[E321]The world this week|经济学人
原文及音频节选自《经济学人》2016年第3期
The world this week版块
January 16th 2016
▷Barack Obama used the last state-of-the-union speech[国情咨文演讲] of his presidency to lament the rise of political bickering and to call on his successor to build a “clear-eyed, big-hearted” America. He also defended his domestic record, pointing to the 14m jobs that have been created since he took office in 2009 at the outset of[一开始; 当初] the financial crisis.
·lament [lə'mɛnt]
n.悲叹,恸哭,悔恨
v.哀悼;悔恨;悲叹
lament over
哀悼;为……而悲痛
lament a person's absence
对某人不在场感到惋惜
·bickering ['bikəriŋ]
n.争吵;争论
After some bickering with the Foreign Office, I ensured that he would be treated as a state visitor.
我同外交部打了几次交道,才把他当作国宾接待。
▷Anxiety over the global economy weighed heavily[对…有很大影响] on world stockmarkets, which have not had a good start to the year: the S&P 500 is down by more than 7% since January 1st. Market volatility[市场波动] in China is the source of much of the concern; the People’s Bank of China has heavily intervened to prop up[支撑;支持] the yuan in the offshore market. Officials gave assurances that the financial system was stable, after a circuit-breaker mechanism[熔断机制] that automatically halts trading[暂停交易;交易中止] when stockmarkets plunge[暴跌] was abandoned just a week after it was introduced.
China’s exports fell by 1.4% in December from the same month in 2014 and imports dropped by 7.6%. The figures were less bad than had been expected, though at $4 trillion, total trade for all of 2015 was 8% lower than in 2014.
【百度百科】
【S&P 500】标准普尔500指数英文简写为S&P 500 Index，是记录美国500家上市公司的一个股票指数。这个股票指数由标准普尔公司创建并维护。
·intervene [,ɪntɚ'vin]
vi.干涉;调停;插入
A cruel man and cruel fate intervene and change your life.
一个残酷的人和残酷的命运介入并改变了你的生活。
▷Proving that it is no dinosaur when it comes to snapping up[抢购,匆匆吃下,抢先弄到手] American film companies, Dalian Wanda, a Chinese conglomerate, agreed to buy Legendary Entertainment[传奇电影公司], which produced “Jurassic World[侏罗纪世界]” and other recent boxoffice hits, for $3.5 billion. Later this year Legendary will release “The Great Wall”, which was shot entirely in China with a budget of $135m.
·dinosaur ['daɪnə'sɔr]
n. 恐龙；过时、落伍的人或事物
·conglomerate [kən'ɡlɑːmərət]
vi. 凝聚成团
n.砾岩;企业集团;聚合物
(联合大企业，多种经营大公司，务业公司)
An American conglomerate holds a major share in the company.
一家美国的大联合企业持有该公司的大部分股份.
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