VOA慢速英语听力 ECONOMICS REPORT（WORD文本）：GERMANY-FRANCE-SEEK-TRUE-EUROPEAN-ECONOMIC-GOVERNMENT.doc

1、This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.这里是VOA特别英语经济报道。Eleven countries first began to use the euro in nineteen ninety-nine. Today seventeen of the twenty-seven members of the European Union are in the euro area.1999年，11个国家最先开始使用欧元。今天，欧盟27个成员国中有17个国家使用欧元。The euros foreign exchange value has

2、 remained strong against the dollar and other currencies. But economic growth in the euro area was only two-tenths of one percent from April to June. Europes biggest economy, Germany, grew at half that rate.欧元对美元和其他货币的外汇价值一直非常坚挺。但是从4月份至6月份，欧元区的经济增长率仅为0.2%。欧洲最大的经济体德国的经济增长仅为该数字的一半。Ireland, Portugal an

3、d Greece have all required rescues. Greece received emergency loans twice.爱尔兰，葡萄牙和希腊都已经寻求救助。希腊已经两次获得紧急贷款。Debt and other problems in southern Europe remain a big concern. Last week, the European Central Bank bought more than thirty billion dollars in Italian and Spanish debt securities.欧洲南部的债务和其他问题仍然

4、是很大的隐患。上周，欧洲中央银行购买了超过300亿美元的意大利和西班牙债券。Italy and Spain have yet to recover from the worldwide recession. The purchases of their government debt helped reduce their borrowing costs, but the bank will probably have to act again.意大利和西班牙仍然未从全世界范围的经济衰退中复苏。欧洲央行购买他们的政府债务可以帮助降低他们的借款成本，但是该银行可能必须再次采取行动。On Tues

5、day German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy met in Paris. They discussed economic governance for the euro area and cooperation on budget and tax policies. Chancellor Merkel said, We want France and Germany to move closer in terms of fiscal integration. President Sarkozy

6、agreed that the two neighbors must move closer on budget issues.周二，德国总理默克尔和法国总统萨科齐在巴黎举行会晤。他们讨论了欧元区经济管理和针对预算与税收政策进行合作的问题。默克尔表示，“我们希望法国和德国在财政一体化方面更密切地合作。”萨科齐总统赞同两个邻国在预算问题方面必须更密切的采取行动。Their proposal calls for a true European economic government. It would include the leaders of the seventeen euro countr

7、ies and would be led by the European Union president. The current president is Herman Van Rompuy of Belgium. The group would meet at least twice a year.他们的议案呼吁建立“真正的欧洲经济政府”。该政府将包括欧元区17个成员国的领袖，由欧盟总统领导。现任欧盟总统是来自比利时的范龙佩。该组织每年将至少召开两次会议。One goal would be to control budget deficits for euro area countries

8、. Rules limit the deficits of EU members to three percent of the size of their economies. But many members, including France, have bigger deficits than that.我们的目标将是为欧元区国家控制预算赤字。相关规定将把欧元区成员国的赤字限制在经济总值的3%以下。但是，包括法国在内的许多成员国的赤字都远远超过该数字。The two leaders also proposed a tax on financial dealings in Europe.

9、 But they did not support the idea of euro bonds. These would be loans guaranteed by all euro countries instead of only the governments seeking them.两位领导人都提议对欧洲的金融交易征税。但是他们并不支持发行欧元债券的想法。债券将是由所有欧元区国家担保的贷款，而不仅仅是寻求贷款的国家。 The European Commission says it supports the French and German proposals. The comm

10、ission proposes and enforces legislation for the EU. On Wednesday, EU spokesman Olivier Bailly said the calls for an economic government were a step in the right direction.欧洲委员会表示，他们支持法国和德国的提议。欧委会为欧盟提议并执行立法。周三，欧委会发言人Olivier Bailly表示，呼吁建立经济政府向正确的方向前进了一步。OLIVIER BAILLY: We already mentioned the need t

11、o strengthen the economic part of the economic and monetary union. What is happening now since the beginning of the crisis and what has been announced yesterday as a proposal by France and Germany go exactly in this direction.Olivier Bailly：“我们已经提到强化这个经济和货币联盟在经济方面的作用的必要。自危机开始以来，昨天，法国和德国的提议向着正确的方向前进了一步。”But many experts question whether European countries will be willing to surrender individual powers and deal with their debt problems together.但是许多专家质疑，欧洲国家是否愿意交出独立采取措施的权利，大家联合起来解决债务问题。