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PBS NEWSHOUR 표현 정리 (3/4, MAY, 2009) INSTRUCTOR KIM SOO-YEON
1. 많은 사람들이 그 때 그 때 상환하는 것을 힘들어하고 있다: many are ~
2. 총 신용카드 부채의 6% 이상이 2008년 마지막 분기에 채무불이행 되었다: more than 6 percent of all credit card debt was ~
3. 가계 신용카드 미납 부채가 평균 1만 달러를 넘는다: the average outstanding credit card debt for households tops $10,000
4. 신용카드 회사들은 금리 인상을 포함해 불공정 대출 관행에 직면해서 수세에 몰려 있다: Credit card companies are now ~
5. 오바마 대통령이 13명의 (해당업계) 기업 CEO들을 오늘 백악관에 오도록 한 것도 이런 배경에서였다: It was against that backdrop that President Obama ~
6. 소비자들을 위한 강력하고 신뢰할 수 있는 보호조치들, 불공정 금리 인상을 금지하고 지나친 수수료와 벌금을 금지하는 보호조치들이 있어야 한다고 생각한다: I think that there has to be strong and reliable protections for consumers, protections that ~
7. 연체료 함정도 끝나야 한다: late fee traps have ~
8. 무엇보다, 소비자들에게 좀 더 명확하게 (내역을) 공개하도록 새로운 입법 조치가 필요하다: new legislation is needed to ~
9. 신용카드 회사들이 보내주는 모든 양식과 이용대금 명세서들이 명료한 표현과 분명히 볼 수 있도록 씌어져야 한다: All the forms and statements that credit card companies send out ~
10. 의회로부터의 압력도 고조되고 있다: pressure is also ~
11. 한 하원 위원회가 카드소지자 권리를 보호하기 위한 법안을 진행시켰다: a House committee moved ~
12. 이 법안이 통과되면 임의적인 금리 인상과 벌금을 끝내게 되고 읾부 연체료를 완화하게 될 것이다: that would end ~
13. 비슷한 법안이 상원에 계류 중이다: A similar bill is ~
14. 지난 7~8년에 걸쳐서, 신용카드 부채가 상당히 가파르게 증가하는 것을 경험했다: over the last, let's say, seven or eight years, you've seen ~
15. 대부분의 경우 소득이 2000년경 이래 상당히 정체되어 왔다: incomes for the most part have been ~
16. 신용 카드 부채가 급증했다: credit card debt has ~
17. 과거에 비해 사람들의 빚이 더 늘었고 갚을 능력도 떨어진 것이 확실하다: people are more ~
PBS NEWSHOUR 표현 연습 (3/4, MAY, 2009) INSTRUCTOR KIM SOO-YEON
1. 주택 소유자들이 주택 담보 대출 상환에 애를 먹고 있는 것은 대출받은 사람의 자격 요건에 문제가 있었기 때문만은 아니다. 고용 시장 성장률과 소득 증가가 둔화되고, 주택 가치가 거의 혹은 전혀 상승하지 않은 것 그리고 전반적으로 경제 여건이 좋지 않은 점들도 이에 일조하고 있다.
올 1사분기에, 주택담보대출 체납이 2008년 동기에 1.94%였던 것이 2.15%로 증가했다.
Questionable borrower qualifications aren't the only reason homeowners are having a tough time keeping up with home loan payments. More homeowners with home equity loans are coming up short because of slow job and income growth, little or no home value appreciation and generally weak economic conditions.
In the first quarter this year, home equity loan delinquencies increased to 2.15 percent from 1.94 percent the first quarter in 2008.
2. 인도가 부채 함정에 빠질 위험성이 있는 것으로 예상된다. 인도는 경제가 호황을 누리면서 봉급 생활자의 소득이 증가하고 고급 제품에 대한 소비가 늘면서 생활 패턴도 변하고 있다. 하지만 경제가 발전하면서 개인 부채도 크게 늘었다. ‘사회적인 지위’에 대한 의식이 고조되고 있는 시대에, 신용 대출 상환 불이행이 점점 일반화하고 있다. 신용 카드 대출 체납, 주택 담보 대출 체납이니 하는 말들을 시장에서 자주 들을 수 있다.
