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1、VOA 慢速讲解 2011-第 774 期QIHUI 制作可可英语:1VOAVOAVOAVOA慢速讲解附字幕慢速讲解附字幕: : : :美国贫困率创美国贫困率创 1993199319931993 年来新高年来新高查看原文查看原文第一部分：原文中英对照第一部分：原文中英对照This is IN THE NEWSinVOA Special English.A new report says the poverty rateintheUnited States last year was thehighest sincenineteen ninety-three. Theofficial ratew
2、as 15.1 percent, up from 14.3 percentintwo thousand nine.Poverty meant yearly income, or earnings, of less than twenty-two thousand threehundred dollars for a family of four.Therecession lasted from December of two thousand seven to Juneof two thousand nine. Since two thousand seven, the poverty rat
3、e has increased more than two and ahalf percentage points.Thenew findings did come as a surpriseto Michael Ferrell of the Coalition for the Homelessin Washington, DC.MICHAEL FERRELL: “Unless theresa turnaround within the economyinthevery near future, its most likely to get worse.“TheCensus Bureau sa
4、ys median household income fell more than two percent from two thousand nine to two thousand ten. Median means half earned moreand half earned less. Last year, the median incomewas about forty-nine thousand dollars. TheCensus Bureau says morethan forty-six million people were livinginpoverty.It was
5、thelargest number since estimates beganin nineteen fifty-nine. They included morethan one-fourth of blacks and Hispanics, twelve percent of Asians and about ten percent of non-Hispanic whites.Someeconomic measures were unchanged. Womeninfull-time, year-round jobs continued to earn an average of seve
6、nty-seven percent as much as men did.Thenumber of people without health insurance rosefrom forty-nine million to almost fifty million last year. But therate - 16.3 percent - wasabout the sameasintwo thousand nine.Most Americans who have health insurancegetitthrough their employers.Elise Gould at the
7、 Economic Policy Institute sayspeople age eighteen to twenty-four are theleast likely to get insuranceplans through their employers. But she saysyoung people arefacing fewer barriers becauseof the nations new health carelaw.ELISE GOULD: “Health reform played a key roleinstemming thefall of workplace
8、coveragefor young adults. ThePatient Protection and Affordable Care Act,commonly known as health reform, included provisions that allowed young adults up to age twenty-six to securehealth insurance coveragethrough their parents employer-sponsored health insurancepolicies.“VOA 慢速讲解 2011-第 774 期QIHUI
9、制作可可英语:2Experts say the biggest driving forceof poverty is unemployment. About fourteen million Americans are unemployed. Millions morehave stopped looking for work or wish they could work more hours.Las Vegas, Nevada, is famous for its casinos and hotels. But the city washithard by therecession and
10、 thehousing market crash that helped causeit. Former construction worker Richard Scanlon is disabled, but he saysmany able-bodied friends areout of work.RICHARD SCANLON: “Ten, fifteen years ago,ifyou couldnt get a jobinVegas, you werent looking for one. Now its tough.“Family Promise is a national gr
11、oup that helps people get jobs and housing. Director Terry Lindemann says Family Promiseof Las Vegas workswith religious organizations that offer short-term housing.TERRY LINDEMANN: “We bring together Catholics,Protestants, Jewish congregations, Muslims, to open up their congregations at night to be
12、 overnight shelters.“CassendraWaller is a mother of two. She got help to move into a new apartment.CASSENDRA WALLER: “When you get a job and youremaking a minimum wage, how do you pay ababysitter for two kids every day? I wound up homeless several times. And this is the worst Iveseen the homelessinV
13、egas.“Stephen Brown is an economist with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He saysthe city is starting to get more visitors again. But he says that will not solve the bigger economic issues.STEPHEN BROWN: “So what wereally need is for the forcesthat werepushing population to Las Vegasinthepast to
14、 resume. And that really means that the whole US economy needs to get moving again.“这里是 VOA 特别英语时事新闻。最新报告显示，美国去年的贫困率达到自 1993 年来最高水平。官方报告的贫困率为 15.1%， 比 2009 年的 14.3%有所上升。贫困意味着四口之家年收入少于 2.23 万美元。经济衰退从 2007 年 12 月持续到 2009 年 6 月。 自 2007 年以来， 贫苦率增加了 2.5 个百分点。新的发现使华盛顿特区无家可归者联盟的 Michael Ferrell 感到非常惊讶。Mich
15、ael Ferrell：“除非最近经济出现好转，否则形势会进一步恶化。”统计局表示，从 2009 年至 2010 年，家庭收入中值下降了超过 2%。中值意味着有一半的人 口收入超过该数字，另外一半人口的收入低于该数字。VOA 慢速讲解 2011-第 774 期QIHUI 制作可可英语:3去年，中值收入大约是 4.9 万美元。统计局表示，超过 4600 万人口生活在贫困中。这是自 1959 年评估开始以来的最高值。其中包括超过四分之一的黑人和拉美裔人，12%的亚洲人 和大约 10%的非拉美裔白人。一些经济措施并没有发生变化。从事全职长期工作岗位的女性的平均薪资仍然只有男性的 77%。去年，没有医
16、疗保险的人数从 4900 万上升到接近 5000 万。但是比率16.3%与 2009 年基本持平。大部分美国人的医疗保险是由雇主购买的。经济政策研究所的 Gould 表示，18 岁至 24 岁的 人从雇主那里获得医疗保险的可能性最低。但是她表示，由于国家新的医疗保健法，年轻人 面临的障碍已经开始减少。ELISE GOULD：“医疗改革在防止工作场合年轻人医疗保险降低方面发挥着非常重要的作 用。患者保护与承担得起的医疗法案(Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act)，也就是通 常所说的医改法案，包含了允许 26 岁以下的成年人通过父母的雇主发起的医疗保险参保的 政策。”专家表示，造成贫困的主要原因是失业。大约 1400 万美国人失业，数百万人已经停止找工 作，或者希望他们能工作更长时间。内华达州的拉斯维加斯以赌场和酒店著称。 但是该城市受到经济衰退和房产崩溃的冲击最为 严重。前建筑工人 Richard Scanlon
