge budget and trade deficits¹¹.

"Crafting a budget strategy that meets the nation's longer-run needs will become ever more difficult the more we delay," said Mr. Greenspan to a congressional committee.

Fred Bergsten, the former U.S. Treasury¹² official who heads Washington's Institute for International Economics, says that while Mr. Greenspan did an outstanding job, he also made mistakes.

 
Fred Bergsten
  
"I think the biggest one was the stock market excess in the late 1990s,” said Mr. Bergsten, “where he talked about it but didn't do some things he could have to head it off, like raising margin¹³ requirements."

Not increasing the margin, meaning requiring stock buyers to use more of their own money to buy shares, allowed more people to buy more equities¹⁴, thereby¹⁵ driving up demand and prices until they suddenly crashed.

Ben Bernanke   
  
Likewise, critics say that by repeatedly cutting short-term interest rates in 2004 and 2005, the central bank may have created a housing bubble. Since money was cheaper to borrow, more people were able to buy more expensive houses, pushing up demand.  Critics say it was similar to the high technology stock market bubble of late 1990s.

Mr. Greenspan will be succeeded by President Bush's top economic advisor¹⁶, Ben Bernanke. 

1 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

2 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

3 scrutinized   

v.仔细检查，详审( scrutinize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The jeweler scrutinized the diamond for flaws. 宝石商人仔细察看钻石有无瑕庇 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Together we scrutinized the twelve lemon cakes from the delicatessen shop. 我们一起把甜食店里买来的十二块柠檬蛋糕细细打量了一番。 来自英汉文学 - 盖茨比

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 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

6 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

7 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

8 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

9 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

10 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》

11 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

12 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

13 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

14 equities   

普通股，股票

参考例句：

• These are invested mainly in the OECD bonds and equities. 这些资产主要投资于经济合作及发展组织的债券与股票市场。
• They are also advantage of the global rebound in equities. 它们还在利用全球股市反弹的机会。

15 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

16 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。