VOA慢速英语008EconomicsReport.doc

001.A Rough Road for ToyotaThis is the VOA Special English Economics Report. Toyota became the worlds largest automaker in two thousand eight. But after years of building loyalty, the Japanese company may have put its quality brand name at risk, at least temporarily. Toyota is recalling millions of cars and trucks around the world because of cases where vehicles have sped up unexpectedly. Last August, a driver in California was unable to stop. The crash killed him and three of his family members.Toyota says the problem is rare and caused by accelerator pedals becoming stuck open. On January twenty-sixth, the company suspended sales of eight of its top-selling vehicles in the United States, its largest market. Toyota dealers have been receiving parts to make repairs. General Motors and Ford both reported increased sales in January. But Toyota sales in the United States have fallen, and so has its stock price. Toyota says it expects costs and lost sales from its recent safety recalls to total two billion dollars by the end of March. Louis Lataif spent twenty-seven years in the car industry at Ford. Now he is dean of the School of Management at Boston University. LOUIS LATAIF: Its Toyotas biggest such recall. Its voluntary incidentally, its not mandated. So, in that respect, they are doing something fairly bold, namely, taking the hit of shutting production and correcting the vehicles that are in inventory on which they have stopped sales. A recall late last year involved floor mats that Toyota said could cause the accelerator to get stuck. One of the vehicles in the floor mat recall was the Prius, the worlds top selling hybrid.Now American officials are investigating the brake system on the twenty ten Prius. The Transportation Department says it has received more than one hundred twenty reports, including reports of four crashes. Toyota says it found a software problem that could briefly affect the feel of the anti-lock brakes on rough or slippery roads. It says it fixed the brake problem last month. But a growing number of legal cases claim Toyota knew for a long time about the sudden acceleration issue with other vehicles. The problem reportedly has led to more than eight hundred crashes and nineteen deaths in the past ten years. Congress is preparing for hearings.Greg Bonner is a marketing professor at Villanova University. He says to regain trust, Toyota will have to make public everything it knows about the problems and show it accepts responsibility.The recall has also intensified questions about all the computer control systems used in modern cars. 002. For Youths in US, a Jump in Media UseThis is the VOA Special English Economics Report.American children and teenagers have increased their use of entertainment media by more than one hour a day in the last five years. On an average day they now spend seven and a half hours using media. These are the findings of a new survey. It included devices like TVs, computers, mobile phones and MP3 players, but also media like books and magazines. It did not count media use for school. Vicky Rideout at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health research group, wrote the report. She was surprised that kids could fit even more media time into their day. She found that they spent ten hours and forty-five minutes if you counted each device individually. But children multi-task a lot, and Vicky Rideout says this is not necessarily a good thing. VICKY RIDEOUT: People who study the brain will tell you that you cant actually multi-task in that way. Youre really switching back and forth sequentially from different tasks, just doing it rapidly, and that you dont really do either task as well as you would do them if you did them one at a time. The study suggests a link between heavy media use and lower performance in school. About one-fourth of those who used media the least reported that their grades were mostly average or below. But that was true of half the heavy media users. So where are the parents? Children who had any rule limiting the use of any kind of media were exposed to an average of about three hours less media a day. But only one-third of children had to follow any rules.Girls spent more time than boys on social networking sites, listening to music and reading. Boys spent more time on video games - an average of forty-eight minutes more a day than girls. VICKY RIDEOUT: It looks like the girls just sort of lose interest in the games and they drop off and start doing other things, whereas the boys interest remains strong. Some other findings: Time spent reading books has not dropped in the last five years. But time with newspapers and magazines has, though some reading now takes place online. Blacks and Hispanics use media over four hours more a day than other groups. And for all children, media use appears to reach its highest point between the ages of eleven and fourteen. Vicky Rideout will try to explain these findings in future research. The report is based on more than two thousand students ages eight to eighteen. They took a written survey in class through May of last year. 003. Obama Seeks Limits on Banks, Condemns Campaign Finance RulingThis is the VOA Special English Economics Report.President Obama is proposing rules to limit the size of banks and the risks they can take. He wants to prevent banks from using government-insured deposits to make risky investments. He also wants to keep them from owning hedge funds or private equity funds. Banks took big losses as they traded mortgage-related securities that went bad. That helped create the financial crisis.Bank shares fell after the presidents announcement Thursday. His earlier efforts at financial reform have faced strong opposition from financial companies and some members of CongressIn the Senate, sixty votes are needed to prevent unlimited debate on a bill. But the Democrats have