听力原文： Washington The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a modest quarter-percentage

听力原文： Washington

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a modest quarter-percentage point on Tuesday, disappointing Wall Street hopes for bolder action but offering a bit more help to an economy facing credit strains and a deep housing slump.

The central bank's decision takes the bellwether federal funds rate, which governs overnight lending between banks, down to 4.25 percent. While the action was widely expected, some economists had thought the Fed might offer a bolder half-point reduction.

In a related move, the Fed trimmed the discount rate it charges for direct loans to banks by a matching quarter point. Here too, some market participants were dissatisfied. Many had thought the Fed would lower the discount rate by more than the federal funds rate to lubricate tight credit markets.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Subtropical Storm Olga knocked out power and caused widespread flooding in Puerto Rico on Tuesday and threatened the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with torrential downpours and mudslides.

Olga was a relatively weak storm with top sustained winds of 45 mph and forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center predicted strong winds in the upper atmosphere would start to tug it apart on Wednesday.

They said Olga's greatest threat was its torrential rains.

"These rains have already produced life-threatening flash floods and mudslides in Puerto Rico," the forecasters said in an advisory.

Tropical storm warnings and watches were issued for parts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which share the island of Hispaniola, and for the Turks and Caicos islands and the southeastern Bahamas.

Paris

New passenger car registrations in the European Union in November fell 1.3 percent to 1.217 million vehicles from a year ago but were up 0.9 percent over the first 11 months, the ACEA European car association said on Friday.

Total European sales were down 1.1 percent in November and rose 1.1 percent for the 11 months.

ACEA said private demand in most of the countries of western Europe was damped by sharp rises in fuel prices, loss of purchasing power and regulatory changes.

Among car makers, Volkswagen Group remained the market leader for the 11 months, but its market share slipped to 19.7 percent from 20.1 percent.

London

The European Medicines Agency said on Friday that new warnings for doctors and patients were needed to increase awareness of cases of suicidal thoughts linked to Pfizer Inc's new smoking cessation pill.

Pfizer has been asked to submit changes to the marketing information for the product— sold as Champix in Europe and Chantix in the United States—before Dec. 19.

The move follows similar action by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which issued a warning last month about Chantix, amid reports of suicidal thoughts and behaviour, and at least one death potentially linked to the medication.

Pfizer said there was no scientific evidence establishing a causal relationship between its medicine and these reported events, adding it was working closely with the European watchdog to review case histories.

New York

Amazon.com Inc, the Web retailer known for selling books, said it had paid about $ 4 million to buy a handwritten, illustrated book of wizardry by "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling.

Sotheby's on Thursday held an auction for the book called "The Tales of Beedle the Bard", which was mentioned in the last Potter book as having been left to Harry's friend Hermione by their teacher, Albus Dumbledore.

London dealer Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox had the winning bid of 1. 95 million pounds ($ 3.98 million) on behalf of Amazon. com.

All proceeds from the sale will go to the Children's Voice, a charity Rowling co-founded in 2005 to help vulnerable children across Europe.

Amazon. co

A．The Federal Reserve cut interest rates to 4.75 percent.

B．The reduction of interest rate is offering help to the economy of the United States.

C．The discount rate was reduced by a bold half point.

D．The Federal Reserve lowered the discount rate to lubricate credit market.