VOA标准英语10月-US Stocks Plunge; Washington Calls Summit Meeting

It was another down day on Wall Street Wednesday as the Dow Jones Industrials lost 514 points amid growing worries of world recession. VOA's Barry Wood has more.
　

Wall Street stock trader, 22 Oct 2008

In addition to the Dow Industrials being down, the broader Standard and Poor's index of 500 stocks fell six percent to 897. That is the lowest close in the S & P since April 2003. The slump¹ in equity² prices was global as the market index in London was off 4.5 percent and Tokyo was down nearly seven percent.

In Latin America markets were unsettled by a move by Argentina's government to nationalize the privately³ run pension funds. The Buenos Aires stock index was off ten percent, while Chile's index fell six percent and Brazil's ten percent.

The weakness in the U.S. economy was reflected in a 70 percent jump in home foreclosures in the third quarter. Data from RealtyTrac says three quarters of a million homes received foreclosure notices in the July to September period. About three million homes are expected to be in foreclosure this year.

Mark Zandi, chief economist⁴ at Moody's economy.com, says the deepening U.S. recession already is impacting 28 of the 50 US states, making it problematic for workers to move from a depressed⁵ area to one where conditions are better. "People can't move. They don't know where to go. In the last recession California got creamed and everybody moved to Las Vegas (Nevada) or Phoenix⁶ (Arizona) or Seattle (Washington). But in this recession it's not clear where you would go, except maybe to Texas (which is doing better)"

Oil was down again Wednesday, falling $5 to under $67 a barrel. Oil has fallen by 50 percent in just three months. Gold lost $35 to $733 an ounce. The dollar continued to rally and closed at $1.28 against the euro while the British pound fell to a five-year low of $1.63.

1 slump   

n.暴跌，意气消沉，（土地）下沉；vi.猛然掉落，坍塌，大幅度下跌

参考例句：

• She is in a slump in her career.她处在事业的低谷。
• Economists are forecasting a slump.经济学家们预言将发生经济衰退。

2 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。

3 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

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 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。

6 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。