It seems that
3. 신용카드 회사들이 이른바 “유니버설 디폴트(특정 카드 회사에 대해 연체하면 다른 카드 회사도 연계해서 금리 인상 조치를 취하는 것)”같은 관행을 많이 하면서 이에 대한 일반의 분노도 점차 커지고 있다. 정부 관계자들도 신용 카드 회사들의 행동이 충분히 투명하지 않거나 충분히 사전에 고지하지 않는다고 불만을 토로하고 있다.
Credit card companies are coming under growing fire for engaging in practices like "universal default," in which consumers who are late in payments to one creditor find their interest rates raised by another. Government officials and lawmakers also complain that actions taken by credit card companies are not transparent enough or announced with enough advance warning.
4. 대선 공약을 이행하는 차원에서, 버락 오바마 대통령이 신용드사의 최고경영자들을 백악관으로 불러 사업 관행을 바꾸는 문제를 논의했다. 미국 신용카드 회사들의 대출 관행은 높은 수수료와 금리로 인해 소비자들로부터 반발을 사왔다.
오바마의 노력은 의회에서 신용카드 회사들의 문제성 관행들을 규제하려는 조치와 같은 맥락이다.
President Barack Obama, fulfilling a campaign pledge, brought credit card company executives to the White House to talk about changing their ways. Lending practices of American credit card companies have triggered adverse reactions from consumers hit with high fees and interest rates.
Obama's efforts are in tandem with a move by lawmakers to rein in abusive credit card practices
5. 신용카드 발급사들이 카드이용 명세서를 발송할 때 왜 해당 기간을 해당월의 마지막 3주와 익월의 첫 주를 포함하는지 궁금하시지 않았나요?
그 이유는 은행과 신용카드사들은 고객의 월 이용명세서를 1주 정도 연기하면 (연체)수수료를 유발할 가능성이 높아져서, 수수료 소득을 높일 수 있다고 파악했기 때문이다.
Have you ever wondered why your bank or credit-card issuer provides your statement of account activity for the period that includes the last three weeks of the month and the first week of the following month?
Here's why: Banks and credit card companies have learned that when they delay their customers monthly statements for a week or so, their customers will be more likely to incur fees, thereby increasing the financial institutions' fee income.
6. 태국의 탁신 총리에 대해 버마 군사 정권에 대한 유화 정책을 포기하라는 국제 사회의 압력이 고조되고 있다. 하지만 탁신 총리는 태국과 미얀마의 경제적 이해 관계, 마약 단속 문제에서 버마의 협조 필요성, 국경 경비 및 태국내 버마 이민자가 많은 점등을 우려하고 있다.
Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister of
3. Obama Calls for Reform of Credit Card Practices
President Barack Obama put his support Thursday behind a credit card law that will regulate the sudden rate increases and late fees that cause financial trouble for millions of consumers. A financial reporter mulls the state of
JEFFREY BROWN: Some 80 percent of Americans now have at least one credit card. But amid a deep recession, credit card debt is getting ever harder, and many are having a tough time keeping up with payments.
According to the Federal Reserve, more than 6 percent of all credit card debt was in default in the last quarter of 2008. And, says one private group, the average outstanding credit card debt for households tops $10,000.
One result: Credit card companies are now on the defensive, facing criticism for unfair lending practices, including raising rates on consumers as they fall further behind.
U.S PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: It's been out of balance.
JEFFREY BROWN: It was against that backdrop that President Obama brought 13 company executives to the White House today and told them that their practices needed to change.
BARACK OBAMA: I think that there has to be strong and reliable protections for consumers, protections that ban unfair rate increases and forbid abusive fees and penalties, that the days of any time, any reason rate hikes and late fee traps have to end.
