VOA标准英语2013--EU Claims That Crisis Is Over Premature, Analysts Warn

 

EU Claims That Crisis Is Over Premature¹, Analysts³ Warn

The budget deal agreed to after marathon 25-hour talks in Brussels will see total EU expenditures⁴ cut by $45.9 billion or 34.4 billion euros over the next seven years.

It was seen as a victory for those EU leaders who had demanded that austerity at home be matched by cuts in Brussels, like British Prime Minister David Cameron.

“There are lots of people who wanted to push it up, and at last someone has come along and said this has got to stop. It is time for that credit card limit to go down,” Cameron said.

The euro has gained 6 percent against a group of other currencies over the last six months. That’s a good sign, says European Central Bank President Mario Draghi.

“The appreciation⁵ is, in a sense, a sign of the internal confidence of the euro,” Draghi said.

Analysis by the Dutch bank ING showed almost $134 billion or 100 billion euros in private funds flowed back into eurozone periphery⁶ countries in the last four months of 2012. That marks a big turnaround from a year ago when fears of a capital flight stalked the eurozone.

“We’ve seen the banks in Spain and Italy benefit from that, and there has been more of a willingness to take on the riskier⁷ trades of lending to the periphery nations,” said Louise Cooper. a a financial analyst² and author of the CooperCity blog.

Periphery countries like Greece and Spain are still struggling with low or negative growth and spiraling unemployment.

Cooper says claims by European leaders that the debt crisis is over are far too premature.

“Progress is being made, but at a snail’s pace. Even though we have a big rally in equity⁸ markets - or had a big rally in equity markets - in the first few weeks of January, it was actually on quite small volumes,” Cooper said.

Italy has an election on February 24 with former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi climbing in public opinion polls. Meanwhile, the party of Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is engulfed⁹ in corruption¹⁰ allegations.

“Politics is one of the black swans of the eurozone this year. In Italy we could have political uncertainty¹¹, perhaps the return of Silvio Berlusconi. In Spain, we don’t know where the current scandal surrounding the Prime Minister will go. All of these sorts of things have the capacity to unsettle markets,” said Philip White, who is with the Centre for European Reform.

White adds that the big test for Europe this year comes in September with the German elections, when Chancellor¹² Angela Merkel will face a tough battle to remain the leader of Europe’s biggest economy. 

1 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

2 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

3 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 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。

4 expenditures   

n.花费( expenditure的名词复数 )；使用；（尤指金钱的）支出额；（精力、时间、材料等的）耗费

参考例句：

• We have overspent.We'll have to let up our expenditures next month. 我们已经超支了，下个月一定得节约开支。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The pension includes an allowance of fifty pounds for traffic expenditures. 年金中包括50镑交通费补贴。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 appreciation   

n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨

参考例句：

• I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
• I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。

6 periphery   

n.(圆体的)外面；周围

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe.从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。
• The periphery of the retina is very sensitive to motion.视网膜的外围对运动非常敏感。

7 riskier   

冒险的，危险的( risky的比较级 )

参考例句：

• Now they are starting to demand higher returns on riskier assets. 而今他们开始在风险更高的资产上要求更高的回报。
• The problem with that: RIM's business is getting riskier every quarter. 不过问题也随之而来：RIM面临的业务风险正逐季增大。

8 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

9 engulfed   

v.吞没，包住( engulf的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was engulfed by a crowd of reporters. 他被一群记者团团围住。
• The little boat was engulfed by the waves. 小船被波浪吞没了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

11 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

12 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。