英语听力入门Step by Step3000第一册第8课

Book 1 Unit 8 Trends in Economics
Part I Warming up
I.Vocabulary and background knowledge for this part:
A: 1. release oil: end the restriction on oil; make oil available放开对石油的控制
2. common import tax统一进口税，统一关税
3. stock prices股票价格
4. aerospace: the atmosphere and outer space considered as a whole航空航天
5. Burma: a country of southeast Asia on the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea缅甸
6. Rangoon: the capital and largest city of Burma 仰光（缅甸首都）
7. the Gulf Cooperation Council海湾合作委员会
8. the New York Stock Exchange纽约股票交易所(NYSE)
9. MCI美国著名的通讯公司
10. WorldCom世界电讯公司
11. Riyad利雅得（沙特阿拉伯的首都）
B: 12. peace and security: the state of being free from danger or injury和平与安全/稳定
13. inflation: a general and progressive increase in prices通货膨胀
14. demonstrator: ['demənstreitə] someone who participates in a public display of group feeling示威者
15. senate: ['senət] assembly possessing high legislative powers参议院
16. Dutch: of or relating to the Netherlands or its people or culture荷兰的
17. Manila [mə'nilə] 马尼拉（菲律宾首都）
18. the Federal Reserve Board 美国联邦制度理事会/ (美国)联邦储备金监察小组
19. Czech [tʃek] Republic捷克共和国 cf. chic [ʃi:k] 时尚,时髦；别致
C: 20. loan: the temporary provision of money (usually at interest)贷款
21. budget ['bʌdʒit] plan: a summary of intended expenditures along with proposals for how to meet them预算
22. limiting production限制生产
23: index: a number or ratio (a value on a scale of measurement) derived from a series of observed facts; can reveal relative changes as a function of time指数
24. prime rate: 银行优惠贷款利率；最低银行利率
25. cabinet ['kæbinət]: persons appointed by a head of state to head executive departments of government and act as official advisers内阁
26. barrel: a bulging cylindrical shape; hollow with flat ends一桶的量；装满的桶
27. indicator: a number or ratio (a value on a scale of measurement) derived from a series of observed facts; can reveal relative changes as a function of time; a device for showing the operating condition of some system指标
28. work force: the force of workers available劳动力
Ⅱ. Key to this part:
Part I
A.
1.$25,000,000,000
2.$161,000,000
3.$37,000,000,000 / 28,000,000,000-dollar / $24,000,000,000
4.30,000,000
5.$1,000,000,000
6. 5.5%/
7.5%
7.550/ 7%
8.0.25% , 4.75%, 4.5%
Tapescript:
You are going to hear some simple news items which include numbers ranging from 0.25 to 37,000,000,000. Listen carefully. Write down the numbers rapidly.
1. British Aerospace plans to buy the part of General Electric Company of Britain that makes defence electronics. The deal is worth $25,000,000,000.
2. Canada will hold a meeting of American leaders in April to discuss trade and economic issues. Canada now has a trade surplus of $161,000,000 a year with Central America.
3. Owners of MCI Communications have agreed to sell the company to the American communications company WorldCom. The price is $37,000,000,000 in stock. WorldCom defeated a 28,000,000,000-dollar / 28,000,000,000 dollars offer by GGE. MCI also refused the British company Telecom’s offer to unite the two companies by an agreement worth about $24,000,000,000.
4. President Clinton will release 30,000,000 barrels of oil from the United States’ emergency supply. The move is designed to ease heating oil shortage expected this year.
5. RANGOON --- The United Nations and the World Bank have offered Burma $1,000,000,000 in aid. A UN special diplomat made the offer to Burmese leaders last month.
6. Representatives of the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council have agreed to common import taxes. Officials at the meeting in Riyad said representatives agreed to set the common tax on some goods at 5.5%. The tax on other goods will be
7.5%.
7. The New York Stock Exchange halted trading early after suffering one of the worst market drops in history. Stock prices fell more than 550 points. That is a loss of more than 7%.