JEFFREY BROWN: The president said that he wants the industry to be profitable and stable, but new legislation is needed to provide, among other things, clearer disclosure to consumers.
BARACK OBAMA: All the forms and statements that credit card companies send out have to be written in plain language and be in plain sight. No more fine print; no more confusing terms and conditions. We want clarity and transparency from here on out.
JEFFREY BROWN: The Federal Reserve recently ordered some new consumer protection rules, but those don't take effect until next year.
In the meantime, pressure is also mounting from Capitol Hill. Yesterday, a House committee moved forward with a credit card holders bill of rights that would end arbitrary interest rate increases and penalties and mitigate some late fees. A similar bill is pending in the Senate.
Effect of economic downturn
JEFFREY BROWN: And for more about credit and debt in a recession, we turn to James Surowiecki of the New Yorker magazine. He writes a business and finance column called "The Financial Page." He's also author of the book "The Wisdom of Crowds."
Well, let's start by talking a bit more about the credit card debt problem itself. How much has it grown? And in what ways is it feeding or fed by this economic downturn?
JAMES SUROWIECKI, The New Yorker: Well, debt has been a big issue, obviously, for
And the problem is that that's happened even as Americans have, for the most part, not seen real increases in their income. So incomes for the most part have been pretty much flat since about 2000, while credit card debt has soared. And as a result, obviously, that means that people are more in debt than they once were and obviously have less of an ability to pay it off.
JEFFREY BROWN: So today we see the president call in these companies. What kind of practices are now under the spotlight?
JAMES SUROWIECKI: Well, I think there are a few things. I mean, one of the things that President Obama talked about was what he referred to as any time, anywhere, I think, rate increases.
So one of the things that credit card companies are able to do -- which is a little strange -- is, if you borrow money, so you charge something on your credit card, and you're paying a certain interest rate, whatever it is, the interest rate is, you know, you have at that time, the credit card company can actually raise an interest rate on the money you've already borrowed at any time.
In other words, when you make the charge -- you may be paying, I don't know, say, 12 percent -- and a few months later, if you haven't paid that debt off, the credit card company can then raise that to 17 percent. So effectively you took out a loan at one interest rate and suddenly find yourself paying another one.
Another thing that he talked about, which is -- which is an issue, is, obviously, just the question of late fees. So there's some real question in many circumstances about whether or not credit card holders have enough time to pay off their debt.
And when they actually send in their payments, it's sometimes the case that, you know, the payment arrives on, let's say, April 1st, but it isn't recorded until April 5th, which is after the due date. And then they end up getting charged a late fee. That's another thing that I think people want to do away with.
And then there are other more complicated things that have to do with -- they're sometimes called double-billing cycles and the rest that I think also regulators would like to do a better job of controlling.
Credit companies on the defensive
JEFFREY BROWN: Now, of course, from the credit card companies' perspective, they say that they have to do things to protect their losses, especially at a time like now, and cutting off people who are no longer good risks, from their perspective, might be good business. So explain their argument.
JAMES SUROWIECKI: Well, it's a couple of things. I mean, one of the other things that's gotten the credit card companies -- that has earned them some heat recently is that credit card companies, as you've sort of alluded to, have actually been cutting back on the amount of credit they're offering.
So they're actually cutting back on people's credit lines. In some cases, companies have actually offered some of their customers money in order to have them close their accounts. They've raised interest rates on many of their customers and the like, and this has created, fomented a lot of criticism of them.
I think the case that they would make for these practices are, you know, in a sense, they're trying to do a better job of managing credit risk. So one of the things they did, I think you could argue, over the last, say, five or six years, much like banks did, was they probably handed out way too much credit. They just handed out credit to people who weren't ultimately going to have a chance of paying it back. One of the things they're trying to do now is rein that in.
That part of it, I think, is reasonable; some aspect of that is reasonable. Tightening requirements, you know, trying to match interest rates better to risk and the like.
