FreeOZ论坛

标题: ABC 新闻泛听 [打印本页]

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 4-9-2010 14:30
标题: ABC 新闻泛听
来自ABC网站，http://www.abc.net.au/news/#tab=audio
不定期更新，呵呵。

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 4-9-2010 14:35
标题: Extensive damage after NZ quake
新闻背景：4号凌晨新西兰第二大城市发生7级以上地震，造成人员伤亡，水电系统遭到破坏，抢劫事件发生

[wma]http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/am/201009/20100904-sam-01-nz-earthquake.mp3[/wma]
【生词】
magnitude　震级
looting 抢劫，掠夺，跟pillaging的区别是后者尤其指战争中的掠夺
gutter  n.(路边)排水沟, 阴沟
cordon off  用警戒线隔离[阻挡]
reiterate  vt. 反复地说, 重申
flat out
1.尽快地, 全力以赴地
2.精疲力竭, 疲惫的

【Transcript】

ELIZABETH JACKSON: A strong earthquake has caused widespread damage in New Zealand.

The 7.2 magnitude quake struck just seven kilometres south-east of Christchurch early this morning.

Roads and buildings have been damaged and now there are reports of looting in the city.

Saturday AM's Lindy Kerin prepared this report.

LINDY KERIN: The earthquake struck at about 4.30 this morning. Some older buildings have collapsed and 75 per cent of homes are without power.

John Hamilton is at the National Crisis Management Centre and is co-ordinating the response to the earthquake.

JOHN HAMILTON: There has been quite significant damage to buildings and infrastructure but fortunately no reported casualties to note at this stage.

LINDY KERIN: A number of roads have been damaged and power poles have come down.

St Albans resident Frances Adank has told radio New Zealand that there's extensive damage to the city's water pipes.

FRANCES ADANK: Honestly it's just?the scale of it is quite astonishing out there. The City Council I think is going to be working for days to get the water mains sorted out.

It just looks to me like all the water mains... there's loads of water mains that have broken because there's sand bubbling, like there's sand castles all over our front lawn in St Albans and it's pouring toward the gutters, and there's just water pouring out of every front section.

LINDY KERIN: Inspector Al Stewart from New Zealand police service says parts of the city have been cordoned off because it's too dangerous and because of looters.

AL STEWART: Well look, we haven't had a lot of reports, but there are always people that'll take advantage of situations like this and we've certainly got the resources to cope with that.

I'm not sure how many people have been arrested but we've have been having some reports of people smashing windows and trying to grab some property that's not theirs.

As I say, we've got plenty of police on the street and we're dealing with that.

LINDY KERIN: Inspector Stewart says the priority now is assessing the full extent of the damage.

AL STEWART: Well, our priority is always threats to life; threats to property come second obviously. We've been very lucky so far; we've had no reports of any serious injuries and at the moment we're just out there assessing the damage to buildings.

Can I ask that people don't need to be in town; to just stay out of town while we go through that process; just as much for their own safety as anything else.

LINDY KERIN: There have been several aftershocks and John Hamilton from the National Crisis Management Centre says it's important people stay indoors and conserve their supplies.

JOHN HAMILTON: If you're at home, stay home, and make sure that your family and yourself are safe from further damage, because there have been a number of aftershocks, and limit use of telephones, keep off the roads and make every means you possibly can to conserve water because the water in the sewerage system is broken.

LINDY KERIN: It's a message re-iterated by the Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker

BOB PARKER: This is not a good time to go out, as curious as you may be, and have a look around if it means driving out onto the streets because we need to keep them free for emergency services.

Use common sense; emergency services are flat out at the moment. The assessment is underway. Take sensible precautions, but don't go out sightseeing. Check on your neighbours. Do the things that communities do so well at times like this.

ELIZABETH JACKSON: That's Mayor Bob Parker advising the residents of Christchurch in New Zealand. That report from Lindy Kerin.

[ 本帖最后由熊猫阿三于 4-9-2010 13:52 编辑 ]

作者: lisa2008 时间: 4-9-2010 17:44
标题: 回复 #2 熊猫阿三的帖子
I just read this bad news...... have many friends living in CHC

作者: pinxinge 时间: 4-9-2010 21:42
提示: 作者被禁止或删除, 无法发言

原帖由 lisa2008 于 4-9-2010 16:44 发表

 登录/注册后可看大图

I just read this bad news...... have many friends living in CHC

Fortunately no people dead till now, thanks to the structure of properties.

作者: lilianaya 时间: 6-9-2010 12:42
不错，谢谢！

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 7-9-2010 01:34
标题: International student market could lose millions
新闻背景：因为移民政策的缩紧，而同时其他国家留学Visa的放松。澳洲作为曾经的第一留学大国已经失去优势，八大学忧心忡忡，呼吁提高质量来吸引最大来源国中国和印度的学生。

[wma]http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/pm/201009/20100906-pm8-internationalstudents.mp3[/wma]
【生词】

【Transcript】

MARK COLVIN: As the deadlock in federal politics continues, university vice chancellors from across the country are calling on the incoming government to take action on international students.

In an open letter to the two political leaders, the Group of Eight vice chancellors say a crackdown on immigration and higher deposit requirements are making study in Australia more expensive and less competitive.

The vice chancellors say international student numbers are dwindling and urgent action is needed.

Lindy Kerin reports.

LINDY KERIN: International students bring in billions of dollars a year to Australia but the group of Eight vice chancellors says that lucrative industry is in danger, with a forecast drop in enrolments of 30 per cent.

Professor Fred Hilmer is the vice chancellor of the University of New South Wales and one of the Group of Eight.

FRED HILMER: We were getting caught up in what some were referring to as the perfect storm. We had the incidents of violence against students and really bad publicity overseas, we've had the visa situation where we are tightening our visa requirements at the same time as other countries are loosening visas and making it easier for students to get visas, and we've had a political debate, and that's one of the reasons for writing this now, which has really been unfriendly or inhospitable to people aspiring to people to come and study here.

LINDY KERIN: The vice chancellor says Australia used to be one of the leaders in international education but now it's lagging behind other countries.

FRED HILMER: It's clearly harder to get a visa. If you now want to study in the United States from many countries, you can literally go into an embassy and if your papers are in order you can walk out with a visa. You know, in our case it's months, it's security checks and it's an extremely difficult process from the perspective of the student.

LINDY KERIN: Professor Hilmer and the other members of the Group of Eight have written to Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott with a list of demands. They want a bipartisan statement on the importance of Australia's international education sector.

They also want a review of international student visa policies and student numbers to be removed from the official immigration count. They would also like to see senior ministers and educational leaders join university staff in recruitment drives overseas.

FRED HILMER: As they do from time to time, that we have in effect a blitz and we go and visit, you know, India and China and Vietnam, and talk to their people about our interest in continuing this and what is it from their perspective that we could do.

LINDY KERIN: Dr Bob Birrell is a demographer and the coordinator of the Centre for Population and Urban Research at the Monash University. He's been critical of the link between education and migration. He says the letter, by the Group of Eight vice chancellors reflects the growing concerns in the higher education sector.