8. United States’ Central Bank officials are reducing interest rates for the third time this year. The bank officials cut by 0.25% the rate that banks charge each other for short-term loans. That rate now will be 4.75%. The Central Bank made the same reduction in the rate it charges member banks for overnight loans. The rate now will be 4.5%.
B.
1. increasing their protests against rising fuel prices
2. a meeting of African nations
3. the Czech Republic/ by early 2003/ a conference of EU members
4. Central Bank governors/ Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United States
5. reduce the amount of oil/ harming their economies
6. cutting taxes on oil products
7. increase trade/ bring peace and security to the area/ in Manila
8. support policies that keep inflation flow
9. open Japanese ports to foreign companies
10. his country’s economy/ a leading manufacturing and financial center
Tapescript:
Now listen to some simple news items. Focus your attention on “who”, “what”, “when”, “where”, “why” and “how” in each lead and write down what you hear in the given spaces.
1. Angry demonstrators are increasing their protests against rising fuel prices. World oil prices have reached a ten-year high of about $135 a barrel.
2. China has opened a meeting of African nations. Representatives of more than 40 African nations are attending the three-day meeting in Beijing.
3. Dutch Prime Minister says the Czech Republic could become a member of the European Union by early 2003. The Prime Minister told reporters that the final date would be decided by a conference of EU members.
4. Finance ministers and Central Bank governors of seven leading industrial nations are meeting in Washington. Officials from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United States are attending the meeting.
5. Iran and Saudi Arabia say they will try to reduce the amount of oil now on the world market in an attempt to increase the low prices that are harming their economies.
6. Leaders of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have urged rich countries to lower oil prices by cutting taxes on oil products.
7. Leaders of the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations have promised to speed efforts to increase trade and to bring peace and security to the area. They made the statement at the end of their yearly meeting in Manila.
8. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board has told a senate committee that he will support policies that keep inflation low.
9. The United States and Japan have signed an agreement that will open Japanese ports to foreign companies.
10. And in Singapore, Prime Minister says his country’s economy has increased almost 4 percent for the first half of 1999. Experts say the country has become a leading manufacturing and financial center.
C.
1. 93,000,000
2. 97,000,000/ 133,000,000
3. 1.5 %, 16%
4. 100,000,000
5. 210, 000,000,000/ 5.1%
6. 17,500,000
7. 1.3%
8. 9.5%, 0.1%, 10,500,000
9. 27,000,000,000
10. 0.6%
Tapescript:
You are going to hear some simple news items, which include numbers ranging from 0.1 to 27,000,000,000. Listen carefully. Write down the numbers rapidly.
1. A record number of shares, almost 93,000,000 were traded Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
2. Trading was heavy again Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. About 97,000,000 shares were traded, a number second only to the record 133,000,000 shares traded Wednesday.
3. Manufacturers’ Hanover Trust Company of New York and the First National Bank of Chicago both reduced their prime rate 1.5% to 1.6%.
4. The World Bank has approved a 100,000,000 dollar loan to the Ivory Coast.
5. Japan’s cabinet has approved a proposed budget plan for next year. The 210,000,000 dollar budget will reduce total spending. Military spending will be increased 5.1%.
6. Oil ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have agreed to continue limiting production to 17,500,000 barrels of oil a day.
7. The Commerce Department said its index of leading economic indicators rose 1.3% in July, the fourth month it has increased.
8. Unemployment in the United States rose last month to 9.5% of the American work force, the hightest rate since World War II.
9. Poland owes foreign countries about 27,000,000,000 dollars.
10. The Labor Department reports that wholesale prices increased by only 0.6% in August.
Part II Nobel Prize winner for economics
I.Vocabulary for this part:
1. national savings: 国民储蓄
2. the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences瑞典皇家科学院
3. macroeconomics: the branch of economics that studies the overall working of a national economy宏观经济学
4. credit: money available for a client to borrow信用
5. stagflation: a period of slow economic growth and high unemployment (stagnation) while prices rise (inflation) 滞涨；停滞性膨胀
II.Key to this part:
A. Listen to a passage about Edmund Phelps, a Nobel Prize Winner for Economics. Complete his major viewpoints below with the information you hear.