lost their sixtieth vote. On Tuesday voters in Massachusetts elected a Republican to finish the term of Ted Kennedy who died in August. Scott Brown opposes the health care legislation in Congress. His election could also affect other areas, like climate change legislation and reforms in the financial system. And at the same time a separate development could affect future elections. The United States Supreme Court has cleared the way for independent spending by businesses and labor unions in political campaigns. The court decided, five to four, on Thursday to overturn its own ruling from nineteen ninety. That case let the government bar corporations from using their own money to pay for campaign ads for or against candidates. Now the court says the restriction on political speech violates free speech rights guaranteed by the Constitution. But President Obama says the decision will reduce the influence of average Americans. He called it a major victory for powerful interests like big oil companies, Wall Street banks and health insurance companies. He directed his administration to talk with congressional leaders from both parties to develop a forceful response. Elections for Congress are this November. The next presidential election is in two thousand twelve. Wednesday marked Barack Obamas first anniversary in office. But the Republican victory in liberal Massachusetts was seen in large part as a sign of voter anger across the country about the economy. Unemployment has doubled in two years to ten percent. Many people are angry that they struggle while the government rescued big banks. Some banks took losses last year but others earned record profits.004. Electronics Industry Hopes for a Reset in 2010This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.This years Consumer Electronics Show opened Thursday in Las Vegas. The event is the worlds biggest technology trade show. More than three hundred companies are presenting more than twenty thousand new products. The goal is to build excitement, make deals - and hopefully get good reviews in the media. Industry sales dropped eight percent last year during the recession.Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association, predicted that one area of strong sales this year will be mobile phones. That includes fifty-two million smartphones expected to be sold in the United States. Smartphones run applications and access the Internet. gm99nd is launching the Nexus One - which it calls a superphone. This is its first attempt to sell its own device. The Nexus One will compete with Apples popular iPhone. Apple is reportedly about to introduce a new digital tablet. Tablets are easy-to-hold screens that let you read and watch media or search the Web. An example is the Amazon Kindle. Like netbooks, tablets cost less than traditional laptop computers. But that can also mean smaller profits for manufacturers and sellers. Companies like Sony and Panasonic are introducing new television sets for watching three-dimensional TV. A three-D TV costs more than three thousand dollars. Americans are expected to buy four million of them this year. Sports broadcaster ESPN and the Discovery Channel plan to start their own three-D channels. The Consumer Electronics Show has an area for companies to demonstrate products that save energy, reduce waste and use recycled materials. Show spokeswoman Jennifer Bemisderfer says the Sustainable Planet Tech Zone is four times bigger than last year. She says manufacturers are increasingly interested in the idea of cradle-to-cradle technology. That involves thinking about a products whole lifetime. JENNIFER BEMISDERFER: When those products are at the end of their useful life, how are they going to be broken down? How are we going to get some of the essential elements out of those products and have them reused in the manufacturing process? Interest is also growing in energy management systems for the home - and safe driving technologies for the car. These include voice-activated systems that let drivers make calls and send text messages without using their hands. Other products warn drivers if they are falling asleep or in danger of an accident.005. Where Every Day Is ChristmasThis is the VOA Special English Economics Report.(MUSIC)There is a place where Christmas lives all year long. It is called Bronners CHRISTmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Michigan. The family-owned business calls itself the worlds largest Christmas store. The late Wally Bronner started the business in nineteen forty-five.Wayne Bronner, Wallys son, is president and chief executive of what is now a multi-million dollar corporation. He learned the business from an early age. Some of his best memories are traveling to other countries with his father to find new products for the store.Bronners sells more than fifty thousand holiday products from seventy nations. Half of the products cost less than ten dollars. Wayne Bronner says demand for small objects to hang on Christmas trees has expanded over the years. People put more time, effort and money into decorating their homes with these ornaments, lights and religious scenes. Bronners is famous for its nativity scenes which show the birth of Jesus Christ.Michigan has the nations highest unemployment rate. Bronners has been affected by the recession, too. But not in reduced sales.WAYNE BRONNER: Even though people are spending less, were having more people visit here. And as a result weve actually had a sales increase. Bronners success is also linked to community cooperation and investment. Frankenmuth is a town of five thousand people in eastern Michigans farm country. The town was settled by Bavarian Germans in the eighteen hundreds. It has kept its traditions alive in buildings and restaurants. Bavarian cultural themes and Bronners huge store bring three million visitors a year. The town is the most popular place for