BOB BIRRELL: Given that overseas students are such a major proportion of the university's revenue, any sign of a drop-off is clearly going to be of great concern to them and they're trying to add their weight to a reconsideration of recent policies on, particularly on the linkage between education in Australia and migration selection.

LINDY KERIN: But Dr Birrell says changing the student visa system is not the right approach to building a sustainable international education sector.

BOB BIRRELL: The main reason for the decline from India is an awareness in that market that coming to Australia to do either a VET (vocational education and training) course or a university's course is no longer a sure fire entry to permanent residence.

What the Group of Eight will have to do is ensure that the education offered in Australia, particularly the main source countries, China and India, is relevant to occupation prospects back in the home country.

So we need quality education. And I think, to some extent, the toughening up of the rules will actually do our credibility, will improve our credibility because it's been undermined by the perception that really education in Australia has been all about an easy route to permanent residence when it really should be all about quality if we're going to have a sustainable industry in Australia.

MARK COLVIN: Dr Bob Birrell from Monash University ending Lindy Kerin's report.

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 10-9-2010 00:30
标题: Unemployment - how low can we go?
9.9 Unemployment - how low can we go?

新闻背景：失业率降到了5%。这个维持通货膨胀不会爆发的就业率，达到了所谓的全面就业时代。但事实是这样么？

[wma]http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/pm/201009/20100909-pm4-jobs.mp3[/wma]

【字幕】
SHANE MCLEOD: Not long ago the talk was about the Great Recession.

In Australia, the small downturn after the global financial crisis has been replaced by the great jobs boom.

Full-time employment surged last month, pushing the jobless rate down to 5.1 per cent.

That's close to the level the Treasury Department calls "full-employment".

But is it?

Respected economists are questioning the assumption that a jobless rate of 5 per cent or below would cause an outbreak of inflation.

They're urging the Reserve Bank not to push up interest rates and kill jobs out of the fear of wage and price pressures that may not happen.

Economics correspondent Stephen Long.

STPEHEN LONG: Fifty-three-thousand-one-hundred, that's the number of full time jobs added to the economy in August, on the official estimates from the ABS.

Full-time employment has now grown during 11 of the past 12 months. So much for the Treasury forecast of a jobless rate of eight-and-three-quarter per cent.

It's now just 5.1 per cent, and likely to fall lower. So the fear is no longer joblessness; it's rate hikes to counter wage and price pressures.

SU-LIN ONG: We're getting closer to the full employment; that will inevitably place pressure on wages and labour costs.

STPEHEN LONG: Su-Lin Ong, an economist with the Royal Bank of Canada

SU-LIN ONG: Once you start to hit about five per cent, that's generally viewed as the level of full employment and we're clearly not too far from that. The risk is that we do head sub-five per cent eventually.

STPEHEN LONG: Unemployment below five per cent a risk? A lot might call it a gamble worth taking, even a cause for celebration

But Su-Lin Ong is merely reflecting the official line. The Treasury bureaucrats assume that five per cent is the lowest unemployment rate we can have without causing inflation.

But is it?

BARRY HUGHES: This natural rate of unemployment as it's called, this limit, now thought to be five per cent has a very very sorry history.

STPEHEN LONG: Dr Barry Hughes has worked as a professor of economics, an economist with global investment banks, and as a government advisor.

BARRY HUGHES: Both here and overseas people used to think it was eight per cent in Australia, people thought it was six per cent in the States. Within the last 10 or 15 years and both of those notions subsequently were debunked by experience. We went way below the eight in Australia and below the six in the States without inflation ticking off.

STPEHEN LONG: Bud didn't inflation push up above the target the last time unemployment went below five per cent?

BARRY HUGHES: It's certainly true that in 2007/8 when the unemployment rate last went below five per cent, down into the fours, that we did have a pick-up in inflation. But that pick-up in inflation was essentially occurring in non-labour items like housing rents, and while wages picked up, they picked up only very slowly.

STPEHEN LONG: So how can you say if rents go up, that that's being caused by a low unemployment rate; isn't it caused by a housing shortage?

BARRY HUGHES: Yes. Obviously the low unemployment rate will mean great demand for houses and so on, so there's a demand side too, but the primary explanation in Australia's case was on the supply side.

STEPHEN LONG: There is in fact no sign of economy wide wages pressure. Over the past year private sector labour costs have grown by just 2.7 per cent; less than inflation.

Barry Hughes has also done a detailed study of the effect of the resources boom on wages before the GFC hit and there's scant evidence that it pushed up wages outside mining.

BARRY HUGHES: The evidence was pretty clear that while there was a huge resources boom going on in the West, and while mining wages were name your own price, very little if any of that leaked into the wages of those in the metropolitan labour markets of Sydney and Melbourne. There was a little going in in trades type people into Perth, but nowhere need as popular imagination would suggest.

STEPHEN LONG: So what does that say about the concern that once the unemployment rate goes to five per cent or a bit below, you've got a problem with inflation?

BARRY HUGHES: There's no absolute cast-iron evidence that wages will overheat and start bubbling up when you go below five per cent. Indeed the evidence on my reading is slightly the other way. However, the Governor of the Reserve Bank Glenn Stevens is well known for trying to act on the principle of what he calls 'the principle of least regret'. There is a possibility that this full capacity level might be where people think it is and if that's the case, inflation will take off. The danger is we might lose out on a percentage point or two or so of unemployment that could be further removed.

STEPHEN LONG: And what do you think of that?

BARRY HUGHES: My information would be to suck it and see and just, just try but to be vigilant and at the first sign of general wages picking, reverse policy, upward interest rates.

STPEHEN LONG: Su-Lin Ong says that by then, it may to be too late.

SU-LIN ONG: It's not so much inflation being an issue in the next quarter or two; it's really over the next 12 to 18 months. But we've got to remember that for the RBA that's their time horizon for when they deliberate over the appropriate stance of policy; they are looking at 12 to 18 months and I think they will be more than aware that the declining capacity in the labour market, rising utilisation is going to mean that inflation is more than likely going to be testing the top of their target range in 2011.

STPEHEN LONG: Call it the natural rate of unemployment, or the Reserve Army of Labor, but the econocrats won't want to see full-employment, in the original sense of the term.

SHANE MCLEOD: Stephen Long.

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 10-9-2010 13:04
标题: Australians shun free swine flu vaccine
9.10 澳洲人逃避猪流感疫苗
新闻背景：政府虽然预备了足够的猪流感疫苗，但是接受接种的人依然不多。专家呼吁孕妇小孩等特殊人群尽快接种。而人们不太愿意接种，原因包括认为猪流感已经过去，自己不受到威胁，疫苗不安全等。
[wma]http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/am/201009/20100910-am-04-flu-vaccine.mp3[/wma]
【生词】
shun  vt.避开, 回避, 避免

jab  n.[美俚]皮下注射
猛刺, 猛戳
猛碰
(用拳)迅速的猛击

give away  不光有“失去; 丧失; 抛弃”的意思，还有“赠送; 赠予; 颁发；泄露; 告发”

strain n.
拉紧; 绷紧; 张紧
拉力; 张力; 应变
(演出的)音乐片段, 乐曲
写作或说话的方式或风格; 笔调; 语调

pandemic adj.  (疾病)大流行的；普遍的, 全世界的

indigenous  adj. 天生的, 固有的；本地产的, 土生土长的

【字幕】
TONY EASTLEY: A new study has shown that a majority of Australians have shunned or have no intention of taking up the offer of a free vaccination against swine flu.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has found that only one in five adults had the jab by the end of February. Doctors say they are disappointed by the take-up rate.