1. Edmund Phelps studied large forces that affect economics at the national or international level.
2. Mr. Phelps correctly identified the relationship between unemployment and inflation. He discovered that, over the long term, inflation hurt job creation.
3. Mr. Phelps showed that national savings rates can be too high. The best savings rate is not so high that it limits demands in the present, and it is not so low that it limits growth and investment in the future.
B. Listen to the passage again. This time focus on the wrong ideas and theories common people and even policymakers held before. Supply the missing information.
1. Since the 1930s, policymakers in many nations dealt with unemployment by letting inflation increase to create jobs. They accepted that reducing unemployment required higher inflation.
2. Common sense suggests that a very high savings rate is best.
Tapescript:
Edmund Phelps has been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize for Economics. Mr. Phelps is a professor of economics at Columbia University in New York City. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honored Mr. Phelps for his work in macroeconomics. That is the study of large forces that affect economies at the national or international level.
Mr. Phelps correctly identified the relationship between unemployment and inflation. Since the 1930s, policymakers in many nations dealt with unemployment in the same way. They would let inflation increase to create jobs.
For example, they would make credit easier to get. As a result, people would buy more goods. Business would hire workers to meet growing demand, forcing prices up. For many years, policymakers accepted that reducing unemployment required higher inflation.
Mr. Phelps found that inflation did temporarily increase employment. But he discovered that, over the long term, inflation hurt job creation. His ideas were proved by economic conditions in America in the 1970s. That period was known for “stagflation having high unemployment and high inflation at the same time.”
Edmund Phelps also found that if employers expect low inflation in the future, they are more likely to hire workers.
Today, economic policy experts believe the best way to create job is to fight inflation.
Mr. Phelps also studied national savings over long periods of time. Common sense suggests that a very high savings rate is best. But, Mr. Phelps showed that national savings rates can be too high. He argued that saving too much limited demand in the present, which could slow growth.
The best savings rate is not so high that it limits demand in the present. And it is not so low that it limits growth and investment in the future. Still, he argued that governments should take action to raise national savings.
Edmund Phelps did much of his research in macroeconomics during the late 1960s and early 1970s. His work continues to influence economists. And it has helped change policy at central banks, which now consider fighting inflation a main goal.
Part III “Bulls” and “bears”
I.Vocabulary for this part:
1. brokers: One that acts as an agent for others, as in negotiating contracts, purchases, or sales in return for a fee or commission 经纪人
2. investors: someone who commits capital in order to gain financial returns 投资人
3. the big board: 大盘
4. a bull market: 牛市
5. a bear market: 熊市
6. go belly up: 不行了，完蛋了
7. windfall: a sudden, unexpected piece of good fortune or personal gain意外之财
8. duck: go down, decrease 下降
II.Key to this part:
A:
1. a stock exchange: noisy place / bell / lighted messages / computers / talk on the telephone / shout / run around
2. brokers: experts / salespeople / buy & sell shares of companies
3. stocks: shares
4. the big board: a list of stocks sold on the New York Stock Exchange
5. a bear market: prices / go down
6. a bull market: prices / go up
7. a company that goes belly up: a company that does not earn enough profit
8. a windfall: a sharp increase in the value of a stock / something wonderful that happens unexpectedly
B:
1. When and where did word “board” with the meaning mentioned in the passage appear in written form?
in 1837 in a newspaper in Illinois
2. What is the origin of “a bear market”?
old story / sold the skin of a bear / before caught it
3. What is the origin of “a bull market?”
a long connection / bulls and bears / in sports / popular years ago / England
4. What is the phrase “go belly up” originally used to describe ?
fish / turn over on their backs / die
5. What is the story about the origin of the word “windfall”?
England / centuries ago / poor people / banned / cutting trees / the wind blew down the tree / take fuel
III.Tapescript for this part
Today we tell about some American expressions that are commonly used in business.
