VOA慢速英语 2008 1017a

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

This week, the two major presidential candidates gave new details of their plans to help Americans deal with the economic crisis.

On Monday, Democrat¹ Barack Obama offered proposals totaling sixty billion dollars over two years. The next day, Republican John McCain announced proposals totaling about fifty-three billion dollars.

Both plans call for new tax breaks.
　

Barack Obama in Toledo, Ohio, where he announced his economic proposals

Senator Obama proposes to suspend the capital gains tax on small businesses. He also wants to give businesses a three thousand dollar tax credit for each new employee they hire in the United States over the next two years.

Senator McCain proposes to cut the fifteen percent tax on long-term capital gains in half for two years. And he would let investors² reduce their taxable income by up to fifteen thousand dollars for stock losses, five times the current limit.

Both candidates want to temporarily suspend taxes on unemployment aid. Senator Obama would also extend the payments.

To deal with the housing crisis, he proposes a ninety-day ban on some home repossessions by banks. And he says he would provide twenty-five billion dollars in aid to states, along with assistance in restructuring troubled mortgages.
　

John McCain in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, where he made his new proposals

Senator McCain recently proposed to have the federal government buy troubled mortgages. These would be replaced with government-guaranteed loans at a lower cost. The plan would cost three hundred billion dollars. The money would come from the rescue measure passed by Congress to bail³ out the financial services industry.

To help older Americans, both candidates want to temporarily suspend withdrawal⁴ requirements for retirement⁵ savings⁶ accounts. That would give investments more time to recover lost value. Senator McCain also wants to reduce taxes to the lowest rate, ten percent, for two years on withdrawals⁷ up to fifty thousand dollars.

With the Obama plan, workers could withdraw up to ten thousand dollars in retirement savings without an early withdrawal charge. That policy would also be in effect for two years.

In other news this week, the Treasury⁸ Department said it will inject up to two hundred fifty billion dollars in banks. The government will gain partial ownership in return but not have voting rights. America's nine largest banks agreed to the plan under pressure from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. He warned them not to hold on to this new capital "but to deploy⁹ it."

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

1 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

2 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

3 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

4 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

5 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。

6 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。

7 withdrawals   

n.收回，取回，撤回( withdrawal的名词复数 )；撤退，撤走；收回[取回，撤回，撤退，撤走]的实例；推出（组织），提走（存款），戒除毒瘾，对说过的话收回，孤僻

参考例句：

• He has made several withdrawals from his bank account. 他从银行账户上提了几次款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It is not the bank's policy to deduct interest on withdrawals. 提款需扣除利息这并非是本银行的政策。 来自辞典例句

8 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。

9 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。