新视野大学英语视听说教程 2 Unit 7-4

Task 3: Why not just print money?
What’s the solution to a recession¹, a time of little economic activity? Just print money! Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? Let’s see if this will work by using an example.
Let’s pretend² that all the students in your class make up the ENTER population of the country, and the teacher represents³ the government. Let’s also pretend each student has exactly $1.00.
Since we are in a recession, let’s have the teacher, who represents the government, print money. He prints $1.00 more for everyone. Now everyone has $1.00 more to spend. More money to spend sounds like a great way to get us out of recession, since more money to spend means⁴ demand for goods and services.
Then if that works⁵, why don’t we give MORE money away? How about $100? Now we have lots of money to spend. So no more recession, right?
Not really, because we have only looked at one side of the problem. As more and more people receive more and more money, what’ll happen?
Since everyone has more money, the students all go shopping to spend that extra money. This causes the demand for goods and services to rise, and people who sell goods and services raise price. For example, if you could buy a new music CD at $10 in the past, now the price could be $1,000! This is called inflation⁶.
So, the original reason for printing all this money was to help get us of recession, but we have only replaced one problem with another.
1.T   2.T   3.F   4.F     5.F
 

1 recession   

n.（工商业的）衷退（期），萧条（期）

参考例句：

• Manufacturing fell sharply under the impact of the recession.受到经济萧条的影响，制造业急剧衰退。
• A rise in interest rates plunged Britain deeper into recession.利率的提高导致英国经济更加萧条。

2 pretend   

vt.假装，假托，装扮；vi.假装，装作

参考例句：

• So you don't need to pretend,do you?所以你不必装假了，对吧？
• Many people pretend that they understand modern art.许多人装着自己懂得现代艺术。

3 Represents   

v.表现( represent的第三人称单数 )；代表；体现；作为…的代表

参考例句：

• This represents a volte-face in government thinking. 这代表着政府观点的彻底转变。
• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history. 俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

5 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。

6 inflation   

n.胀大，夸张，通货膨胀

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• The inflation of the airbed took several minutes.给空气床垫充气花了几分钟时间。