From < Testing all engines >摘自《经济学人》Feb 2nd 2006

For the time being, America's monetary¹ policymakers think that their economy is still running pretty well. （1）This week, as Alan Greenspan handed over the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve to Ben Bernanke, the Fed marked the end of Mr Greenspan's 18-year reign² by raising interest rates for the 14th consecutive³ meeting, to 4.5%.The central bankers also gave Mr Bernanke more flexibility⁴ by softening⁵ their policy statement: they said that further tightening⁶ “may be needed” rather than “is likely to be needed”, as before.

Most analysts⁷ expect the Fed to raise rates once or twice more, although the economy slowed sharply in late 2005. Real GDP growth fell to an annual rate of only 1.1% in the fourth quarter, the lowest for three years. （2）Economists were quick to ascribe this disappointing number to special factors, such as Hurricane Katrina and a steep fall in car sales—the consequence of generous incentives⁹ that had encouraged buyers to bring purchases forward to the third quarter. The consensus¹⁰ has it that growth will bounce back to an annual rate of over 4% in the first quarter and stay strong thereafter.

new words

reign     n 执政，主权，王朝；v 当政，统治，占优势
The reign of Queen Victoria lasted more than sixty years.
维多利亚女王的统治持续了六十多年。
incentive⁸    a. 刺激的,鼓励的; n. 刺激,鼓励
He hasn't much incentive to work hard.
他没有努力工作的动力。

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