Bell sound, lighted messages appear, men and women work at computers, they talk on the telephone, at times they shout and run around. This noisy place is a stock exchange. Here experts, salespeople called brokers buy and sell shares of companies. The shares are known as stocks. People who own stock in a company own part of that company. People pay brokers to buy and sell stocks for them. If a company earns money, its stock increases in value. If the company does not earn money, its stock decreases in value. Brokers and investor carefully watch for any changes on
the big board. That is the name given to a list of stocks sold on the New People who own stock in a company own part of that company.
The first written use of the word with that meaning was in a newspaper in Illinois in 1837. It said, “The sales on the board were $1, 700 in American gold.” Investors and brokers watch the big board to see if the stock market is a bull market or a bear market. In a bear market, prices go down. In bull market, prices go up. Investors in a bear market promise to sell a stock in the future at a set price, but the investor does not own the stock yet. He or she wants to buy it when the price ducks.
The meaning of a bear market is thought to come from an old story about a man who sold the skin of a bear before he caught the bear. An English dictionary of the 1600s said, “To sell a bear is to sell what one has not.” Word experts dispute the beginning of the word “bull” in the stock market. But some say it came from a long connection of the two animals bulls and bears in sports that were popular years ago in England. Investors are always concerned about the possibility of a company failing.
In the modern world, a company that does not earn enough profit is said to go belly up. A company that goes belly up dies like a fish. Fish turn over on their backs when they die. So they’re stomach or belly up. Stock market investors do not want that to happen to a company. They want a company whose stock they own to earn more profit than expected. This would sharply increase the value of the stock.
Investors are hoping for a windfall. The word “windfall” comes from England of centuries ago. There poor people were banned from cutting trees in forests owned by rich landowners. But if the wind blew down a tree, the poor person could take the wood for fuel. So a windfall is something wonderful that happens unexpectedly.
Part IV Short Talks on Listening Skills
IV. Vocabulary for this part:
1. implication: a meaning that is not expressly stated but can be inferred含意, 暗示
2. hypothesis: a proposal intended to explain certain facts or observations假设；前提
eg. This is only a sort of scientific hypothesis which has not been proved by experiments
这仅仅是一个尚未被实验证明的科学假说。

3. utterance: the use of uttered sounds for auditory communication意见,说话的方式,
4. anticipate: act in advance of; deal with ahead of time预见
5. orientate: determine one's position with reference to another point 朝向 eg. quality-oriented V.Key to this part:
Thinking Ahead of the Speaker --- Anticipation Helps
Listening is an extremely complex communicative activity. In his book Principles and Implications of Cognitive Psychology, Neisser defines listening as a “temporally extended activity” in which the listener “continuously develops more or less specific readiness for what will come next.” In other words, an effective listener is constantly setting up hypothesis in his mind,
and also, he is constantly testing his hypothesis by matching it with what he has heard in reality. If he hears what he has expected, he receives the information. But if what he hears is totally out of his expectation, he fails to get the message.
The skill to anticipate what is coming in listening comprehension depends largely on the listener’s familiarity with the theme of the message. It also depends on the listener’s knowledge of the speaker as well as the setting.
Obviously, when we listen to something that we already have some information about, it is generally a lot easier for us to take in the new information. Therefore, pre-listening preparation seems to have a big role to play in enhancing listening comprehension. Before actual listening, we could perhaps first give some thought to the topic, discuss it with others, read some related materials and do some vocabulary work. If we could make ourselves fully oriented for the forthcoming talks or lectures, we are more likely to become effective listeners.
Of course, readiness beforehand is not at all enough. Active thinking must take place all the way through. In fact, we should always try to think ahead of the speaker. The ability to anticipate helps us in logical and intelligent guesswork. It does not only enable us to know generally what a person is going to talk about in a certain situation, but also, interestingly enough, sometimes even exactly what a person’s next utterance is going to be in a discussion!。