【英语趣味课堂】澳大利亚的经济-Economics in Australia

Maria: So Alex, you're from Australia. What's the economical situation there at the moment?

Alex: We've actually been very, very lucky in the last couple of years throughout the global financial crisis. We've been, we had a very strong, very positive economic situation. The reason behind that is mainly because of China. They've been buying a lot of our export commodities and as a result, it's been fueling the economy. We didn't have a recession unlike the United States because of the stimulus¹ package as well as China.

 

So the Government did a very controversial stimulus package which included raising the retirement² age up to sixty seven so that was something that wasn't really very much liked. It actually got the Prime Minister booted out of office but nevertheless as a result, a lot of these things that the Government did helped a lot.

 

We also have this thing that I think is one of the most exciting things to come out of Australia which is superannuition or superannuation, however you want to say it. It's a sort of mandatory³ eleven per cent on top of your income which by law you must put into a savings⁴ account which is then invested. The investment packages you can actually get, you know, it can be divided between property, between shares, between stock, whatever you want. You can manage it yourself or you can have it managed as well. But the law is you cannot take the money out until you are sixty five. So if you think about this, that's eleven per cent of what every single person is earning. Often families pool their superannuation together, their super, and that is all being invested. It's all being pumped throughout the economy constantly. Yes, it's kind of been pulled out of services and so on and so forth⁵ but it's going through. It's providing developmental initiatives and all sorts of stuff like that. So I think that's one of the reasons.

 

I certainly think that we're going to have better standards of living than our parents will unlike so many countries in the world which will just fall flat because they haven't got the structure, the social and the economic architecture to look after themselves in the next couple of years.

 

重点词汇：

 

Learn Vocabulary from the lesson

crisis

 

 

Throughout the global financial crisis.

 

Used like this, 'crisis' refers to a period of financial problems or instability. Notice the following:

 

The city wasn't prepared for an environmental crisis like this.

He does a very good job staying calm in a crisis.

commodities

 

 

They've been buying a lot of our export commodities.

 

A 'commodity' is a valuable item that can be traded or sold. Notice the following:

 

His company ships commodities around the world.

Her job involves looking for new and exciting international commodities.

recession

 

 

We didn't have a recession, unlike the United States.

 

A 'recession' is a temporary decline in economic activities.  Notice the following:

 

It is a horrible time to look for work now because of the recession.

Many people have lost their jobs during the recession.

stimulus package

 

 

Because of the stimulus package, the company survived.

 

A 'stimulus package' is used to help the economy creating jobs or increasing spending. Notice the following:

 

Everyone will be getting a tax rebate⁶ this year as part of a national stimulus package.

The government is proposing a stimulus package as part of their effort to help the economy.

superannuation

 

 

Often families pool their superannuation together.

 

A 'superannuation' is an amount that is regularly deducted⁷ from an employee's paycheck and invested in a plan used for retirement. Notice the following:

 

Most people hate superannuation when they are young, but love the benefits when they are older.

Does your country have a superannuation package?

stock

 

It can be divided between property, between shares, and between stock.

 

In this case, 'stock' refers to the shares or ownership of a company. Notice the following:

 

He puts some of his money in savings and invests some of it in stock.

They are finally selling some of their stock to the public.

fall flat

 

 

The economies will fall flat because they haven't got good structure.

 

In this example, 'fall flat' is used to mean something similar to 'fail' or 'collapse⁸.' Notice the following:

 

Their company will probably fall flat in a few years.

It takes a lot of hard work to keep a nation from falling flat.

 

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 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

3 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

4 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

5 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

6 rebate   

v./n.折扣，回扣，退款；vt.给...回扣，给...打折扣

参考例句：

• You can claim a rebate on your tax.你可以要求退回部分税款。
• Customers are to benefit from a rebate on their electricity bills.顾客将从他们的电费退费中得到实惠。

7 deducted   

v.扣除，减去( deduct的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The cost of your uniform will be deducted from your wages. 制服费将从你的工资中扣除。
• The cost of the breakages will be deducted from your pay. 损坏东西的费用将从你的工资中扣除。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。