voa标准英语2008-US Auto Industry Bailout Agreement May Be Close;

Representatives of the White House and the Congress say they are making progress in negotiations¹ on rescuing the embattled U.S. auto² industry. Meanwhile, stock prices in New York have ended a two-day surge.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry³ Reid says he hopes a $15-billion agreement to keep General Motors, Ford⁴ and Chrysler running for several more months will be ready for a vote by Wednesday.
　 COLLAPSE¹⁵: collapse" bordercolor="#111111" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="15%" align="right" border="0">

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (l) and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, 09 Dec 2008

One proposal includes a government-appointed overseer for the restructuring of the "Big Three." House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, interviewed by NBC television, says the so-called "car czar" would ensure that the U.S. auto industry fully⁷ reforms itself.

"...not oversee⁶, necessarily, [but] even more proactively, supervise this restructuring," said Nancy Pelosi. "I think it is very important, because left to their own devices, it is clear that the auto industry has not taken the initiative."

General Motors Vice⁵ Chairman Bob Lutz says if the bailout is approved, government oversight⁸ is inevitable⁹.

"They are not going to lend us the money and just say 'Do the best you can with it and tell us when you need more.' Obviously, there is going to be some kind of oversight, and I think that is a reasonable thing to expect," said Bob Lutz.

The president of the United Auto Workers, Ron Gettelfinger, says American automakers need government support to compete with other countries' government-subsidized car industries.

"This problem is not of the auto industry's making," said Ron Gettelfinger. "This problem is worldwide. Other industrial countries around the world are giving consideration to their [auto] industry because they recognize the importance of it."

Public opinion polls show that a majority of Americans oppose a government bailout of the auto industry. But the Bush administration and President-elect Barack Obama have said the United States cannot afford to lose the auto industry and its millions of related jobs.

A two-day rally on Wall Street ended Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost almost 243 points, or 2.7 percent, finishing the day at 8,691. The S&P 500 lost 21 points, or 2.3 percent, to close at 889. And the NASDAQ was down 24 points, or 1.5 percent, at 1,547.

Major European stock markets closed higher. London's Financial Times 100 index gained almost 89 points, or two percent. In Paris the CAC-40 rose more than 50 points, or 1.6 percent. And the DAX in Frankfurt was up more than 63 points, or 1.3 percent. A new survey on German investor¹⁰ confidence (by the ZEW Institute) increased unexpectedly in December.

Asian markets were mixed on Tuesday. Tokyo's Nikkei index was up 0.8 percent, but the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was down 1.9 percent.

A World Bank report says world trade will shrink by two percent next year, the first contraction¹¹ since 1982. The new report predicts exports from developing countries will decrease, and the prices of commodities including oil and food will drop.

Oil prices are down again. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for January delivery fell by $1.65, or 3.8 percent, to $42.06.

The Japanese electronics company Sony plans to cut 8,000 jobs, or four percent of its workforce¹². Sony says it will complete the layoffs¹³ by April, 2010, to cut costs by more than $1 billion a year.

Economics professor Donald Atwater, at Pepperdine University in California, expects more layoffs from big companies in the coming months.

"I think we are, as part of this whole global contraction, going to see a response from companies that will be a cautious one - a first response, and then a second and perhaps a third - over the next six to nine months," said Donald Atwater.

One big company has some good news. The world's largest airline, Delta¹⁴, says it expects to turn a profit of about $7.5 billion in 2009. The Atlanta-based Delta is also getting $1 billion after a credit card agreement it reached with American Express.

Mining officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo say the global economic downturn has caused 200,000 miners to lose their jobs, and the figure could reach 300,000 by the end of the year. The officials blame a collapse of cobalt and copper¹⁶ prices on world markets.

1 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

2 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

3 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

4 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

5 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

6 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

9 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

10 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

11 contraction   

n.缩略词，缩写式，害病

参考例句：

• The contraction of this muscle raises the lower arm.肌肉的收缩使前臂抬起。
• The forces of expansion are balanced by forces of contraction.扩张力和收缩力相互平衡。

12 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

13 layoffs   

临时解雇( layoff的名词复数 )； 停工，停止活动

参考例句：

• Textile companies announced 2000 fresh layoffs last week. 各纺织公司上周宣布再次裁员两千人。
• Stock prices broke when the firm suddenly announced layoffs. 当公司突然宣布裁员时，股票价格便大跌

14 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

15 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。

16 copper   

n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的

参考例句：

• The students are asked to prove the purity of copper.要求学生们检验铜的纯度。
• Copper is a good medium for the conduction of heat and electricity.铜是热和电的良导体。