时间:2018-12-18 作者:英语课 分类:儿童英文广播剧在线听


英语课
If you watch the news in Britain or look at a British newspaper at the moment, a term you are more than likely to come across is 'credit crunch 1'. It has become a bit of a buzzword, but what does it mean?
  Well, it's a financial term and it means that people in Britain are feeling the pinch right now. A credit crunch means banks have a shortage of money to loan people, which in turn has an effect on many other things. It's the effect this shortage of money has which is called the credit crunch.
  The beginnings of this problem can be traced back to America, where people with a poor credit history were allowed to take out mortgages, which they were unable to repay.
  Banks often lend money to and borrow money from each other, something we might not have realised they actually do. It was certainly cheaper for banks in America to get money this way, than to borrow money from America's Federal Reserve, their central bank.
  A lot of these loans that people were unable to pay back were sold on to other banks, many of them in the UK.
  As banks did not know the level of debt they were acquiring, they no longer wanted to lend money to or borrow money from other banks. There is now less movement of money between banks and therefore a shortage of available money.
  Banks and other financial institutions have to compensate 2 for this by increasing fees and rates on products such as mortgages, loans and credit cards. Consequently, the average man on the street is affected 3 as it is harder for them to borrow money with these increased rates.
  Britons are also affected because the cost of living continues to rise; food, petrol and utility bills are all on the up and that means they have less money to spend on a day-to-day basis too.
  So many Britons are seeking advice on how to tighten 4 their belts, as it looks like the credit crunch may be around for some time.

GLOSSARY 词汇表
a term
术语,名词
 feeling the pinch
手头拮据,缺钱
 in turn
导致
 mortgages
抵押贷款
 financial institutions
金融机构
 fees
费用
 the average man on the street
一般人,平常人
 petrol
汽油 (英式英语)
 on the up
稳步上升,上涨
 seeking advice
寻求建议
  buzzword
流行词
 a shortage
短缺
 poor credit history
不良贷款历史
 debt
债务
 to compensate
补偿,弥补
 rates
利息
 the cost of living
生活费用
 utility bills
水电费
 on a day-to-day basis
每日,日常
 to tighten their belts
节省开支



1 crunch
n.关键时刻;艰难局面;v.发出碎裂声
  • If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
  • People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。
2 compensate
vt.补偿,赔偿;酬报 vi.弥补;补偿;抵消
  • She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
  • Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。
3 affected
adj.不自然的,假装的
  • 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。
4 tighten
v.(使)变紧;(使)绷紧
  • Turn the screw to the right to tighten it.向右转动螺钉把它拧紧。
  • Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoid inflation.一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策,以避免通货膨胀。
学英语单词
4-methylsalinomycin
acetilenic
airspace prohibited area
aporheidine
ataxiameter
Barytheres
bismarckia nobilis hiddebr et wendel
boiler blowdown water
Carloforte
cassette lid
cellulose propionate fibre
chapel of love
chobes
closing of root
commuting time
crassament
cultural immediacy
cushion moss
differential instrument
dilatant fluia
diveroli
documentary
ecomap
electrovoice
enqueuers
enquiry (enq)
everall
Fahry alloy
fire-prevention pipe
forest-police
game laws
gastos
geographical variant of association
grievance provision
grouped controls
had a cow
high tensile reinforing steel
highway bus station
historiosophical
hydraulic gate valve
information system for process control
inverse-feedback filter
jtc
Krishnapur
kuehneola japonica
lift someone's face
Ligularia atroviolacea
martingality
melolontha minima
Mendhein kiln
military ordinary mail
Murker
musico-
national resource industries
nickelization
niprs
nostalgie
occluded rubber
off-market offsetting
ornela
pansy orchid
pat test
per incuriam
pesterings
piston (pneumatic)
platydema terusane
production campaign
projection tract
pronunciable
pseudo-cumene
radial ventilated type
response circuit
scanzoni
seien
selective bias
semi passive
set an objective
shock tube
shotblaster
shriveling
Sinmyong
Soromaya
stowings
subarea
systems audit
Taihei-yama
taken your own life
talastine
the Alps
traceability of measurements
transient condition
truanted
truth drug
two-pass symbolic language assembler
typical model
UK-6558-01
unisolvent
Ur of the Chaldees
vapor pressure method
water fennel oil
weather notations