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1、Unit 13 The Foreign Economic Hot IssuesText A Euro-zone Debt Crisis“PIIGS” was mainly involved in Euro-zone debt crisis. “PIIGS” is Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain. The initial letters of those five countries combined are called “PIIGS”. 8th, December,2009, one of the three main rating ag
2、encies in the world, Fitch announced that it would cut the Greeces sovereign rating from “A-”to “BBB+” and downgrade its outlook to negative. This was the first time for Greeces sovereign credit rating falling under “A” in the past 10 years. Then the Euro-zone debt crisis was started.May 22ed, 2010,
3、 the Spanish Central Bank announced that it took over small-sized savings bank CajaSur and the markets worried that sovereign debt would spread from public domain to folk field. This action was regarded as the further worsening of Spanish Crisis Debt.The euro-zone crisis reached a critical stage whe
4、n Italy joined the seven percent club, the group of euro-zone countries whose borrowing costs have gone above 7% and stayed there. Its public debts are close to 120% of GDP. Only Greece has a greater burden. Irelands is lower but it has a large budget deficit so this is adding to its debt at a rapid
5、 pace. So is Britain but it has benefited from being a non-euro haven and can still borrow very cheaply.Italys situation is not yet critical because the government does not have to refinance all its debts quickly at punishing interest rates. The average maturity of its public bonds is around seven y
6、ears. Only in Austria and Britain is longer.GDP grew in most countries in the first half of 2011, though there were marked differences in performance. Germany was sprightly. So were the countries around with which it trades most heavily. By contrast GDP in Greece and Portugal has crashed under the w
7、eight of austerity. More recently, the crisis has sapped the strength of even the so-called “core” euro-zone countries. The strains of the euro areas sovereign-debt crisis make a recession in the early months of 2012 likely.In many countries unemployment has not gone up by as much as one might expec
8、t given the depth of the 2008-09 crisis. Germany has lower unemployment than it enjoyed in the boom years. The worst-affected countries include Ireland and Spain, where a collapse in construction has swollen the dole queues. Youth unemployment is especially high in Spain, prompting protests. Britain
9、 has fared better because its tight planning laws limited the growth of its construction sector during the global housing boom. But sluggish growth and the prospect of renewed recession mean that joblessness is rising again in Britain as well as in Germany.Analysts said: the crisis may create “two-s
10、peed Europe” and a “two-speed” European Union may come sooner than expected, as the worsening debt crisis requires deeper and stricter fiscal discipline in the euro zone(One gear with greater integration in the euro zone and a more confederal gear in the European Union).Key Words, Phrases and Specia
11、l Termscrisis kraisis n. 危机， 危难时刻 initial inil adj. 开始的； 首字母的 combine kmbain v. 使结合， 使化合 downgrade daunreid vt. 使降低； 贬低 outlook autluk n. 前景，展望 negative netiv adj. 消极的，否认的； 数负的 take over 接管 critical kritikl adj. 危险的，危急的； 决定性的 refinance rifinns v. 再为筹钱； 对再供资金 interest rate n. 利率 maturity mtjrti: n. 成
12、熟； 完备； （票据等的）到期 public bonds 国债 GDP abbr. gross domestic product 国内生产总值 marked m:kt adj. 显著的，著名的； 有记号的 sprightly spratli: adj. 生气勃勃的，活泼的 crash kr vt. the market is fretting European leaders are at odds over a second aid package for Greece and that a possible default in Athens could engulf larger eco
13、nomies.Now give brief answers to the following questions.1.What was the investors reflection when Italy was involved in the euro-zones debt on Monday?2.What probable measure would be adopted by the Italy government to deal with the Italian debt crisis?3.What was the main reason why the investors wor
14、ried?IV. Translate the following two passages into Chinese. 1. Unlike Italy, the French have taken swift action to convince markets that they are determined to stick to plans to reduce their budget deficit to 3 per cent of gross domestic product. This week they unveiled a second supplementary budget
15、 in less than three months, including 7bn in new savings measures for 2012 in a package worth 65bn over five years. It came on top of a previous set of savings laid out in August worth 48bn up to 2016.2. Last weeks discussions in Davos convinced me that while the public-sector leadership and politic
16、al discourse in the developed countries have been failing, the world economy has bottomed-out and the private sector is ready to move forward with or without the political leadership. My other take-away is that the deep soul- searching about liberal democracy and market capitalism will go on for a long time, amid fierce competition from the state-led models.Unit 14 The Domestic Economic Hot IssuesText
