VOA常速英语2007年-Bush Says Economy Strong Enough to Weather Prob

By Mil Arcega
Washington
18 December 2007
 

President Bush concedes that the credit crunch¹ and mortgage problems in the United States have caused financial "storm clouds and concerns." But he maintains the nation's economic underpinnings are good. VOA's Mil Arcega reports.

Consumer confidence in the United States took another beating in November, as problems in the housing and credit markets intensified². A Labor³ Department report confirms that consumer prices surged eight-tenths of a percent last month -- the largest increase since 2005.

President Bush on Monday spoke⁴ about the U.S. economy in a speech in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He said Americans have reasons to be concerned, but he assured business and community leaders that the U.S. economy remains⁵ fundamentally strong.

"We've had a pretty good economic run here in the country -- six years of growth. We've had 51 straight months of increased employment. It's the largest, longest period of uninterrupted job growth in the nation's history; people are working, productivity is high," he said.

The president credits his tax cuts for the growth in jobs.

But Democratic Party Senator Charles Schumer says the president's upbeat economic assessment⁶ proves he is "out of touch" with reality. "The president's speech was designed to calm the markets and American fears that the economy is in a tailspin. Unfortunately, by offering nothing but the same old 'everything's OK' response, today's speech is just going to worry the markets further," Schumer said.

Investors⁷, worried about a slowing U.S. economy and rising prices, extended last week's losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 175 points following the president's speech and all the major indexes lost at least one percent.

1 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

2 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

7 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