初级剑桥商务英语 unit20

[00:02.82]Listen to these extracts 1 from an interview with an expert on American economy.

[00:08.10]Match the captionsto the columns inthe graphs.

[00:12.17]Then listen to thewhole interview,

[00:14.76]and complete paragraph one of the article.

[00:18.65]Extract:first listening ...

[00:22.02]One effect of becoming wealthy is that it has made the rich moregenerous.

[00:28.92]73% of those interviewed

[00:32.10]said that they weremore willing to givetheir money away:

[00:36.02]62% said they hadincreased their contributions to charitiesand good causes,

[00:42.42]56% said they gave more money to relatives,

[00:46.52]and only 23%

[00:50.10]said that they spent more on luxury items like fur coats and jewellery...

[00:55.90]There is a bad side to this,too,

[01:00.19]and that is that the average American is putting less into savings 2.

[01:04.99]... Savings rates for the average American have fallen sharply 3:

[01:09.59]from 6.2% in 1993 to 3.8% today.

[01:15.99] ... It is predicted that this will fall to less than 2% next year.

[01:20.90] But the opposite is true for the very rich.

[01:24.69]In fact,the averagerate for savings amongthe top 1% of wealthypeople today is 24%!

[01:32.87]Second listening

[01:35.27]INTERVIEWER:We have with us in the studio today

[01:39.68] an expert on the American economy, Dr Giggins.

[01:44.67]Dr Higgins,

[01:46.68]could you tell us some of the more interesting things that

[01:50.08]have been happening in the American economy in the past few years

[01:54.89]HIGGINS:Certainly. I suppose one of the most important things

[02:00.08] has been the dramatic growth in the stock market.

[02:03.77] The value of shares has gone up far more than we would have expected,

[02:08.55] and this has made a lot of people very wealthy.

[02:12.36]INTERVIEWER:But has it had good results for everyone?

[02:15.97]HIGGINS:Well,as they say,

[02:18.76]an incoming tide raises all boats.

[02:23.65] But I'm afraid that this isn't true of the stock market rise.

[02:28.85] If you are rich, and have a yacht 4,

[02:32.03] your boat will have risen a lot higher than a little row boat.

[02:37.23] What has happened is that the richest 1% of Americans,

[02:42.32] that's those who earn over $225,000 a year

[02:47.92] or are worth more than $3 million,

[02:52.41] have seen the value of their shares rise by more than 70% since 1993.

[02:59.62] This means that their total worth has increased by about 43%.

[03:05.52]INTERVIEWER:That's a lot of money.What are they doing with it?

[03:10.51]HIGGINS:This is where it gets interesting.

[03:13.72] One effect of becoming wealthy is that it has made the rich more generous.

[03:20.12] 73% of those interviewed

[03:23.31] said that they were more willing to give their money away:

[03:27.49] 62% said they had increased their contributions to charities and good causes,

[03:34.00]56% said they gave more money to relatives,

[03:38.20]and only 23%

[03:41.20]said that they spent more on luxury items like fur coats and jewellery.

[03:47.00]INTERVIEWER:That's certainly good news for charities.

[03:51.11]What else did you find out?

[03:53.80]HIGGINS:There is a bad side to this, too,

[03:57.11] and that is that the average American is putting less into savings.

[04:01.89] I'm afraid that in the long term this could damage the economy.

[04:06.49]What we are seeing is that

[04:08.87]savings rates for the average American have fallen sharply:

[04:13.54] from 6.2% in 1993 to 3.8% today.

[04:19.92] People seem more confident about the future

[04:23.21] and so they see less reason to put money in the bank.

[04:27.10] It is predicted that this will fall to less than 2% next year.

[04:33.11] But the opposite is true for the very rich.

[04:36.51]In fact,

[04:38.31] the average rage for savings among the top 1% of wealthy people today is 24%!

[04:46.90]INTERVIEWER:All I can say is I wish they'd send some of their money my way!

[04:52.41] Dr Higgins,thank you for talking to us today.HIGGINS:You're welcome.