时间:2018-12-16 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2008年(十月)


英语课
The Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank, on Wednesday cut short-term interest rates in an effort to boost the slowing economy. VOA's Barry Wood reports it was the eighth cut in the overnight federal funds rate in the past year.
 






United States Federal Reserve Building in Washington, D.C. (File)



The action takes the fed funds rate to one percent, a rate well below inflation. The move is intended to stimulate 1 lending and make the cost of borrowing cheaper. Bank lending has been essentially 2 frozen for months due to a year-long credit squeeze that was triggered by defaults on sub-prime U.S. mortgage loans.

William Poole, a former governor of the Federal Reserve, says the Fed acted because economic activity has slowed dramatically.

"The economy has really hit a wall. Things are really dramatically weaker than they were just a month ago," Poole said on Bloomberg Television.

In its statement, the Fed said that economic growth had slowed markedly and that the economy faces more downside risks.

Poole says there may be additional rate cuts ahead.

"Yes, absolutely," he said. "Now the immediate 3 question in the market and among economists 4 will be, 'Do they [i.e., the Federal Reserve] go down some more - 75 basis points or 50? What happens when they get to 25 [i.e., a quarter-of-a-point federal funds rate? Does monetary 5 policy have any room left to stimulate the economy?'"

Only three weeks ago the Federal Reserve, in coordinated 6 rate cutting moves with European and Asian central banks, reduced short-term interest rates by half of a percent. One year ago, when the Fed was worried about inflation, the fed funds rate stood at 5.25 percent.

Experts say the speed and size of the rate cuts during the past year reveal how seriously the central bank views the global financial crisis. The last time short-term rates were this low was 2003, when the economy was recovering from recession. However, low interest rates have been blamed for the speculative 7 frenzy 8 in the housing sector 9 - a bubble that burst early last year, sparking today's financial crisis.

Stock prices in New York fell on Wednesday with the Dow Jones Industrials losing 77 points to 8,988. Oil prices rallied nearly $5 to about $68 a barrel. And the U.S. dollar was lower against the yen 10 and the euro.



1 stimulate
vt.刺激,使兴奋;激励,使…振奋
  • Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
  • Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。
2 essentially
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上
  • Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
  • She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。
3 immediate
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的
  • His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
  • We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
4 economists
n.经济学家,经济专家( economist的名词复数 )
  • 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》
5 monetary
adj.货币的,钱的;通货的;金融的;财政的
  • 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。
6 coordinated
adj.协调的
  • The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
  • The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
7 speculative
adj.思索性的,暝想性的,推理的
  • 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。
8 frenzy
n.疯狂,狂热,极度的激动
  • He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
  • They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。
9 sector
n.部门,部分;防御地段,防区;扇形
  • The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
  • The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。
10 yen
n. 日元;热望
  • He wanted to convert his dollars into Japanese yen.他想将美元换成日币。
  • He has a yen to be alone in a boat.他渴望独自呆在一条船上。
学英语单词
absorption cross section
Acipenser schrencki
and the like
antibouncer
archaeological
Arif, Abdul Rahman Mohammed
back date
Balaing
binarite (marcasite)
Bona fide buyer
boxed processor
branch statistics
brendle
bronchial glands
brunost
call lamp
chemical anthropology
closes up
contract microbrew
court of equity
decibel (db)
direct firing system
direct-current telegraphy
drag anchor
duple ratio
electrodynamic vibration machine
ellesmerian
empirical school of management
eneida
energy-conscious
eustyles
excise duties
extraction gravimetric method
freedom of commerce
gasp in admiration
gbp
green parties
head tenon
heat quality
hemimellitic acid
indium hydrogen sulfide
Jackson's epilepsy
La Ferté-Vidame
language lab
lemon-juice
light show
liquid phase extraction
little monkey
magnetic bubble memory (mbm)
maneuvering propeller
maritimes
mauritane
monostyla closterocerca
morainal apron
n-hexylaldehyde
nascent protein
non-functional compound
NOT STRICT
nudas
optimum turn
other optical fiber measurement equipment
overflow attribute
oxalacetic ester
permissible lamp
photobeat
planeness of flange
planting system
plateau gravel
pneumatic liquid density gage
Poupart's line
praam
primary processes
production
pulse build-up time
quiero
railway bureau
regulator cover gasket
reversal nozzle
reverse swing door
ronghage
room temperature control system
safety goals
sand handling
scab union
seal pouring
self-scheduled algorithm
semiconductor barium titanate
serially linked reservoir
Shijǒng
silage combine harvester
single-bed room
sorbitan monolaurate
spade bolt
spark plug tester
sphygmophones
staiver
Tibenzatum
trivialities
ungreases
venit et defendit
ventrolateral compartment
Virus software