Simon Santow reports.

SIMON SANTOW: Sometimes even if it's free it can be hard to give away.

Dr Penny Allbon is the director of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

PENNY ALLBON: The survey was carried out in January and February of this year and it revealed that about four million Australians, that's about 18 per cent of the total population had in fact taken up the offer to be vaccinated against the H1N1.

SIMON SANTOW: When you say 18 per cent of the population it would appear that that means that they are very much in the minority.

PENNY ALLBON: Yes the percentage of adults who took it up was in fact 21 per cent of adults. But it is, does reflect that 56 per cent of the population hadn't been vaccinated and in fact weren't intending to get vaccinated.

SIMON SANTOW: Medical scientists and health professionals have been left scratching their heads over what went wrong with the Federal Government's swine flu vaccination program.

STEVE HAMBLETON: The Government quite rightly said alright we are going to buy enough vaccine for the whole population and did so. And we then looked at how it was rolled out and we actually got it into 7,000 general practices right across the country.

So the numbers are disappointing. We had the number of locations available but the follow-up didn't happen. And so we didn't get the numbers we needed to actually protect ourselves from this particular strain of the flu.

SIMON SANTOW: AMA (Australian Medical Association) vice president Dr Steve Hambleton says it's critical to get responses to pandemics right because otherwise the effects can be catastrophic.

STEVE HAMBLETON: We need to learn from it because if we do have a bad one, if we do have the perfect storm flu and we need to make sure we keep the advertising going, we keep the information going, we keep reminding people about the benefits of getting vaccinated and I guess the safety of doing so.

SIMON SANTOW: Now you as a GP would have seen a lot of patients. Did you push it with the patients? And what sort of reaction did you get when you mentioned it to them?

STEVE HAMBLETON: Well in the main the vaccination was done on an opportunistic basis. And so it was people who were coming to the surgery for other things. And they were pretty good. I mean we said we had the vaccine here, it's available, it is safe, that worked.

But that's going to get a certain number of the population but it's not going to get the large numbers. So we really did need to have vaccination days and vaccination clinics where people come along to get vaccinated who are not just the patients attending doctors in the first place. And that's where we would have increased our numbers significantly.

SIMON SANTOW: Dr Allbon says that some at risk groups ignored warnings to be vaccinated.

PENNY ALLBON: Pregnant women or people with young children, underlying chronic conditions, severely obese, Indigenous Australians and health care workers who were all strongly recommended to get vaccinated.

But of those at risk groups some of them really didn't respond very well, with just those two groups those who had underlying chronic conditions and those who were health and community care workers who did seem to respond.

SIMON SANTOW: There were many explanations given for shunning the vaccine offer.

Some people said their health wasn't at risk. Others argued the vaccine was not necessarily safe. And some said the threat from swine flu had already passed.

TONY EASTLEY: Simon Santow.

作者: pinxinge 时间: 11-9-2010 17:29
提示: 作者被禁止或删除, 无法发言 I don't think the vaccine is quite safe either, based on my personal experience in China.

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 17-11-2010 13:52
标题: Australia nearly most multicultural nation in world
新闻背景：一项报告表明澳洲成为世界上最多种族的国家之一，仅次于卢森堡，和瑞士持平，移民人口占总人口四分之一。但是许多技术移民的才能被浪费了。而澳洲移民最多来自英国和新西兰,天朝紧跟其后。

另外该报告也提到1万个人里面只有十个难民，相比其他国家少。比如瑞典为87/一万, 加拿大为50/一万。
【下载】
[wma]http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/am/201011/20101117-am-5-migrant-report.mp3[/wma]
【Transcript】
TONY EASTLEY: A new report has found that Australia is one of the most multicultural countries in the world, but that the skills of many migrants are being wasted.

The report commissioned by AMP shows that most of Australia's migrants come from the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

It says skilled migrants account for 62 per cent of arrivals.

Meredith Griffiths reports.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: The report by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling says Australia is one of the most multicultural nations in the world

It's second only to Luxembourg and is tied with Switzerland.

The report's author, Riyana Miranti, from Canberra University says migrants make up a quarter of Australia's population.

RIYANA MIRANTI: Compared to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) average, which is only 11 per cent, and in comparison to other countries this is almost double that of the United States and more than twice that of the United Kingdom.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: Dr Miranti says only seven per cent of the migrants are refugees admitted under Australia's humanitarian programme.

She says that's only 10 refugees out of every 10,000 people living here.

RIYANA MIRANTI: Other countries take more refugees in this sense, like for example Sweden take 87 refugees per 10,000 head of population, while for Canada like 50 to 10,000 of population.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: Do you think that that statistic suggests that people are getting confused messages out of Canberra about how many asylum seekers do come to Australia?

RIYANA MIRANTI: I guess that in that sense, yes, because while actually migrants actually contributed to the economy as well and then the humanitarian and the refugee is actually is more proportionate of those like offices born population itself.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: England and New Zealand contribute the most migrants, followed by China.
Most migrants are highly educated with their qualifications tending to match or exceed those of people born in Australia.

But Dr Miranti says 38 per cent of university graduates from non-English speaking countries are working in low or medium skilled occupations.

RIYANA MIRANTI: The most common reasons that they identify is like their lack of Australian experience and reference, language difficulties and then lack of local contacts and networks and then having skill and qualification are not recognised.

MEREDITH GRIFFITHS: Dr Miranti says the majority of migrants feel satisfied that they are part of the local community.

TONY EASTLEY: Meredith Griffiths reporting.

[ 本帖最后由熊猫阿三于 17-11-2010 14:02 编辑 ]

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 26-4-2011 22:35
University enrolments jump 10 per cent
大学入学率下降了10%
2011.4.26
【新闻背景】
近两年来大学入学率跌了百分之十，工党对之进行了改革，从明年开始取消了对国内学生上大学的名额限额。这对于乡村地区许多人是个利好，本来他们是上不了大学的。
政府有计划，到2025年达到40%的25-34岁的人都有学士学位。

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2011/s3198994.htm

[wma]http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/am/201104/20110423-am5-uniboost.mp3[/wma]

ELIZABETH JACKSON: The Federal Government has released new figures showing university enrolments have jumped 10 per cent in two years.

The Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans credits Labor's university education reforms which will remove the cap on domestic undergraduate places next year.

Senator Evans is speaking here to Alexandra Kirk.

CHRIS EVANS: It's really opening up the opportunity for people to attend university who otherwise wouldn't have got the opportunity.

