VOA慢速英语 Economics Report - Teaching Young People about Perso

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

April is National Financial Literacy Month in the United States. As the country faces a deep recession, Americans are paying closer attention to personal finance. Some critics partly blame the crisis on Americans’ low savings¹ rate and high personal debt.

But efforts to increase financial knowledge have grown in the last ten years. Government, community and business leaders have pushed for teaching young people about the importance of saving, budgets and the true cost of credit.

The Jump$tart Coalition² for Personal Financial Literacy is based in Washington, D.C. It is an organization of about one hundred eighty groups, government agencies and businesses. Its goal is to provide financial knowledge to children and young adults before they get into debt.

Jump$tart’s Executive Director Laura Levine says many young people misuse³ credit cards without meaning to. She says they often start by making the lowest payment required. Over time, their credit limit is increased, but they do not pay off their debt. Laura Levine says young people can take on more debt than they can deal with.

The government says forty-five percent of college students have credit card debt. The average amount owed is more than three thousand dollars.

High credit limits are especially dangerous for college students. John Ninfo is a bankruptcy⁴ judge in Rochester, New York. He started the Credit Abuse Resistance Education Program.

It provides resources on its Web site for parents, teachers and students about financial issues. Judge Ninfo says he often sees people in their late twenties seeking bankruptcy protection in court. He says the combination of credit card debt and big student loans is burying young people in debt and driving many of them to bankruptcy.

The results of bad credit can be serious. Seventy percent of employers look at the credit histories of job candidates. In some fields, like law enforcement, bad credit means you cannot get a job.

Former President George Bush formed the President’s Advisory⁵ Council on Financial Literacy last year. That group has called for students at all grade levels to receive financial education. Currently, only seventeen states require personal finance to be taught at least as part of other courses.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. Transcripts⁶ and archives are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 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。

2 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

3 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

4 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

5 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。

6 transcripts   

n.抄本（ transcript的名词复数 ）；转写本；文字本；副本

参考例句：

• Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样，都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
• You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书，你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句