01 June 2011
Bad news for Australian economy
オーストラリア経済の悪い知らせ
.Summary
The Australian economy has suffered its worst contraction in 20 years.
It's being blamed on severe weather and the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, which has damaged the country's second biggest trading partner.
オーストラリア経済がここ２０年で最悪の縮小を蒙った。
原因は、ひどい天候とこの国の２番目に最大の貿易相手国に被害を与えた日本の地震と津波であるとしている。
contraction：縮小
Vocabulary
resources-rich： an area which contains a large amount of valuable minerals and crops
bottom line： the final calculated amount of money that is profit or loss
contributed to： been partly responsible for
buckled： bent and twisted
brought to a halt： stopped
On top of all that： As well as all those other negative things
down under： an expression that means Australia （(英国から見て)(地球の)正反対側にある国）
a one-off blip： a single bad result which won't be repeated （blip：突然の小さな衝撃）
rebound： return to its previous healthy condition
a resumption of： a restarting of
（爺追加）
iron ore：鉄鉱石