VOA标准英语2008年-US Home Sales Continue to Decline as Housing Se

By Barry Wood
Washington
09 May 2008

Home sales remain weak in the United States, a development some economists² say will prolong the slowdown in economic growth that began last October. VOA's Barry Wood has more.

Treasury³ Secretary Henry Paulson said Thursday that the economy remains⁴ weak but that it should pick up in the second half of the year. He said consumers are being hit hard by higher costs for gasoline, food and health care.

The growth slowdown or possible recession is aggravated⁵ by the prolonged slump⁶ in housing. The National Association of Realtors reports that sales of existing homes fell again in March and are down 20 percent over the past year.

Zillow, a Seattle-based company that tracks home prices, says 50 percent of home-owners who bought at the top in the market in 2006 now have mortgages bigger than the current market value of their home, meaning they have negative equity⁷. The median price of an existing home in the United States fell 10 percent in 2007.

Economist¹ Mark Zandi says the nearly nine million homeowners with negative equity are particularly vulnerable in this weak economy. "These folks are in big negative equity positions. If there is any disruption to their income at all, they have a major problem. And disruption to income doesn't mean what it used to. Disruption to income ten years ago meant death, divorce or major disability. Disruption of income now means, well, I have to replace two tires (on my car), or my water heater broke," he said.

Alan Meltzer, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, says it is hard to predict how homeowners with negative equity in their principal asset-their home-will adjust their spending. "The people who see the value of their houses go down, do they assume that they are going to stay down? Or, do they assume that they never should have risen as much? And therefore they are not going to allow their long-term (spending) behavior to be affected⁸?," he said.

Desmond Lachman, an economist at Washington's American Enterprise Institute, believes home prices will fall by another 10 to 15 percent this year. Mainly because of the housing slump, Lachman believes the US economy will register negative growth this year.

"Cumulatively⁹, we're going to see gross domestic product-I think the International Monetary¹⁰ Fund forecast is pretty accurate-in that we'll see G.D.P. (Gross Domestic Product) decline by something like three quarters of a point (percent, this year)," he said.

The Bush administration predicts modest growth of about one percent for 2008. The ongoing¹¹ housing slump is the most serious to confront the US economy in past 30 years.

1 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。

2 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》

3 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。

4 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。

5 aggravated   

使恶化( aggravate的过去式和过去分词 )； 使更严重； 激怒； 使恼火

参考例句：

• If he aggravated me any more I shall hit him. 假如他再激怒我，我就要揍他。
• Far from relieving my cough, the medicine aggravated it. 这药非但不镇咳，反而使我咳嗽得更厉害。

6 slump   

n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌

参考例句：

• She is in a slump in her career.她处在事业的低谷。
• Economists are forecasting a slump.经济学家们预言将发生经济衰退。

7 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。

8 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

9 cumulatively   

adv.累积地，渐增地

参考例句：

• Mind has become self-reproducing through man's capacity to transmit experience and its products cumulatively. 通过传递生活经验和积累创造的产品，人类的智慧在不断地进行着自我丰富。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At first, the drug does no harm, but cumulatively its effects are bad. 这药开始对人没有害处，但连续服用后果就坏了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 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。

11 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。