VOA标准英语2008年-Florida City Struggles with Wave of Home Forecl
时间：2019-01-07 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2008年（一月）
North Port, Florida
09 January 2008
Home prices in the United States declined in 2007 for the first time since the depression years of the 1930s. VOA's Barry Wood recently visited North Port, Florida, a Gulf 1 Coast city deeply impacted by a housing boom turned to bust 2.
Across America home foreclosures have reached a three-decade high, as problem borrowers have been unable to meet their mortgage payments. Treasury 3 Secretary Henry Paulson recently unveiled a government program to address the problem. "We are working aggressively and quickly, utilizing 4 the available tools and creating new ones, to help financially responsible but struggling homeowners," he said.
Under the program, several hundred thousand distressed 6 borrowers may be eligible 7 to have their mortgage interest rates held steady for five years.
Here in North Port, Florida, a boom town with a large Ukrainian community, more help may be needed. Too many homes were built. Many home prices doubled from 2000 to 2005, but they have now come down by as much as 30 percent. Sarasota Herald-Tribune reporter Stephen Frater says the air quickly came out of a speculative 8 bubble. "There are hundreds of unfinished houses," he noted 9. "There are thousands of vacant lots. There is no city center. There are infrastructure 10 issues."
Unfinished homes discourage prospective 11 buyers and push prices lower. Homeowner Harry 12 Bourne, who lives next to one of the unfinished homes, says the market is dead and he cannot sell. "If I wanted to sell it, it would require me to lose, you know, about [$10,000-$15,000]. So, at this moment I'm willing to stay and stick it out," he said.
Harry Bourne is lucky. He has a steady job and is making his mortgage payments.
Jimmy Claydon, facing foreclosure, says the crisis is getting worse. "People owe more than the property is worth," he explained. "So they're unable to sell the properties. So they have to stay, or they have to go into foreclosure."
With prices still declining, the distress 5 level in North Port is rising. Reporter Stephen Frater says it is likely to be many months before property prices level off. "I think North Port inventory 13 levels are so high, and some of the structural 14 and infrastructure are so massive, that I think they have quite a bit further to go before they hit bottom," said Frater.
The wave of foreclosures continues with public auctions 15 becoming increasingly common. Analysts 16 say that America's housing slump 17 is likely to last until 2009.
- The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
- There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。
- I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
- She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。
- 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。
- Utilizing an assembler to produce a machine-language program. 用汇编程序产生机器语言的过程。 来自辞典例句
- The study and use of devices utilizing properties of materials near absolute zero in temperature. 对材料在接近绝对零度时的特性进行研究和利用的学科。 来自辞典例句
- Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
- Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。
- He was too distressed and confused to answer their questions. 他非常苦恼而困惑，无法回答他们的问题。
- The news of his death distressed us greatly. 他逝世的消息使我们极为悲痛。
- He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
- Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。
- Much of our information is speculative.我们的许多信息是带推测性的。
- The report is highly speculative and should be ignored.那个报道推测的成分很大，不应理会。
- The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
- Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
- We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
- We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。
- The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
- They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。
- 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。
- Some stores inventory their stock once a week.有些商店每周清点存货一次。
- We will need to call on our supplier to get more inventory.我们必须请供应商送来更多存货。
- The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
- The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。
- They picked up most of the furniture at auctions in country towns. 他们大部分的家具都是在乡村镇上的拍卖处买的。 来自辞典例句
- Our dealers didn't want these cars, so we had to dump them at auctions. 我们的承销商都不要这些车子，因此我们只好贱价拍卖。 来自辞典例句
- City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
- I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。