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商务英语听说对话 大米价格勒紧发展中国家

时间：2009-10-27 06:04:21

（单词翻译:单击）

Prices on food have been soaring worldwide, including rice, which has doubled in the last couple of months. And the staple1 for so many people and cultures could get even more expensive.


Kai Ryssdal: All the money streaming into the stock market today had to come from somewhere. Commodities were part of it.
Gold hit almost 870 bucks2 -- it was over $1,000 a week ago. Oil was down as well.
But some commodities have been going the other way. Rising grain prices led to riots in Egyptian bread lines a month ago. Rice had doubled in the last couple of months. Yesterday, workers at a Nike factory in Vietnam where rice is a staple went on strike for higher pay to offset3 higher consumer prices
Jeff Tyler: As India and China grow -- and grow more wealthy -- demand for rice is rising. At the same time, supplies have been hurt by a drought in Australia, floods in Bangladesh and a plant virus in Vietnam.
Nicholas Minot is a senior fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute.
Nicholas Minot: Small shifts in a country importing when they normally export or exporting less than they normally do can have an inordinate4 effect on the world market price.
Currency exchange rates have an impact too. So says agricultural economics professor Bruce Babcock at Iowa State University.
Bruce Babcock: You're also seeing a lot of prices being set in U.S. dollars and so, just like oil prices have gone up because of the fall in U.S. dollars, so too have the prices of food commodities.
Rice producers like India, Cambodia and Vietnam have put restrictions5 on exports. Some farmers in the region are already hoarding6 rice supplies, waiting for prices to rise even higher. But Nicholas Minot sees a silver lining7 in that kind of speculation8.
Minot: It's actually not such a bad thing. It's saving rice for later months when you expect the shortage to be even worse.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts that this year global rice stockpiles will fall to their lowest levels in 25 years. That could spell big profits for growers in Thailand, the world's largest exporter of rice.
Thai rice currently sells for about $760 per metric ton. The Thai commerce minister predicts rice will hit $1,000 a ton.
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1 staple fGkze     
n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类
参考例句：
  • Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
  • Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。
2 bucks a391832ce78ebbcfc3ed483cc6d17634     
n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃
参考例句：
  • They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
  • They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》
3 offset mIZx8     
n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿
参考例句：
  • Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
  • He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。
4 inordinate c6txn     
adj.无节制的；过度的
参考例句：
  • The idea of this gave me inordinate pleasure.我想到这一点感到非常高兴。
  • James hints that his heroine's demands on life are inordinate.詹姆斯暗示他的女主人公对于人生过于苛求。
5 restrictions 81e12dac658cfd4c590486dd6f7523cf     
约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）
参考例句：
  • I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
  • a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制
6 hoarding wdwzA     
n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 )
参考例句：
  • After the war, they were shot for hoarding. 战后他们因囤积而被枪决。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Actually he had two unused ones which he was hoarding up. 其实他还藏了两片没有用呢。 来自英汉文学
7 lining kpgzTO     
n.衬里，衬料
参考例句：
  • The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
  • Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。
8 speculation 9vGwe     
n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机
参考例句：
  • Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
  • There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。