杂乱的书桌

欢迎来到“杂乱的书桌”每天准时为你带来的VOA听写，本期的慢速VOA是美国经济计划的新闻第一部分，标准VOA则是石油价格的新闻的第二部分。还犹豫什么，赶紧和Hugh一起加入到学习英语，锻炼听写的队伍中来吧！

大概有五天的时间没有听写了，前三天是因为一门课的作业原因，忙得昏天黑地，干脆就把听写的事情给放弃了。昨天和前天却是一点都不想去做这件事情，不过今天又回来了。断断续续的听写，其实更加意识到自己在管理时间上的不足，也意识到自己实在意志力不坚定啊！前两天一个朋友在早起的那篇文章下面留言，说为什么早起也能写这么多，哎，实在是因为自己不像那个朋友那么强悍，想早起就可以早起……

今天的听写都比较容易，也没有太多好说的。前两天有朋友问我说自己都是怎么听写的，其实这个也挺简单的，不妨改天介绍一下。

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题目: The Candidates on the Economy (1/2)

专有名词: N/A

原文

High food and fuel prices, housing and credit problems, job losses, worries about a recession. No wonder the economy is a top issue for American voters. Senator John McCain says tax cuts are needed for growth. The Republican presidential candidate saidset out his economy plan in a speech this week in Pennsylvania. He would push congress to make President Bush’s tax cuts permanent, and he would aim to lower the top rate of income tax for businesses from 35 percent to 25 percent. In all, Senator McCain proposes about 200 billion dollars, ain new tax cut for businesses and individuals. To help pay for them, he would cut earmarks, those special interest projects added to spending bills. He would also hold federal spending at most agencies to current levels and cut wasteful programs. But many experts say it is unlikely these cuts would equal the cost of the tax cuts. The campaigns of Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton dismissed the McCain plan as a continuation of George Bush’s policies. Both Democrats say they are against tax cuts for the wealthy. They propose moderate cuts for the middle class.

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题目: Perfect Storm of Factors Driving Up Oil Prices, say Experts (2/3)

专有名词: Steve Hanke, Johns Hopkins University

原文

Who is right in this debate, the energy traders or OPEC? They both are, according to Steve Hanke, professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University and a senior fellow at the Washington-based Cato Institute. Hanke says without a doubt current demand for oil exceeds supply.

“We really had a surge in demand and a lot of this occurred as a result of rapid world growth, world growth has been increasing at a fairly high rate in the last 3 or 4 years, and to some extent thereit has been energy intensive in use, because we have had a fairly large increase in the middle class in a lot of these developing countries.”

But other factors contribute as well. Hanke says amid uncertainty and volatility in global stock markets, many investors have poured money into commodities, such as oil. This trend, combined with investor assumptions that oil prices will remain high, have helped boost prices further which has in turn fed more investor speculation in the market. Hanke says the weak US dollar does not help matters.

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