ALEXANDER KIRK: What do you think will happen when the cap is actually lifted on undergraduate places next year?

CHRIS EVANS: Look I think there'll continue to be growth before we see a moderation. Different universities will grow at different rates. I mean what this does is allow universities to plan and diversify.

What we're seeing is large growth in rural and regional areas, universities servicing those areas and large increases in the numbers of people from lower socio-economic groups attending university. So we're getting the sort of results we hoped to get.

ALEXANDER KIRK: There are a few notable exceptions, for example the University of Sydney there's only a 4 per cent increase on last year; the Australian National University the same and the University of Melbourne the numbers actually go backwards.

CHRIS EVANS: Well what that reflects is a number of the sandstone universities have decided not to seek growth. Some of them are constrained by their infrastructure and Melbourne for instance is looking at increasing its post-graduate student load. So they're making individual decisions about how they see their future and that's appropriate.

ALEXANDER KIRK: And once the cap is lifted next year do you think the numbers might go up in the older universities.

CHRIS EVANS: I think some of them are looking not to grow much beyond the current levels but the growth will be in areas where universities are servicing, as I say, rural and regional areas and the outer suburbs.

I mean Western Sydney's a good example, they've had the largest growth; more than 4,000 extra places. That reflects the fact that they're now attracting students from the western suburbs of Sydney who otherwise would never have got a chance to go to university.

ALEXANDER KIRK: Are you confident that the Government will be able to meet its target of 40 per cent of all 25 to 34 year olds holding a bachelors degree by 2025?

CHRIS EVANS: Well certainly these figures look very promising. We've seen more growth than we'd expected and a number of leading figures in universities have said to me they think we'll make the target early; but obviously once the cap is off fully next year we'll get a better feel for that.

But a number of universities are planning quite strong growth and what we've got to do now is make sure it's sustainable.

ALEXANDER KIRK: Will it be good enough to meet the demand for highly skilled workers for example predicted by Skills Australia that by 2025 they think one third of all jobs will need the minimum of a bachelor's degree?

CHRIS EVANS: Well I think this sort of growth will get us to that point. One of the reasons we're opening up the universities is to provide those opportunities to drive productivity growth and make sure we've got people who can take up those high skilled jobs.

ELIZABETH JACKSON: That's the Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills and Jobs, Senator Chris Evans speaking to Alexandra Kirk.

【单词】
Lift vi. 消散；升起；耸立
diversify [dai'və:sifai] vt. 使多样化，使变化；增加产品种类以扩大
socio-economic adj. 社会经济的
backwards ['bækwədz] adv. 倒；向后；逆
sustainable [sə'steinəbl] adj. 可以忍受的；足可支撑的；养得起的
promising ['prɔmisiŋ] adj. 有希望的，有前途的

作者: yearshappy 时间: 26-4-2011 22:48

Excellent
I've known DIVERSITY.
Good to learn a new word, diversify. THX.

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 27-4-2011 17:06
Home truths on loans
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2011/s3201227.htm
[wma]http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/twt/201104/20110427-twt2-mortgage-industry.mp3[/wma]
2011.4.27
【新闻背景】

【Transcript】
ELEANOR HALL: A study by the US Investment bank JP Morgan and Fujitsu has found that economic uncertainty and higher interest rates are dampening demand for home loans in Australia.

The report found that some of the major banks have pulled back their lending because of the cost of overseas finance.

But it also found that more households are facing mortgage stress.

Sue Lannin spoke to the author of the study, Martin North.

MARTIN NORTH: There's no doubt that higher interest rates are keeping some people out of the market, and alongside that also the fact that cost of living has gone up and therefore disposable income is not as high as it was.

I'm not sure the natural disasters have had a major impact. It will have a little blip effect. But I think it's the broader economic issue of where interest rates are and the fact there's just less people wanting to buy properties at the moment.

SUE LANNIN: So some of the major banks such as Westpac and the Commonwealth Bank have actually pulled back their lending because there's less demand.

MARTIN NORTH: Well, what they're trying to do is to target in and perhaps target more probable business, tailor their offerings to particular customer groups. The fact is that there is less demand out there so effectively try and target the ones that you want.

Also, there's a lot more competition in the marketplace than there was previously. So when there was a lot of top line growth people were perhaps able to create new business and new customers, whereas now it's stealing business from the opposition.

SUE LANNIN: Now, in the report you also say that debt levels for households remain at historic highs, so are you seeing increased mortgage stress?

MARTIN NORTH: Not all consumers are in the same situation but young, growing families and some of the first time buyers who entered the market over the last couple of the years are pretty much now maxed out.

In other words, they have very little disposable income left. And that's a combination of higher interest rates and also the fact that discretionary spending is very low because of food prices and fuel prices and everything else going up.

SUE LANNIN: So of the households that are facing mortgage stress, how much of their disposable income are they spending on their home loan?

MARTIN NORTH: In some cases they're having to spend 40 to 45 per cent of disposable income just on servicing their loans, which is pretty much as hard it's ever been. If you go back five to eight years it was 25 to 30 per cent.

So it's a significant increase and that's because the average price of a property gone up dramatically, the average size of the loan has gone up dramatically over the last few years, and so if you want to go into the market and get a loan and get a property, you have to extend yourself to that degree.

ELEANOR HALL: That's Martin North from Fujitsu Consulting speaking to Sue Lannin.

【单词】

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 27-4-2011 22:58
自己顶下，来翻页啦

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 27-4-2011 22:59
挺懂口音很重要

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 27-4-2011 22:59
手工翻页~

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 27-4-2011 23:02
Natural disasters cause inflation to surge
自然灾害造成通货膨胀飙升
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3201692.htm
Apr 27, 2011
[wma]http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/pm/201104/20110427-pm1-inflation.mp3[/wma]

【正文】
MARK COLVIN: The price of bananas - and other produce from flood and cyclone hit Queensland - is starting to have the predicted effect on the economy.

Consumer inflation rose 1.6 per cent in the first few months of the year, the biggest quarterly rise in five years.

The increases were driven by a big rise in fruit and vegetables. Bananas now cost as much as $15 a kilo in some areas.

Because of the figures, the Australian dollar rose to a new record high on speculation that the Reserve Bank could raise official interest rates sooner than expected.

Here's finance reporter Sue Lannin.

SUE LANNIN: The devastation wrought by the natural disasters across the country like Cyclone Yasi in Queensland have taken their toll on fruit and vegetable prices.

LOUISE ARNOLD: There has been, you know, a lot less people buying bananas of course they can vary from $11 a kilo to $15 a kilo, I've seen where I live, and in our area. But people are going towards, you know, the citrus fruits, the pears and the apples.

SUE LANNIN: That's New South Wales fruit seller, Louise Arnold.

The big rise in fruit and vegetable prices pushed up prices in the shops.

Overall consumer prices jumped 1.6 per cent in the March quarter - four times the rise in December.

In the year to March, prices rose 3.3 per cent - more than both the Reserve Bank and economists expected.

Here's Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens back in February.

GLENN STEVENS: There has been a very substantial impact, and a large rise in the prices of some fruits like bananas, and so on, is already occurring, and that's on top of price increases that would be occurring for foodstuffs as a result of earlier flood events.