The things that Obama was talking about, though, I think are for the most part things that an industry is kind of using these sort of tricks that most people are not familiar with or can't really figure out are happening to actually try to maximize their profits.
Protection for consumers
JEFFREY BROWN: So, but the larger perspective here -- and I'll make it a question -- is, is the larger way to think about this how to protect consumers, at the same time as not doing things that stem more lending?
JAMES SUROWIECKI: Yes, I mean, there's a real paradox here. And I think we're seeing it not just in the credit card industry, but across the financial sector. But this credit card story is a really great example of it.
And the paradox is that we want, in the long run, people to borrow less. We want people to be more responsible in their spending, and we want lenders to be more responsible in the way they lend money. We want them to do a better job of actually measuring risk.
The problem is, we also don't want them to clamp down on lending so tightly that it continues to magnify the recession or makes it hard for people to continue to spend and the like, so there really is this kind of tension. And I think we're really seeing it right now.
And I think, actually, if you looked at what Obama said today, you could see him trying to walk that line. He actually was not, I think, as critical of the companies, at least in his rhetoric, as maybe some people had expected and as I suspect some people had hoped.
And I think what he's trying to do, again, is balance the recognition that, you know, credit card companies need to make money if we want credit cards to exist, and I think most of us probably do. But at the same time, we really do need to do a better job of regulating them and, I think, a better job of, you know, giving consumers a chance to manage their money in a reasonable way.
Need for more transparency
JEFFREY BROWN: I know a lot of our regular viewers will know that my friend and colleague, Paul Solman, did a piece the other day for us on the paradox of thrift, which is a related idea to what you're talking about, right?
JAMES SUROWIECKI: Yes. I think it's very much what we're seeing is the kind of paradox of thrift, which is to say that, while it may be good for any one person to be more responsible, to be more thrifty at a time of -- you know, when the economy is in difficult shape and the like, if everyone does it at once, it simply magnifies the downturn. It makes the recession steeper, and it makes it harder to get out of it.
And we're seeing that -- I'm sorry -- we're just seeing that a little bit with the credit card situation, where, in the long run, it probably is better if Americans borrowed less. In the short run, it's probably going to make the downturn a little harder than it otherwise would be.
JEFFREY BROWN: And let me ask you before we leave, while Congress, while the president, while everybody's looking at possible new regulations, do we know from the research what the best kind of protections are or the most useful ones, at least in the coming term?
JAMES SUROWIECKI: Well, I think the one thing we do know is that, to some extent, transparency helps. So I think, when Obama talked about, you know, the fine print, I mean, it is amazing if you think about how massive the disclosures are, how kind of unreadable they are. So I think that that's one thing that would help.
I also think that the interest rates, this ability to raise interest rates on past balances is something else that will probably help people manage their money better.
Having said that, it's very clear that it's harder to get people to be responsible with their borrowing and their spending than we would like it to be. And so I think that one of the things, you know, we're going to see going forward is people spending lot of time trying to figure out exactly how to do that best.
JEFFREY BROWN: All right. Well, as we said, a lot of talk and moving forward with possible legislation, and we'll watch it. James Surowiecki of the New Yorker, thank you very much.
JAMES SUROWIECKI: Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
SPEAKING LEVEL-UP (STORYTELLING) (3/4, MAY, 2009) INSTRUCTOR KIM SOO-YEON
<STORY 1>
1. (Prom and graduation season has arrived ~) 갖가지 행사들과 함께, 졸업파티와 졸업식 철이 다가왔습니다.
2. (So please print ~) 그러니 부모님들과 10대 자녀들이 가급적 함께 읽을 수 있도록 제 편지를 실어주세요.
3. (My daughter was ~) 제 딸아이는 고등학교 시절 내내 우등생이었어요.
4. (We had ~) 우리는 서로 가까이 지냈어요.
5. (I always made sure ~) 성적이든 술이든 성에 관련된 것이든, 어떤 문제든지 늘 내가 함께 얘기할 수 있는 상대라는 걸 우리 애에게 분명히 알 수 있도록 했습니다.
