点击查看：2016年12月英语四级听力MP3在线练习汇总 

　　As World Follows Rio Olympics, Brazil’s Economy Struggles

　　全球追逐里约奥运会，但巴西的经济却不容乐观

　　Pictures from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro have been beautiful. But underlying the beauty, there is unrest in Rio and many other parts of Brazil.

　　The country is in the middle of a political and economic crisis. Many Brazilians arefeeling the pinch, and hurting economically. That is especially true for those who live in Rio’s poorest neighborhoods, called “favelas.”

　　Huberto Sousa spent most of his life renting beach chairs to people visiting Copacabana beach. In October 2010, he decided to open a bar in the favela of Cantagalo, where he was born and raised.

　　Sousa said he always wanted to work for himself, instead of having to depend on others. He said he enjoyed choosing his own hours.

　　In Cantagalo, Sousa is known as “the King.” So, he called his bar “King’s Castle.” The business was successful.

　　Times were good for many businesses in Brazil in 2010. The economy was growing and many Brazilians entered the middle class for the first time. The medianhousehold income grew 87 percent between 2003 and 2013.

　　Sousa said, during the best times, middle class people would come and socialize with people in the favela. He said this created an interesting mix of people.

　　“That was the best time, but it started to drop off about (in) about 2014,” he said.

　　Since that time, Brazil’s economy has struggled. Some blame increasing debt and cuts in government spending and investments. The sharp drop in oil prices also might have hurt the economy.

　　Brazilian economist Rodrigo Magalhaes said people who recently moved up into the middle class were hurt most by the economic slowdown.

　　“When the recession began, it broke the expectation of these people because in the last 10 years they had seen the situation getting steadily better and then it all collapsed,” he said.

　　Hospitals, schools and other public services also have been hurt.

　　This year, there have been teachers’ strikes in Brazil. Students also have “occupied” schools for weeks, in some cases, to protest problems in the education system.

　　Fabiola Camargo is a teacher. She told VOA teachers have not received a pay raise since 2014.

　　Camargo says the strikes and student occupations have helped each other.

　　“The occupations are supporting the strikes just as much as the strikes are supporting the occupations because they both were wanting improvements in education,” she said.

　　Brazil’s political crisis is another consideration. Early Wednesday, the Senate voted 59 to 21 to move forward with the impeachment trial of President Dilma Rousseff.

　　Lawmakers suspended Rousseff in May over accusations of hiding budget deficits before her reelection in 2014. Her trial is expected to take place late this month.

　　Holding the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro has lifted the spirits of many Brazilians. The beautiful images of Rio’s bay and Olympic facilities have given many a much-needed lift. But the economic situation remains difficult.

　　Preparations for the games have cost the city billions of dollars.

　　Unemployment in Brazilian cities has reached eight percent and the jobless rate for the whole country is higher. The economy is predicted to shrink by more than two percent in 2016.

　　I’m Mario Ritter.

　　_______________________________________________________

　　Words in This Story

　　feeling the pinch – idiom, to feel pain because of something unpleasant

　　median – n. the middle value among a series of values or numbers, the value right in the middle

　　adjust – v. to make a change or a correction that accounts for something

　　factors – n. things that influence results

　　impeachment – n. to charge a high official with a crime while in office

长按二维码关注即可顺利获得425分

获取最新46级考试资讯

获取46级考前作文预测

获取历年考试真题试卷

获取2套仿真内部资料

英语四六级题库【手机题库下载】 | 微信搜索"566四六级"

　　相关推荐：

　　考试吧2016年12大学英语四级作文范文大全20篇

　　考试吧收藏：历年英语四级真题听力(含MP3)汇总

　　2016年12月大学英语四级大纲词汇汇总（带音标）

　　2016英语四六级词汇记忆：60组近义替换高级词

　　考试吧整理：2016年大学英语四级核心单词1000个

　　2016年大学英语四级考试词汇常见前后缀汇总

　　2016年英语四级词汇：常用成语词汇积累123句