VOA标准英语2010年-Britain's New Cabinet Holds First Meet

The new cabinet agreed to cut the pay of all ministers by five percent, the first step in what is to be a major effort to cut Britain's national deficit¹.

Analyst² Kerry Brown, of the London-based research group Chatham House, compared Britain's deficit to that of Greece, where financial problems have led to massive cuts in spending and deep social unrest.

"The U.K. government has got to make some pretty savage³ cuts because its public debt is so high," said Brown.  "I think it is over 12 percent of GDP.  When you think Greece is, what, 13 and a half percent of GDP, it is a big deficit to be carrying, a big, big deficit."

Britain's deficit stands at almost $250 billion.  The new government has promised an emergency budget within 50 days and has already said it will cut spending by nearly $10 billion this financial year.

New Prime Minister David Cameron says savings⁴ can be achieved by getting rid of inefficiencies.

Christian⁵ Schweiger from Britain's Durham University says Mr. Cameron also talks about devolving power to the people.

"The idea of rolling back the state is really at the heart of the Cameron agenda," Schweiger explained.  "What it means, if you look at what they are really advocating, is basically withdrawing state funding from public services such as schools and police forces, and really just asking people to do more by themselves."

He says that plan is in line with traditional Conservative economic policy and at odds⁶ with the ideas of its predecessor⁷, the Labor⁸ Party.  Former prime minister Gordon Brown invested heavily in the public sector⁹ and believed the government had to keep spending in order to get Britain out of the recession.

Mr. Brown resigned earlier this week after a coalition¹⁰ was formed between the center-right Conservatives and the left-leaning Liberal Democrats¹¹.

The deal was made after a general election last week gave no party an overall majority in parliament. 

Mark Wickham-Jones from the University of Bristol says the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats differ on a number of policies and the markets may not react well to that. 

"They will be a little nervous about this," Wickham-Jones noted¹².  "Markets do not like coalitions¹³.  They do not like uncertainty¹⁴, so that may be resolved with this agreement, but they also do not like it if there are too many mouths to feed, too many demands on the table."

The markets reacted well when the new government said it would start tackling the deficit immediately.

Other expected legislation is a plan for a banking¹⁵ levy¹⁶ and a commission to investigate the possibility of separating retail¹⁷ and investment banking.
 

1 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

2 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

3 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

4 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。

5 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

7 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

8 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

9 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

10 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。

11 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

13 coalitions   

结合体，同盟( coalition的名词复数 )； （两党或多党）联合政府

参考例句：

• History testifies to the ineptitude of coalitions in waging war. 历史昭示我们，多数国家联合作战，其进行甚为困难。
• All the coalitions in history have disintegrated sooner or later. 历史上任何联盟迟早都垮台了。

14 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

15 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

16 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

17 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。