6. (On the issue of ~ )음주운전에 관한 문제에 관해서는, 아이가 어디에 있든 아무것도 묻지 않고 내가 기꺼이 데리러 가겠다고 이해시켰어요.
7. (( have heard ~) 많은 부모들이 자녀들에게 저와 같은 이야기를 해준다고 하더라고요.
8. (I firmly believed ~) 내 딸은 그래야 할 상황이 되면 내게 전화할 거라고 저는 굳게 믿고 있었어요.
9. (However, she recently decided ~) 그런데 최근 딸아이가 자기 생각에 '안전할 만큼의 술'을 마시고는 집으로 직접 운전을 하기로 한 거예요.
10. (Unfortunately, she struck ~) 불행히도 아이의 차는 급회전 중 전신주에 부딪히고 뒤집혔죠.
11. (By the grace of God, she and her friend escaped ~) 하늘의 도움으로 딸아이와 친구는 경상만 입고 차에서 빠져 나왔어요.
12. (But, as you know, many people don’t ~) 하지만, 아시다시피, 그런 끔찍한 사고에서 살아날 수 있는 사람은 많지 않잖아요.
13. (Many parents say, ~) 많은 부모들이 "내 자식에게는 그런 일이 일어나지 않을 거야" 라고 말해요.
14. (Teens think ~) 10대들은 자기가 천하무적이라고 생각하고요.
15. (but tragedy happens ~) 하지만 비극적인 사고는 모든 계층의 어떤 가족에게도 일어날 수 있어요.
16. (I feel blessed ~) 두 아이 모두 목숨을 건져 새로운 삶을 감사하며 살아가는 것이 정말 다행이라고 생각하지만,
17. (but it makes me sad ~) 매일 밤 얼마나 많은 다른 집 아이들이 집으로 돌아오지 못하는지를 생각하면 가슴이 아파요.
18. (Can you ~) 한 마디 부탁드립니다.
<STORY 2>
1. (I’m a nanny and ~) 저는 유모이고 이 일을 3년 동안 하고 있어요.
2. (The 10-year-old girl I work with ~) 내가 지금 일 해주는 집 열 살짜리 여자아이는 참 예뻐서, 무척 아낀답니다.
3. (Her parents are not ~) 이 아이의 부모들은 학대하지는 않지만, 자기들의 삶에 치여서 아이를 돌볼 시간이 없죠.
4. (They devote ~) 딸에게 시간이나 정성을 거의 들이지 않아요.
5. (The only thing my employers ever ~) 저를 고용한 이 부모들이 딸과 나누는 대화의 유일한 주제는 학교와 (공부를 무척 잘하거든요) 학업이에요.
6. (When they are home, they spend ~) 귀가해서도 딸과는 거의 시간을 보내지 않죠.
7. (They never buy ~) 심지어 조막만 한 선물도 '그냥'은 사준 적이 없어요.
8. (only when she brings ~) 선물을 주는 건 아이가 A가 찍힌 성적표를 집으로 가져올 때뿐이고요.
9. (Of course she is ~) 물론 아이도 이런 일에 기분 상해합니다.
10. (She confides~) 눈물을 보일 정도로, 제게 털어놓거든요.
11. (How can I get ~) 어떻게 하면 부모가 이 아이의 삶에 적극적인 역할을 하도록 할 수 있을까요?
12. (I know better than ~) 부모에게 부모는 어때야 하는지에 대해 얘기하는 게 적절치 않은 행동이라는 것 정도는 알고 있지만, 이 부모들은 조금씩 상처를 주고 아이가 자신들에게 분개하게끔 만들고 있어요.
13. (I know they love ~) 그 분들이 딸을 사랑하는 건 알지만, 자녀 교육 방법 때문에 아이는 자신이 사랑스럽지 않다고 생각합니다.