The result of that is likely to be a temporary rise in CPI inflation, to probably around 3 per cent we think for the June quarter.

SUE LANNIN: Westpac chief economist Bill Evans thinks today's figures show an inflation problem could be emerging.

BILL EVANS: This number which before today the inflation numbers had been quite constructive for them, it was really only concerns about wages and the labour market that were the factors. Today we've now seen inflation also become a factor they'll need to be concerned about.

SUE LANNIN: Prices were also pushed up by more expensive petrol because of the tensions in the Middle East.

The cost of banking rose too, following last November's surprise official rise in interest rates, but BT chief economist Chris Caton says it's too early to tell if higher inflation is here to stay.

CHRIS CATON: Well an amazing number of one-offs in here, and of course, if you get enough one-offs you may have to concede there is a systemic problem. This is a flukish number at this state, but having said that, this is how inflation problems do begin.

SUE LANNIN: The Reserve Bank has said it will look through the spike in consumer inflation because of natural disasters when deciding on official interest rates.

HSBC is expecting a rise in official interest rates in July or August, but Bill Evans is sticking to Westpac's forecast of a rate rise in the September quarter.

BILL EVANS: Mainly driven by the strong labour market and the fact that the unemployment rate has now fallen below 5 per cent, which is where we think the Reserve Bank sees the danger signs.

SUE LANNIN: Underlying inflation, the figure looked at the RBA, was more benign, coming in at 2.3 per cent in the year to March - although it was more than double the previous quarter.

Professor of economics at the University of Newcastle, Bill Mitchell, says inflation is still within the RBA's target range.

BILL MITCHELL: I think that the RBA is watching an economy that's already slowing as a consequence of their previous rate hikes towards the end of last year. I think the evidence is that the withdrawal of the fiscal stimulus is also pulling the economy's growth rate back.

The much vaunted mining boom is not delivering the growth at the moment that everybody has been touting, and I think that they would ill-advised to put rates up in the near future, and I think they know that.

MARK COLVIN: Professor of economics at the University of Newcastle, Bill Mitchell, ending that report by Sue Lannin.

【生词】
speculation [,spekju'leiʃən] 英汉翻译n. 推测；思索；投机；投机买卖
cyclone ['saikləun] 基本释义词组短语同近义词n. 旋风；[气象] 气旋；飓风

devastation [,devə'steiʃən] n. 毁坏，荒废
wrought [rɔ:t]
adj. 锻造的；加工的；精细的
v. 工作（work的过去分词）
benign [bi'nain] adj. 良性的；和蔼的，亲切的；吉利的
substantial adj. 大量的；实质的；内容充实的 n. 本质；重要材料
vaunted ['vɔ:ntid] adj. 自夸的；大肆吹嘘的 v. 夸耀；吹牛
toute vt. 吹捧
ill-advised ['iləd'vaizd] adj. 没脑筋的；欠考虑的

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 1-5-2011 19:49
Modern take on fairytale royal wedding
现代版童话式的皇家婚礼
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2011/s3204271.htm
Apr 30, 2011
【新闻简介】
威廉王子和凯特于2011年4月30日在伦敦威斯敏斯特教堂举行婚礼，全球约20亿人通过电视观看了该盛况。

[wma]http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/am/201104/20110430-sam1-2-weddingcombo.mp3[/wma]
【正文】
ELIZABETH JACKSON: First this morning to that wedding.

It's estimated that a million people lined the streets and two billion TV viewers across the globe watched as Prince William married Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey.

The Prince then drove his bride back to Clarence House, following a reception at Buckingham Palace, in his father's blue Aston Martin.

The car was decorated with ribbons and balloons with "just wed" on the number plate.

In a moment we'll cross to our London correspondent Emma Alberici who is outside Buckingham Palace but first, Rachael Brown spent the day with the crowds on the streets of London.

RACHAEL BROWN: I'm engulfed in a flurry of Union Jack flags, a little envious of the children sitting on their parents' shoulders with a clear view of the fanfare.

As you can probably hear the marching band has started up behind me. I can't see a thing because I'm too short but I'm standing with someone - what contraption are you using?

VOX POP: It's a periscope.

RACHAEL BROWN: And is it working, can you tell me what you're seeing?

VOX POP: Yeah it's fantastic, you can see right over the top of everybody's heads so you can see everything that's going on out on the Mall.

RACHAEL BROWN: Prince William passes. I catch a glimpse of his striking red tunic of the Irish Guard's colonel.

But of course, the talk of the day was only ever going to be about the fairytale dress.

VOX POP 2: Oh, it couldn't have been more perfect.

VOX POP 3: It was very classic, very Grace Kelly, very simple elegance.

VOX POP 4: When she was walking down it looked as if it was floating in mid-air.

RACHAEL BROWN: As the ceremony unfolds it's broadcast over a loud speaker to the half a million people chocking the surrounding streets.

(Sound of wedding vows)

Catherine Middleton now passes me a second time, no longer a commoner, but now a Duchess.

We'll I've fought my way out here onto the Mall where people are streaming out and I've bumped into some Australians, hi!

VOX POP 5: Hi, how are you?

RACHAEL BROWN: How did you find it?

VOX POP 5: Hi, fantastic absolutely fantastic.

VOX POP 6: Wonderful absolutely wonderful.

RACHAEL BROWN: Was it everything that you hoped it would be?

VOX POP 6: Yeah we didn't see everything but we wouldn't have missed it for anything.

RACHAEL BROWN: Tell me, girls get into this type of stuff, the dresses, you know the whole pomp and pageantry but what drew you here today?

VOX POP 7: Well girls in dresses really! No, to be honest it's an event really, you know London goes off when things like this are on.

RACHAEL BROWN: And I bump into someone who had one of the 1900 golden tickets to the big event - Peter Hilling, who's worked on the charity organisation, Centrepoint, with the Prince.

PETER HILLING: I think Prince Harry lightened it up, he was smiling all the way through it seemed and every time I think during the ceremony when Catherine said "I will" you could hear the cheers from outside inside the Abbey and we had behind us a very famous Australian, is it Ian Thorpe, the swimmer? He was right behind us and so we had a chat with him.

RACHAEL BROWN: Oh and how's he?

PETER HILLING: He was in good form.

RACHAEL BROWN: So the fly-over has just happened and people are rushing towards Buckingham Palace to get there in time to watch that famous kiss on that balcony.

I didn't get there in time, police held crowds back to stop a stampede, but the aerial pictures show a wave of well-wishers, like a creeping shadow, slowly engulfing the palace forecourt to bear witness to a self-conscious kiss, and a blushing prince.

(Cheering of crowds)

And then, hours later, in a surprise end to the spectacle, came not an old car with tins trailing behind, but Prince William looking effortlessly cool at the wheel of his father's Aston Martin, his grinning bride in the passenger seat.

VOX POP 8: It's so odd to see a royal without a protection officer, they are just like any young couple driving themselves away, they've got big smiles, big jokes and they're all set for a big party with their friends this evening.

