英伦广角 2009-03-15 应对金融危机,美欧意见相左

When they met earlier this month, both President Obama and Gordon Brown looked forward to coordinated² international action to boost the global economy.

 

One of the things that Prime Minister Brown and I talked about is how can we coordinate¹ so that all the G20 countries, all the major countries around the world in a coordinated fashion are stimulating³ their economies.

 

But as G20 finance ministers gather in Britain this weekend to prepare for the London summit in April, hopes of a real breakthrough are fading. In lighthearted comments, the White House spokesman said he didn’t expect specific commitments. 

 

And the President will talk to other nations of the G20 about acting⁴ together in hopes of doing the same without again negotiating some specific commitment.

 

European leaders have already set out their goals for the summit with France and Germany turning down Obama and Brown’s hopes of more borrowing to fund a further economic stimulus⁵. The Europeans do want binding⁶ regulations to make sure banks and lenders don’t gamble away the economy again. But America insists it will make its own rules.

 

I think they will say nice things about we have to coordinate regulation but we are not gonna have a college of regulators as the EU wants, and already Congress is saying we are not gonna surrender any sovereignty over our banks to any other countries. So that’s not gonna happen.

 

This meeting was not Barack Obama’s idea. President Bush set it up last year. And many believe Obama is simply not ready to make big international commitments.

 

The new administration has been obsessed⁷ by America’s own economic woes⁸. And they’ve yet to convince the markets at home that they are beating them. In particular, Treasury⁹ Secretary Geithner, this week’s chief US negotiator has been heavily criticized. His bank bailout flopped¹⁰ and he’s still the only senior official at the US treasury because of problems nominating and approving appointments.

 

A face-saving agreement is likely to be a doubling of IMF funds available to poorer nations. But if the London summit overall does fail to impress, it would be to the British government’s cost, even if America gets the blame.

 

Adam Boulton, Sky News, Washington

 

 

1 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

2 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

3 stimulating   

adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的

参考例句：

• shower gel containing plant extracts that have a stimulating effect on the skin 含有对皮肤有益的植物精华的沐浴凝胶
• This is a drug for stimulating nerves. 这是一种兴奋剂。

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 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。

6 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

7 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

8 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

9 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

10 flopped   

v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的过去式和过去分词 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅

参考例句：

• Exhausted, he flopped down into a chair. 他筋疲力尽，一屁股坐到椅子上。
• It was a surprise to us when his play flopped. 他那出戏一败涂地，出乎我们的预料。 来自《简明英汉词典》