<STORY 3>
1. (A former longtime friend, “Gladys,” and I have been ~)오래 알고 지낸 옛 친구 '글래디스'와 저는 지난 10년 간 소원하게 지냈어요.
2. (It is a complicated situation, but ~) 복잡한 상황인데, 대체적으로 글래디스의 이혼과 그 후 가진 한 유부남과의 관계 때문이었습니다.
3. (While I am not a prude, there were ~) 정숙한 척 하려는 건 아니지만, 글래디스 쪽에 도덕적, 윤리적으로 어긋나는 것들이(breaches) 좀 있어서 함께 있는 게 불편해졌어요.
4. (We stopped ~) 우리는 서로 연락하거나 만나는 걸 그만뒀죠.
5. (Gladys has now become ~) 요즘 글래디스는 무척 아파서 못 버틸지도 몰라요..
6. (My dilemma is ~) 글래디스가 세상을 떠날 때 가족들에게 조문을 해야 하는지가 제 딜레마고요.
7. (I have known ~) 저는 무척 오랜 기간 동안 그들과 알고 지냈거든요.
8. (Funerals are supposed ~) 장례식은 살아남은 자들에게 위안을 줘야 하는데, 사랑하는 고인의 '옛' 친구라고 스스로를 설명하는 누군가의 존재가 그런 위안을 줄 수 있을지 잘 모르겠네요.
9. (I have ~) 제안 하나 할게요.
10. (Why not ~) 수화기를 들고, 글래디스에게 전화해 투병 사실을 알게 되어 얼마나 가슴이 아픈지 얘기해주지 않겠어요?
11. (Whether you approved ~)글래디스의 이혼과 남자관계를 인정하든 하지 않든 두 분은 오랜 기간 함께 해왔고, 시간이 남아있을 때 화해하는 편이 서로에게 더 좋을 테니까요.
<STORY 1>
QUESTION: Prom and graduation season has arrived with all of the celebrating that goes along with it. So please print my letter for parents and teens to read -- perhaps together.
My daughter was an honor student all through high school. We had a close relationship. I always made sure she knew she could come to me with any problem, whether it be her grades, alcohol or sex. On the issue of drinking and driving, I made her understand that wherever she was, I would gladly pick her up -- no questions asked. I have heard that many parents make the same offer to their children.
I firmly believed that my daughter would call me if she needed to. However, she recently decided she could drive home after drinking what she considered to be "a safe amount of alcohol." Unfortunately, she struck a utility pole on a sharp turn and flipped her car over. By the grace of God, she and her friend escaped with minor injuries. But, as you know, many people don't survive such a horrific accident.
Many parents say, "It won't happen to my child." Teens think they are invincible, but tragedy happens to people from all walks of life and all kinds of families. I feel blessed that both girls are still alive to appreciate their second lease on life, but it makes me sad to think about how many kids don't return home each night. Can you comment?
<STORY 2>
QUESTION: I'm a nanny and have been for three years. The 10-year-old girl I work with is wonderful, and I love her dearly. Her parents are not abusive, but they are caught up in their own lives. They devote very little time or effort to their daughter.
The only thing my employers ever talk to her about is school (she's an A student) and academics. When they are home they spend very little time with her. They never buy her even tiny gifts "just because" -- only when she brings home A's does she get gifts. Of course she is upset by this. She confides in me, to the point of tears.
How can I get her parents to take an active role in her life? I know better than to tell a parent how to be a parent, but they are slowly scarring their daughter and making her resent them. I know they love her, but their parenting makes her feel unlovable.
<STORY 3>
QUESTION: A former longtime friend, "Gladys," and I have been estranged for the past 10 years. It is a complicated situation, but generally it involved her divorce and later involvement with a married man.
While I am not a prude, there were some moral and ethical breaches on her part which made it uncomfortable for me to be in her company. We stopped calling or seeing each other.
Gladys has now become quite ill and may not survive. My dilemma is whether I should pay my respects to her family at the time of her death. I have known them all for many years.
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