第1809期:UK economic growth slows

Growth last year was good, but not as good as originally hoped and there are worries that the economy is losing momentum. The British economy is probably still expanding faster than any other major economy, and this is the fastest rate of growth since 2007.去年的增长不错，但不如最初希望的那么好，人们担心经济正在失去动力。 英国经济的扩张速度可能仍高于任何其他主要经济体，这是自 2007 年以来的最快增速。However, that growth is rather patchy. The services sector is once again leading the way. But the construction industry is contracting quite sharply and manufacturing industry is pretty flat.然而，这种增长相当不稳定。 服务业再次领跑。 但是建筑业正在急剧收缩，而制造业则相当平淡。All eyes will now be on the growth rate in the first three months of this year. That could show the economy's expansion is slowing down again or it could be boosted by lower fuel prices. It's too early to say. We'll only know for certain in three months' time, just before the general election.现在所有的目光都将集中在今年前三个月的增长率上。 这可能表明经济扩张正在再次放缓，或者可能受到较低燃料价格的提振。 现在说还为时过早。 三个月后，就在大选之前，我们才能确定。词汇表growth 增长momentum 动力，势头expanding 扩张，发展rate 速度，速率patchy 分布不均衡的services sector 服务行业construction industry 建筑业contracting 缩小， 收缩sharply 大幅度的，急剧的manufacturing industry 制造业flat 停滞的，不景气的all eyes 所有的注意力expansion 扩张，发展boosted 推动