时间:2019-02-20 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2009年(十月)


英语课

By Michael Bowman
Washington
06 October 2009


 
Gold coins and bars at California Numismatic Investments in Inglewood, California (file photo)
Officials in several Middle Eastern capitals are denying a published report that petroleum 1 producing countries and other nations are plotting to replace the U.S. dollar as the dominant 2 currency in global oil pricing. The denials have not prevented the dollar from weakening against other major currencies, while oil prices rose and gold reached an all-time high.


Already battered 3 by a weak U.S. economy and a rising tide of American indebtedness, the U.S. dollar suffered a blow at the hands of a British newspaper. The Independent reported Tuesday that several Arab states, along with China, Russia and a number of other countries, were holding secret meetings on a plan to end the worldwide pricing of oil in dollars and replace it with a basket of currencies.


Finance and energy officials in several oil-rich Middle Eastern nations flatly denied the article. The Associated Press quoted a spokesman for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as saying the report is "not serious".


But the damage might already have been done. The dollar fell against other major currencies, including the Euro and the Japanese Yen 5. The newly-weakened dollar helped push up commodity prices. Oil rose above $71 a barrel, while gold reached a new record-high, selling at more than $1,040 an ounce.


This is not the first time that the future of the dollar as the world's preeminent 6 currency has been questioned - not only in oil pricing, but also as the world's reserve currency.


But former U.S. Deputy Treasury 7 Secretary Roger Altman says speculation 8 about replacing the dollar is premature 9.


"The dollar is going to remain the primary reserve currency around the world for the foreseeable future," Altman said. "I really do not think there is any doubt about that. And the reason is that there is no alternative to the dollar."


Altman spoke 4 on Bloomberg Television. The former deputy treasury secretary added, however, that real challenges do exist to the health and strength of America's currency. 


"The issues around the dollar are not so much what OPEC [Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries] will do, but rather the more fundamental questions, which have to do with the economic outlook in the United States and, of course, the fiscal 10 picture in the United States, which is a very threatening one," Altman said.


On Tuesday, Australia became the first industrialized nation to raise interest rates since last year's financial crisis, causing the Australian dollar to rally.


Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has said he does not foresee raising U.S. interest rates from record lows in the near future.



n.原油,石油
  • The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
  • The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。
adj.支配的,统治的;占优势的;显性的;n.主因,要素,主要的人(或物);显性基因
  • The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
  • She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。
adj.磨损的;v.连续猛击;磨损
  • He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
  • The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
n. 日元;热望
  • He wanted to convert his dollars into Japanese yen.他想将美元换成日币。
  • He has a yen to be alone in a boat.他渴望独自呆在一条船上。
adj.卓越的,杰出的
  • Washington was recognized as the preeminent spokesman of American Negroes by 1895. 到1895年,华盛顿被公认为美国黑人的卓越代言人。
  • He is preeminent because his articles are well written. 他的文章写得很漂亮,卓尔不群。
n.宝库;国库,金库;文库
  • The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
  • This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。
n.思索,沉思;猜测;投机
  • Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
  • There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。
adj.比预期时间早的;不成熟的,仓促的
  • It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
  • The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。
adj.财政的,会计的,国库的,国库岁入的
  • The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
  • The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。
学英语单词
acridotheres tristis tristis
acute form
air specific volume
almandine-spinel
articulatio
artistic productions
atmospheric cracking
bennetts pt.
blackcap(raspbeery)
Bocconia
Brahe
cling to
clionasterol
cloud-headed
commonest
continuous-sludging centrifuge
cushiest
dc overcurrent relay
dead drunk
delivery with endorsement
dholl
diagonal element
dogballs
doughballs
dummy screen
equal value gray scale
false pregnancy
finer switch
flumanzenil
fragil-
general strain theory
Gerlier
green exchange
Grosvenor Square
guba
heavy head
helix twt
high survivability test vehicle-lightweight (hstv-l)
high-pricest
houskeeping
Inher.
John Greenleaf Whittier
leafery
Lee-on-the-Solent
loon
lu pu wu tao
manual multiple type switchboard
manufacturer's brochures
manufacturing efficiency
marmolejo
mediocarpal joint
milscale
modular assembly technique
multiplication factor effective
neodymium doped glass
nonacohol
nonheated
on deck shipment
painful
panel houses
part two
pelagic deposits
perturbed orbit
phase lag compensation
phoenicurus ochruros rufiventris
pillers
polyaspidids
product screening
profile manager
radio resource control
railway and highway combined bridge
reality show, reality program
reasonings
recool
reform of tobacco monopoly system
regret to
Rong Sam Lem, Koh
Rubus ellipticus
scaling law
secondary spherical wave
shrift fathers
size investment ratio
slice processor chip
smart building
snapring expander
sound money
stand in the gap
stochastic search
Synge, R.L.M.
Teispes
transverse scanning
triplinerve
venom leukolysis
venous claudication
very-high-frequency tuner
wagon control computer
wegion
wing tip missile
Winterfests
Wire EDM
wrecking amendments
zinc electrolyzing plant