VOA标准英语2011--Global Stocks Fall on US Recession, Euro

Global Stocks Fall on US Recession, European Debt Worries

Global Stocks ended the week lower as fresh worries over a possible U.S. recession and Europe's debt crisis roiled¹ markets anew. The inability of political leaders on both continents to deal with the crisis is adding to the volatility².
Renewed worries about the health of the global economy produced another roller coaster ride Friday in financial markets.
Asian shares took a beating. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell three percent, while Japan's Nikkei lost more than two-and-a-half percent.
The main indexes in Europe extended losses from the previous day - declining more than one percent as the trading day closed.
Howard Wheeldon, a senior strategist at BGC partners, said, "At the moment markets, when they don't see the potential for growth, they look back on themselves and when fear and the lack of understanding comes and where the politicians are going - you put all of that together - markets just run away and that's basically what we are seeing."
Wall Street added to its losses this week, following warnings from investment bank Morgan Stanley that the United States and the 17 nations that use the euro may be on the brink³ of a recession.
Eric Green, chief economist⁴ at TD Securities, said the U.S. economy may already be shrinking.
"With an economy operating around stall speed, you can figure anywhere between one percent and two percent, any hiccup⁵, any shock is enough to put it into recession, so that the risk is that if things go awry⁶ in Europe, it will eventually feed through into the U.S.," he said.
Green says he's not feeling very optimistic. He blames eroding⁷ business and public confidence on the recent political drama in Washington over the U.S. debt - and the ineffective response this week by EU leaders on a debt crisis that now threatens Italy and Spain.
"What you're seeing is a crisis of confidence here and a crisis of confidence in Europe, the effects of which are now coalescing⁸ into a very rapid slowing in the economy I have never seen in my 20 years of doing this - an economy losing so much momentum⁹ so quickly, and that's worrisome," said Green.
Prospects¹⁰ for a slowing global economy sent oil prices below $80 a barrel. Gold hit another high Friday - above $1,880 dollars an ounce. And the Dow lost another one-and-a-half percent Friday - to close at 10,818 points.

1 roiled   

v.搅混（液体）( roil的过去式和过去分词 )；使烦恼；使不安；使生气

参考例句：

• American society is being roiled by the controversy over homosexual marriage. 当今美国社会正被有关同性恋婚姻的争论搞得不得安宁。 来自互联网
• In the past few months, instability has roiled Tibet and Tibetan-inhabited areas. 在过去的几个月里，西藏和藏人居住区不稳定。 来自互联网

2 volatility   

n.挥发性，挥发度，轻快，（性格）反复无常

参考例句：

• That was one reason why volatility was so low last year.这也是去年波动性如此低的原因之一。
• Yet because volatility remained low for so long,disaster myopia prevailed.然而，由于相当长的时间里波动性小，灾难短视就获胜了。

3 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。

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 hiccup   

n.打嗝

参考例句：

• When you have to hiccup,drink a glass of cold water.当你不得不打嗝时，喝一杯冷水就好了。
• How long did he hiccup?他打嗝打了多久？

6 awry   

adj.扭曲的，错的

参考例句：

• She was in a fury over a plan that had gone awry. 计划出了问题，她很愤怒。
• Something has gone awry in our plans.我们的计划出差错了。

7 eroding   

侵蚀，腐蚀( erode的现在分词 )； 逐渐毁坏，削弱，损害

参考例句：

• The coast is slowly eroding. 海岸正慢慢地被侵蚀。
• Another new development is eroding the age-old stereotype of the male warrior. 另一个新现象是，久已形成的男人皆武士的形象正逐渐消失。

8 coalescing   

v.联合，合并( coalesce的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A mental model begins coalescing in their minds. 一个意识模型开始结合到他们的脑子里。 来自互联网
• On the basis of coalescing this kind of element can separate oil from compressed air. 采用凝聚原理，分离压缩空气中的油份。 来自互联网

9 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

10 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。