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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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是女性领袖的新闻第一部分，标准VOA则是环境问题的新闻的第二部分。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！

今天的慢速VOA前些天听过一次类似的内容，不过应该是在标准VOA当中，我不确定自己的记忆力是不是足够好。除了一些国家和人名之外，没有任何困难，相信大家在听多了写多了的情况下，这些名字也不成为问题了。

标准VOA听写的倒是不差，就是很多小的问题，比如单词的大小写，听写的时候确实顾不上这个，而且有的内容确实也不知道到底是应该大写还是小写。对于amounts to确实没有听出来，也没想到是这个词，继续坚持！

昨天休息了一天，没有听写，周末是应该稍微休息一下，否则真的很难一直连轴转，试着坚持保持一种很忙的状态，但是大概半个月之后会很疲劳，与其这样还不如定期让自己休息一下。比如多休息一会。

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题目: Five Women Honored in Washington for Global Leadership (1/2)

专有名词: Argentina, Burma, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, Poder Ciudadano, Laura Alonso, Charm Tong, Mariane Pearl, Daniel Pearl

原文

Five women were honored last week in Washington for their efforts to increase the economic and political progress of women. Vital Voices, an international nonprofit organization, presented its Global Leadership Awards to the winners from Argentina, Burma, France, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates. L AlonsoLaura Alonso heads a group in Argentina called P CPoder Ciudadano, or Citizen Power. Its members work to make the government more open. They investigate corruption, observe elections and watch for government influence over the media. They also educate citizens about their rights. Burmese activist Charm Tong received Vital Voices’ human rights award, presented by first lady Laura Bush. Charm Tong co-founded the Shan Women’s Action Network. In a report six years ago, the group detailed how the Burmese military uses rape as a weapon against women and girls. Charm Tong also helped establish a school for ethnic Shan young people whose families live in exile in Thailand. Author and journalist Mariane Pearl of France was recognized for writing about women who work for change in their countries. She also wrote a book about the death of her husband, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. He was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan in 2002.

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题目: Bush Sets New Targets for Curbing Growth in Gas Emissions (2/2)

专有名词: Barbara Boxer, Kyoto Protocol

原文

They note Congress is about to start work on new legislation dealing with the environment, and they stressed the 17 leading industrialized countries taking part in the Paris Negotiations this week hope to have an agreement by the end of next year, meaning the groundwork must be laid now. The president’s proposals fall far below European goals to reduce emissions and environmental activists say the position taken by the President amongstamounts to too little, too late. Senator Barbara BucksterBoxer, the Democrat who chairs the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, calls his approach the hedge of irresponsibility. But Mr. Bush defends it as realistic. The president warns climate change is a global problem and US action alone is not enough. He says other countries must come up with their own goals for cutting greenhouse gases. The Paris Talks on Thursday and Friday will address possible steps to protect the planet after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. The United States is the only major industrialized country that did not ratify the protocol, although emits more greenhouse gases than any other country.

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