VOA慢速英语 2008 1128a

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

President-elect Barack Obama named the top members of his economic team in a series of announcements this week in Chicago, Illinois. His nominee¹ for secretary of the Treasury² is Tim Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for the past five years. Mister Geithner has been working to rescue companies affected³ by the financial crisis. He has also worked as undersecretary of the Treasury Department for international affairs.
　
Barack Obama with two members of his team, Tim Geithner and Christina Romer

The top economic adviser⁴ in the White House will be Larry Summers. He was President Clinton's last Treasury secretary, at the same time that Tim Geithner was undersecretary. The former Harvard University president will lead the National Economic Council. That position does not require Senate approval.

But confirmation⁵ is required for the director of the Council of Economic Advisers⁶. Mister Obama's choice to lead that group is Christina Romer. She is an economist⁷ and economic historian at the University of California, Berkeley.

The nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget in the White House is Peter Orszag, until now the director of the Congressional Budget Office.

And Mister Obama announced the creation of a President's Economic Recovery Advisory⁸ Board. Paul Volcker will lead the new board. He was Federal Reserve chairman during most of the nineteen eighties.

The president-elect is working with Democratic leaders in Congress on an economic recovery plan. Spending and tax cuts might cost five hundred billion dollars or more. But Mister Obama says: "We are facing an economic crisis of historic proportions."

The goal for the stimulus⁹ plan is to save or create two and one-half million jobs over a period of two years. Congressional leaders hope to have the plan ready for the new president to sign shortly after he takes office on January twentieth.

The government has already promised trillions of dollars in loans, guarantees and investments to rescue the economy. At the same time, Barack Obama says the government must cut wasteful¹⁰ spending from the three trillion dollar federal budget. As he promised during the campaign, he said he will direct his new budget team to go through the budget page by page and line by line.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. For the latest developments in the financial crisis, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

 

1 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

2 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。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

5 confirmation   

n.证实，确认，批准

参考例句：

• We are waiting for confirmation of the news.我们正在等待证实那个消息。
• We need confirmation in writing before we can send your order out.给你们发送订购的货物之前，我们需要书面确认。

6 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

7 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

8 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

9 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。

10 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。