RACHAEL BROWN: It's this sense of normality the British public finds so endearing. They may be a Duke and Duchess, but in the hearts of the British, they're one of them.

This is Rachael Brown in London, reporting for Saturday AM.

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Correspondent Emma Alberici has positioned herself right outside Buckingham Palace. I spoke to her a short time ago and asked her what was happening inside the palace.

EMMA ALBERICI: Well only just a couple of hours ago Liz, we saw Kate Middleton and Prince William or should I say the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. They left Clarence House which is their official residence or has been up until now, it's now expected that they'll take an apartment in Kensington Palace, perhaps even the one that was used by Princess Diana before her death.

But they've gone over to the palace for the night time party because this was a double reception, they had a lunch party which was hosted by the Queen and this dinner is for a select 300 guests - 100 of Kate Middleton's friends, 100 of Prince William and 100 friends of the Prince and Duchess of Cornwall - Prince William's father.

And it's said to be a disco theme replete with a full mirror ball and the whole thing has been organised by Pippa Middleton, the bride's sister and Prince Harry, the groom's brother. And in fact we've just found the Queen and Prince Philip decided not to attend at all, they said they should leave it in the hands of the young people.

ELIZABETH JACKSON: So the party continues inside the palace, what about outside Emma, are the crowds dispersing?

EMMA ALBERICI: They are, they are finally but I have to say I got here at five o'clock in the morning and it was already standing room only, mostly because the people who gathered had been camping out, some for three days.

So now - only now I have to say, I can see that there's a pretty easy passageway through the area around the palace, but for the bulk of today almost you know now, for much more than 18 hours you could barely walk in the area around the monument to Queen Victoria.

So it's been an extraordinary day, an outpouring of excitement.

ELIZABETH JACKSON: And Emma, what happens to the royal couple once the disco is finished? Do we know any more about where they're heading after that?

EMMA ALBERICI: It is second to the secret about the dress. This is the other things that's been very tightly held. Nobody knows where they are going on honeymoon. We know that tonight they are staying at the palace so one of the reasons the crowds are deciding to go home is that there is absolutely no more chances of seeing the happy couple this evening.

It is known that in the last 24 hours they made surprise appearances here and there - Prince William came out to greet well wishers the night before his wedding and shake their hands and so when they came out in the Aston Martin, that was one of the most extraordinary scenes I think I've ever seen - a real truly modern couple.

And remember Kate Middleton's the oldest royal bride in history and also the only one incidentally who's ever been university educated. She's a whole 10 years older than Princess Diana was when she walked down the aisle in 1981.

So this is a modern fairytale and they're doing it their way.

ELIZABETH JACKSON: Emma Alberici joining us there from outside Buckingham Palace.

【生词】
Abbey /'aebi/n. 大修道院，大寺院；修道院中全体修士或修女
ribbon ['ribən] n. 缎带；带状物；带；（勋章等的）绶带；[军]勋表
engulf [in'ɡʌlf] vt. 吞没；吞食，狼吞虎咽
flurry n. 慌张；疾风；飓风；骚动 vt. 使恐慌；使激动  vi. 慌张；激动
union jack flag 英国米字旗，Union 意味着英格兰，爱尔兰，和苏格兰国旗的组合。Jack是旧时旗子的俗称。
http://geography.about.com/od/historyofgeography/a/unionjack.htm

fanfare ['fænfεə] n. 吹牛，炫耀；喇叭或号角嘹亮的吹奏声 vt. 热热闹闹地宣布
contraption [kən'træpʃən]  n. 奇妙的装置；精巧的设计
periscope ['periskəup]    n. 潜望镜
glimpse [ɡlimps]             n. 一瞥，一看 vi. 瞥见
elegance ['eliɡəns]          n. 典雅；高雅
commoner                         n. 自费学生；平民；下议院议员
duchess                            n. 公爵夫人；女公爵；雍容华贵的妇女；[英俚]小老板娘
                     v （澳）盛情款待；[口]讨好
pomp    n. 盛况；壮丽；夸耀；浮华
pageantry  n. 壮观，华丽；露天历史剧
good form - behavior that conforms to social conventions of the time; "it is not good form to brag about winning"
fly-over    飞机组队低空飞过
balcony n. 阳台；包厢；戏院楼厅
stampede n. 人群的蜂拥；军队溃败；惊跑 vi. 逃窜；蜂拥  vt. 使…惊逃；抢占
self-conscious  adj. 自觉的
blushing       adj. 脸红的 n. 雾浊
spectacle    n. 景象，奇观；眼镜；引人羡慕的人
effortless ['efətlis] adj. 容易的；不费力气的
grinning    n. 露底，露齿笑 v. 露齿而笑（grin的现在分词形式）
endearing [in'diəriŋ] adj. 可爱的；讨人喜欢的；引起爱情的
replete [ri'pli:t] 基本释义同近义词adj. 充满的；装满的
groom [ɡru:m] vt. 整饰；推荐；喂马 n. 新郎；马夫；男仆 vi. 打扮
dispersing [di'spə:siŋ] n. 分配，分散 adj. 分散的 v. 使散开；散布；驱散（disperse的现在分词）

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 2-5-2011 15:39
世纪大婚啊，就想1981年戴安娜一样隆重。bless them！

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 2-5-2011 15:48
Gillard reveals snippet of education budget
总理吉拉德透露了教育经费的一部分用途
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2011/s3205125.htm
[wma]http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/am/201105/20110502-am-perth-gillard.mp3[/wma]
May 2, 2011

【新闻简介】
根据吉拉德政府的最新教育改革方案，政府会在未来几年拿出425M来奖励全国范围内两万五千名优秀的教师。根据资历不同奖金为5K-8K之间，约十分之一的教师能受惠。
【正文】
PETER CAVE: After a fortnight overseas, Julia Gillard has wasted little time in getting back to her domestic political agenda.

The Prime Minister took the media to a primary school in Canberra this morning to reveal details of her education budget.

Joining us now from Canberra is our reporter, Samantha Donovan.

Sam, what has the Prime Minister had to announce?

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Peter, she's told the media that the next step of her education reforms will get funding under the budget to the tune of $425 million over the next four years. This will go towards the first national system of pay bonuses for about 25,000 of the nation's best teachers.

Ms Gillard told the media this morning that about one out of every 10 teachers would receive a bonus. The first step will be based on performance in 2013 and it will be paid in 2014, early in the year.

Now some of the things they'll take into account in assessing the teacher's performance are lesson observations, the student performance data, parental feedback and also the qualifications and professional development undertaken by the teachers.

Ms Gillard told the media she'd be rewarding great teachers around the country.

JULIA GILLARD: This is the next step to build on our education reforms. What that means is we will design a system where teachers who are performing well can get additional pay, an additional reward to recognise that great performance. The number of teachers to be rewarded will be around 25,000. That is 10 per cent of the teaching workforce.

The level of the rewards will be around 10 per cent of salary. Depending on the seniority of the teacher, that can be around $5,000 or around $8,000.

