【每日晨读金融时报】12Aug2025 英语口语听力 附原文及实用单词短语

Amer­ica’s low­est-paid work­ers are suf­fer­ing a sharper slow­down in wage growth than their richer peers, adding to the pres­sure on Don­ald Trump over inequal­ity as he threatens to under­mine the reli­ab­il­ity of US eco­nomic data.

Fig­ures from the Fed­eral Reserve Bank of Atlanta show wage growth for the low­est-paid quart­ile of work­ers — people earn­ing less than $806 a week — slowed to an annual rate of 3.7 per cent in June, down from a peak of 7.5 per cent in late 2022.

Wage growth has slowed for higher earners to a lesser extent. Pay for the top 25 per cent of work­ers is up by 4.7 per cent in the year to June, and for the over­all work­force by 4.3 per cent. Those in the highest quart­ile earn more than $1,887 a week.

The fig­ures come after the pres­id­ent sacked the head of the labour stat­ist­ics agency on Fri­day after a gloomy jobs report. The unpre­ced­en­ted inter­ven­tion caused an out­cry among eco­nom­ists. The agency pro­duces reports on the labour mar­ket and infla­tion that under­pin the pri­cing of tril­lions of dol­lars in assets glob­ally.

peers

� 同龄人；同辈；同行（名词）

指地位、年龄、能力相当的人，常见于教育或职场语境。
例句：
Children are often influenced by their peers.
（孩子们经常受到同龄人的影响。）

undermine

� 削弱；破坏；暗中颠覆（动词）

表示逐渐削弱某人或某物的力量、信任、地位等。
例句：
The scandal seriously undermined the public’s trust in the government.
（这场丑闻严重削弱了公众对政府的信任。）

to a lesser extent

� 在较小程度上；相对较轻微地（副词短语）

表示某种情况或影响没有另一个那么强烈。
例句：
The new law will affect large corporations and, to a lesser extent, small businesses.
（这项新法律将影响大型公司，对小型企业的影响较小。）

unprecedented

� 前所未有的；史无前例的（形容词）

描述从未发生过的事情，强调其新颖或极端程度。
例句：
The pandemic caused an unprecedented global crisis.
（这场疫情引发了前所未有的全球危机。）

outcry

� 强烈抗议；公众的愤怒呼声（名词）

表达大规模的不满或愤怒，常出现在社会或政治问题中。
例句：
There was a public outcry over the police violence.
（警方的暴力行为引发了公众的强烈抗议。）

underpin

� 支撑；加强（论点、系统、结构等）（动词）

常用于比喻意义，指为某个理念、计划或制度提供基础或支持。
例句：
Scientific evidence underpins their argument.
（科学证据支撑着他们的论点。）