VOA标准英语2008年-US Recession Fears Continue to Generate Worries

By Tom Rivers
London
22 January 2008

In trading Tuesday, European stock markets continue to react nervously¹ to U.S. recession fears. For VOA, Tom Rivers reports form London.

Having shed 5.5 percentage points on Monday and taking its cue from Asia, the London stock market dropped 3 percent at the start of trading, but most of that loss was recovered on rumors² among traders of concerted rate cuts both here and in the United States in the near future.

The story is the same in Paris and Frankfurt where share prices are down, but not to the extent of the drops seen on Monday.

The wild, volatile³ swings that began with the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the United States has spread around the world.

The impact on individual countries is a hot topic. Here for example, British Cabinet minister Ed Balls predicts the United Kingdom should weather the storm.

"It shows that the global economy is under real pressure. The good thing from Britain's point of view is that inflation is low, our interest rates are low and have come down," said Balls.

Perceived fear is the real threat dragging the stock markets down and wiping off billions in stock values in the process says Holger Schmieding, the chief European economist⁴ at Bank of America in London.

"At the moment you could say that equity⁵ markets are threatening to project some of the U.S. economic weakness into Europe and other places of the world," said Schmieding. "We have a great fear factor current in markets and such fears can cause turbulence⁶ for a while."

Many European traders say President Bush's proposed U.S. tax-cut stimulus⁷ package designed to encourage spending might not be enough. The widespread worry is a global recession could follow a U.S. recession, but Mr. Schmieding says we are not there yet.

"At the moment it still looks much more likely that the U.S. is heading for stagnation⁸, but the risk of a U.S. recession has of course increased over the last few weeks, substantially," added Schmieding.

But the current climate remains⁹ very depressed¹⁰ around the world and that is unlikely to change anytime soon as people worry about the impact this downturn might have on jobs, pensions and investments in general.

1 nervously   

adv.神情激动地，不安地

参考例句：

• He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇，努力忍着不哭出来。
• He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。

2 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

4 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。

5 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

6 turbulence   

n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流

参考例句：

• The turbulence caused the plane to turn over.空气的激流导致飞机翻转。
• The world advances amidst turbulence.世界在动荡中前进。

7 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。

8 stagnation   

n. 停滞

参考例句：

• Poor economic policies led to a long period of stagnation and decline. 糟糕的经济政策道致了长时间的经济萧条和下滑。
• Motion is absolute while stagnation is relative. 运动是绝对的，而静止是相对的。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。