We will build the system to measure great teaching. We will monitor teacher performance in 2013 and the first rewards will be paid in 2014. Four hundred and twenty five million dollars will be allocated in this budget to building this system and rewarding teachers. This will be an investment of $1.3 billion to 2018.

This is our way of saying to Australian teachers we value what they do. We want to reward great teaching so that the individuals who are doing it experience the benefits of those rewards and so we can model what great teaching is to the rest of the teaching workforce.

PETER CAVE: Prime Minister Julia Gillard speaking just a short time ago in Canberra.

【生词】
snippet ['snippit] n. 小片；片断；不知天高地厚的年轻人

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 2-5-2011 16:07
Alcohol strongly linked to cancer
饮酒和癌症联系密切。
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2011/s3205322.htm
[wma]http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/twt/201105/20110502-twt-3-cancer.mp3[/wma]
【新闻背景】
【正文】
ELEANOR HALL: The Cancer Council of Australia has issued a new position statement recommending that people limit their alcohol intake to reduce their risk of developing cancer.

The council says a review of the latest evidence suggests the link between alcohol consumption and cancer is greater than previously thought.

Cancer specialists say it's an important reminder of the potential dangers of drinking alcohol, but they say that quantifying and comparing the risks is fraught with difficulties, as Barbara Miller reports.

BARBARA MILLER: It's an uncomfortable message for many. Alcohol consumption is associated with a higher incidence of cancer and the link is strong.

Professor Ian Olver is the CEO of the Cancer Council.

IAN OLVER: Originally we had linked alcohol with rather rarer cancers like liver and head and neck cancer but the newer data looks at very common cancers, bowel cancer, and surprisingly to us breast cancer, surprising because over a fifth of breast cancers are thought to have alcohol as a risk factor.

BARBARA MILLER: Is it true to say alcohol causes cancer?

IAN OLVER: It is absolutely true. It is what we call a class one carcinogen so it's just as likely to cause cancer as tobacco or asbestos for example.

CHRISTINE CLARKE: They are not actually saying drinking alcohol is as bad as being exposed to asbestos. That's not the purpose of this.

BARBARA MILLER: Christine Clarke is professor of Medicine at the University of Sydney.

CHRISTINE CLARKE: This is basically saying that the evidence is convincing that if you drink alcohol, your risk of a number of cancers is increased and that is really causal. It is what they call a causal relationship which means that the alcohol is responsible for that increased risk and it is completely silent on the magnitude of that increased risk.

They are not saying that alcohol causes a 10-fold increase in risk. This is not even telling you that alcohol causes a 22 per cent increase in risk. It is not, the size of the risk is not the issue here. It is simply the numbers and the proportion of cancers that are attributable to alcohol exposure.

BARBARA MILLER: Attributable as the sole causal factor or as one of a number of factors?

CHRISTINE CLARKE: The causes of breast cancer, the causes of a whole range of cancers are many of them unknown. There are multiple causes. Your genetic make-up, your socio-economic status, the way you live your life, the exposures you have - any number of factors contribute to risk of cancer.

It is very seldom you can say there is one cause for cancer and so alcohol is another of the factors that we know about that contributes to increasing cancer risk.

BARBARA MILLER: Is it possible to say that alcohol is therefore as risky as cigarette smoking in terms of the likelihood of developing cancer or less or more so?

CHRISTINE CLARKE: This statement is not addressing whether alcohol is more or equally risky as smoking. This statement is simply telling us that alcohol is risky. It is causal for a number of cancers and the impact on health then needs to be considered.

BARBARA MILLER: Professor John Boyages is the executive director of the Westmead Breast Cancer Institute. He advises women he sees to limit their alcohol intake to one unit a day, but he says he doesn't think alcohol is as large a risk factor in breast cancer as the Cancer Council suggests.

JOHN BOYAGES: Twenty two per cent is not in step with a lot of other studies.

BARBARA MILLER: Do you think that that figure is too high? You would dispute it?

JOHN BOYAGES: Oh absolutely. I think it is obviously one source but there have been other sources, large, better analysis saying that alcohol is a factor and probably in the realm more 5 to 8 per cent of all cases.

I know from some of our research we have done here at the Westmead Breast Cancer Institute that the factors that are important are probably inactivity and obesity, drinking more than one glass of alcohol a day and HRT (hormone replacement therapy) but the main factor is being a woman and getting older and therefore it is critical that women, particularly over the age of 50, have a mammogram every two years.

BARBARA MILLER: The specialists do agree that with so many unknowns in the field of cancer, it's important that when a risk factor is clearly identified the public is informed.

What they do with that information they say is of course a matter of individual choice.

ELEANOR HALL: Barbara Miller reporting.

【生词】
fraught [frɔ:t] adj. 担心的，忧虑的；充满…的
causal ['kɔ:zəl] adj. 因果关系的；有原因的 n. 表示原因的连词

causal relationship 因果关系
causal relation 因果关系
causal analysis 因果分析
causal factor 起因；病原
causal model 因果模型，因果模式
causal chain 因果链
causal attribution 因果性归因

bowel cancer 肠癌
breast cancer 乳腺癌
asbestos [æz'bestɔs] n. 石棉 adj. 石棉的
carcinogen [kɑ:'sinədʒən] n. 致癌物
realm [relm] n. 领域，范围；王国
hormone replacement therapy 激素取代疗法
mammogram ['mæməɡræm] n. 乳房X线照片

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 6-5-2011 10:18
Computer glitch shuts down Westpac banking system

May 5, 2011
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3208958.htm
[wma]http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/pm/201105/20110505-pm6-banks.mp3[/wma]
【新闻背景】
WestPac银行数据中心的空调坏了导致系统主机关机，ATM和EFTPOS系统，网上交易系统都不能用了。而就在昨天westpac刚刚说明了半年盈利了4B$。
【正文】
MARK COLVIN: Thousands of Australians this morning got a sharp reminder of how dependent we are as a nation now on our credit and debit cards.

A technical problem at Westpac shut down automatic teller machines, EFTPOS payment systems and online banking this morning.

With furious customers complaining online, the bank was forced to apologise.

The National Australia Bank, NAB, which has had its own share of major IT glitches, announced today that its half year profit was up 16 per cent to $2.4 billion.

Sue Lannin reports.

SUE LANNIN: It was a bad look for Westpac.

Just one day after delivering a record half year profit of nearly $4 billion, an air conditioning breakdown shut down operations at one of its data centres, knocking out its banking systems.

NICK GERBER: I got through and went to pay, got through to buy a camping ticket and it told me that the bank had cancelled my transaction.

SUE LANNIN: That's Nick Gerber, a student who tried to buy tickets to the big live music event Splendour in the Grass.

Some train travellers in Sydney couldn't buy tickets using EFTPOS.

Another angry customer told ABC Local Radio's Adam Spencer that he couldn't buy petrol.

RADIO LISTENER: Yeah, not good mate. The orange light's on and I've only got 50 cents. (laughs)

ADAM SPENCER: You haven't put petrol in the car yet?