tourists in the state. Bronners business is aimed at a single day of the year. But that is not too different from other businesses. WAYNE BRONNER: About half of our business is done in the last quarter of the year, in the last three months. And actually when you contrast that with most retailers, that follows the same pattern.Wayne Bronner says the familys long-term planning and willingness to reinvest profits has grown the company into what it is today. Still, it does not hurt to build a business on a holiday celebrated worldwide. Currently, about two percent of sales are overseas. But Wayne Bronner sees room for growth, especially through the Internet. (MUSIC) 006. Bess Lomax Hawes, 88, Brought Folk Music to a Wider PublicThis is the VOA Special English Education Report. Bess Lomax Hawes was an American folk musician, singer and teacher who died last month at the age of eighty-eight. She came from a family of music historians. She helped her father and brother, John and Alan Lomax, collect folk music. John Lomax developed an Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress. In the nineteen forties, after college, Bess Lomax joined the Almanac Singers, a group that sang social protest songs. Other members included Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Butch Hawes, who became her husband. The family later moved to California, where Bess taught music, including guitar and banjo. She also became an anthropology professor at what is now California State University, Northridge. In the nineteen seventies, she worked at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Later, she directed the folk arts program at the National Endowment for the Arts. She received the National Medal of Arts from President Bill Clinton in nineteen ninety-three. Daniel Sheehy is acting head of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian. He worked with her and remembers how she worked to keep folk traditions from being lost. DANIEL SHEEHY: Finding ways to help those voices, those songs, those stories, those craft traditions make it into the lives of a much broader public.Bess Lomax Hawes may be best remembered for a song from nineteen forty-nine. She and Jacqueline Steiner took old music and wrote new words in support of a Progressive Party candidate for mayor of Boston, Massachusetts. One of Walter OBriens promises was to fight a fare increase on the transit system then known as the M.T.A.The song is about Charlie, a man who does not have enough money to leave the train, so he has to ride forever. Here are Bess Lomax, Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger:(MUSIC)The candidate lost. But the M.T.A. song later became a huge hit with a version by the Kingston Trio. (MUSIC)007. Dubai Feels the Financial PainThis is the VOA Special English Economics Report. In recent years, a shining city grew in the desert of Dubai on - and even off - the Gulf coast. An island shaped like a palm tree was built for hotels, homes and entertainment. In October of last year the same developer announced plans for the worlds tallest building yet. But the economic downturn soon forced the Nakheel company to suspend those plans.Dubai is in the United Arab Emirates, a thirty-eight year old federation of seven territories ruled by emirs. But, unlike its neighbor Abu Dhabi, oil has not fueled Dubais growth. Oil is only six percent of its economy. Instead, the property and service industries have led its expansion.Now Dubai finds itself in financial pain. And its reaction has some investors worried.Last week, Dubais largest investment company called for a six-month delay in paying some of its debts. Dubai World Group is seeking to renegotiate terms on twenty-six billion dollars in debt. All of it is linked to Nakheel, which is part of Dubai World. The government owns Dubai World and will take control of its restructuring. But Dubais finance chief said the government does not guarantee its debt. Dubai World owes creditors a total of sixty billion dollars. The company is not an investment vehicle for the government like a sovereign wealth fund. It is a holding company for businesses in land development, port operations, energy and financial services. The group has used borrowed money for economic development. Ghiyath Nakshbendi of American University in Washington notes that the problems are linked to a worldwide collapse in real estate prices. GHIYATH NAKSHBENDI: Emerging markets are as victim to the world meltdown as any other economy and there are no exceptions. He expects the debt restructuring to be successful. He says Dubai and its leaders have too much to lose to let creditors - like banks in Britain - suffer losses. Still, last weeks announcement was a surprise. Now Dubai World is faced with selling properties at heavy losses to raise money. Some experts question how willing Abu Dhabi will be to rescue Dubai. Their relationship is sometimes tense.Ghiyath Nakshbendi says Dubai World will have to change its ways.GHIYATH NAKSHBENDI: I think Dubai went a little bit too fast and they borrowed too much money in a very short period of time.Of course, Dubai was not alone in gathering debt during the easy credit years. There are worries that the crisis could be the first of more to come in other parts of the world. 008. Junior Achievement Marks 90 Years of Business EducationThis is the VOA Special English Economics Report.This year, Junior Achievement marks its ninetieth anniversary of educating young people about business and economics. The nonprofit organization is the largest of its kind. Jack Kosakowky is executive vice president.JACK KOSAKOWSKY: We are the oldest business and economic education organization in the world. Were now serving nine-point-two million young people around the globe in one hundred twenty-three different countries.Programs begin in elementary school and continue through middle and high school. The education is based