英语听力：澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2014-02-12

 The new head of the US Federal Reserve Janet Yellen says the Central Bank expects to continue trimming stimulus¹ measures despite a stubbornly high jobless rate.

 

The unemployment rate is coming down, but Ms.Yellen says a labor² market recovery is far from complete. 

 

“The unemployment rate is still well above levels that Federal open market committee participates. Estimate is consistent with maximum sustainable employment. Those out of a job for more than six months continue to make up an unusually large fraction of the unemployed³. And the number of people who are working part-time but would prefer a full-time⁴ job remains⁵ very high. These observations underscore the importance of considering more than the unemployment rate when evaluating the condition of the US labor market. ”

 

Janet Yellen. To the markets now.

 

And those stimulus comments from Janet Yellen boosted the US market. In London overnight, the FTSE was also up strongly. 

 

To commodity prices.

 

West Texas Crude is trading at 100 US dollars a barrel. Tapis Crude is trading at 116 US dollars a barrel. And gold is trading at 1290 US dollars an ounce. 

 

The Australian dollar is buying 90 US cents, 66 Euro cents and 55 pence sterling⁶.

1 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

2 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

3 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

4 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 sterling   

adj.英币的(纯粹的，货真价实的)；n.英国货币(英镑)

参考例句：

• Could you tell me the current rate for sterling, please?能否请您告诉我现行英国货币的兑换率？
• Sterling has recently been strong,which will help to abate inflationary pressures.英国货币最近非常坚挺，这有助于减轻通胀压力。