RADIO LISTENER: No, no because for some reason they're not taking any- not taking any EFTPOS

ROB COOMBE: And this is embarrassing and we understand that it's been massively inconvenient for our customers, and certainly I'd like to apologise for that. If there are any customers that have got out of pocket expenses then certainly we'd be happy for them to contact us and we would compensate them for that.

SUE LANNIN: Rob Coombe is the head of retail and business banking at Westpac.

ROB COOMBE: We actually had a failure in our air conditioning units and we didn't get a prompt notification of that. In this case it was the system that supported our basic banking functionality, such as ATMs and internet banking and EFTPOS, and those systems started to close down.

SUE LANNIN: You reported a record $4 billion statutory profit for the first of the year yesterday. It looks bad, doesn't it, when you can't get your IT systems working?

ROB COOMBE: I should say that this is not an issue that's come as a result of under-investment in IT at all.

SUE LANNIN: In March, a computer glitch at the Commonwealth Bank saw customers issued with more money than they had in their accounts.

National Australia Bank has also had its share of computer problems.

Chief Executive Cameron Clyne says the banking shutdowns have not hit the company's bottom line, though, which came in today at $2.4 billion for the half year, up 16 per cent.

CAMERON CLYNE: Those problems in many ways also give us an opportunity to show customers that when issues happen - and issues happen all the time, another bank has a computer problem this morning, it's the nature of replacing old technology.

SUE LANNIN: KPMG banking analyst Andrew Dickenson says banks haven't invested enough in IT.

ANDREW DICKENSON: They've clearly under-invested in IT over several decades but I think they now recognise that and all the big banks are now spending many billions of dollars to refresh that infrastructure, and that should help the situation going forward.

SUE LANNIN: The other big problem facing the banks is how to increase their profits when demand for loans is falling.

Andrew Dickenson says the big four banks reported half year profits of nearly $16 billion before tax.

ANDREW DICKENSON: Well, about half the increase in profits came from a reduction in bad debt expenses, but the point really is that the fact that improvement won't be available going forward to continue to bolster the increases in bank profit.

SUE LANNIN: The reputation of the banks could take a further hit tomorrow, when the Senate Banking Committee hands down the results of its inquiry into competition.

MARK COLVIN: Sue Lannin.

【生词】
glitch [ɡlitʃ] n. 小故障；失灵；[电子] 短时脉冲波干扰
bolster n. 长枕；支持 vt. 支持；支撑

[ 本帖最后由熊猫阿三于 6-5-2011 22:02 编辑 ]

作者: happytime 时间: 10-5-2011 12:31
标题: 哪里可以找来原文？
感谢熊猫楼主的无私奉献！我也想从abc网站上练习听力，请问哪里可以找来原文呢？
另，熊猫楼主已经长登猫本了？恭喜！我也是准备今年登录mel！祝楼主新生活愉快！

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 10-5-2011 19:32

原帖由 happytime 于 10-5-2011 11:31 发表

 登录/注册后可看大图

感谢熊猫楼主的无私奉献！我也想从abc网站上练习听力，请问哪里可以找来原文呢？
另，熊猫楼主已经长登猫本了？恭喜！我也是准备今年登录mel！祝楼主新生活愉快！

谢谢！你看我每篇都有链接啊~ 里面就是有字幕的。

作者: girltooz 时间: 11-8-2011 18:25

原帖由 熊猫阿三 于 7-9-2010 00:34 发表

 登录/注册后可看大图

新闻背景：因为移民政策的缩紧，而同时其他国家留学Visa的放松。澳洲作为曾经的第一留学大国已经失去优势，八大学忧心忡忡，呼吁提高质量来吸引最大来源国中国和印度的学生。

http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/a ...

问一个阅读理解的问题：
FRED HILMER: We were getting caught up in what some were referring to as the perfect storm.
是什么意思？

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 12-8-2011 18:40

原帖由 girltooz 于 11-8-2011 17:25 发表

 登录/注册后可看大图

问一个阅读理解的问题：
FRED HILMER: We were getting caught up in what some were referring to as the perfect storm.
是什么意思？

perfect storm 是部片来着，讲述一艘捕渔船在风暴里挣扎的故事。其他就好理解了

作者: 小明小九 时间: 12-8-2011 19:31
感谢，　收藏了

作者: hwl 时间: 16-8-2011 17:27

原帖由 熊猫阿三 于 9-9-2010 23:30 发表

 登录/注册后可看大图

9.9 Unemployment - how low can we go?

新闻背景：失业率降到了5%。这个维持通货膨胀不会爆发的就业率，达到了所谓的全面就业时代。但事实是这样么？

http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/pm/201009/2010 ...

谁知道
They're urging the Reserve Bank not to push up interest rates and kill jobs out of the fear of wage and price pressures that may not happen.

是什么意思？
第一次听说还有政府要kill jobs 的.

[ 本帖最后由 hwl 于 16-8-2011 16:31 编辑 ]

作者: hwl 时间: 16-8-2011 17:30

原帖由 熊猫阿三 于 12-8-2011 17:40 发表

 登录/注册后可看大图

perfect storm 是部片来着，讲述一艘捕渔船在风暴里挣扎的故事。其他就好理解了

怎么又和渔船挂上联系了

[ 本帖最后由 hwl 于 16-8-2011 16:32 编辑 ]

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 16-8-2011 21:06

原帖由 hwl 于 16-8-2011 16:27 发表

 登录/注册后可看大图

谁知道
They're urging the Reserve Bank not to push up interest rates and kill jobs out of the fear of wage and price pressures that may not happen.

是什么意思？
第一次听说还有政府要kill jobs ...

提高利率是一种紧缩性的货币政策，主要是抑制人们的投资热情，企业就会减少生产，同时会减少雇员。这样失业率自然就高了。政府一般只会在经济过热时为防止通货膨胀的出现才会提高利率，用试图牺牲gdp和制造失业的方法缓解通货膨胀的压力。

作者: hwl 时间: 28-9-2011 16:40

原帖由 熊猫阿三 于 26-4-2011 21:35 发表

 登录/注册后可看大图

University enrolments jump 10 per cent
大学入学率下降了10%
2011.4.26
【新闻背景】
近两年来大学入学率跌了百分之十，工党对之进行了改革，从明年开始取消了对国内学生上大学的名额限额。这对于乡村地区许多 ...

谁能告诉我：
jump不是上升吗？
为什么是下降呢？

作者: 熊猫阿三 时间: 28-9-2011 17:08

原帖由 hwl 于 28-9-2011 15:40 发表

 登录/注册后可看大图

谁能告诉我：
jump不是上升吗？
为什么是下降呢？

你还记得Jack 对Rose说的"you jump,i jump"么？

作者: hwl 时间: 28-9-2011 17:54

原帖由 熊猫阿三 于 28-9-2011 16:08 发表

 登录/注册后可看大图

你还记得Jack 对Rose说的"you jump,i jump"么？

haha

明白了，解释的太逗了

作者: longmel 时间: 9-10-2011 15:52
thx

作者: longmel 时间: 9-10-2011 16:33
支持支持支持

欢迎光临 FreeOZ论坛 (https://www.freeoz.org/bbs/)