(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
This is the VOA Learning English Economics Report.
Toyota Motor Corporation agreed to a record fine of $1.2 billion on March 19th. The fine brought to a close a United States criminal investigation into safety problems with some Toyota vehicles.
Toyota is the world's largest carmaker. The head of the Justice Department, Attorney General Eric Holder said the company will admit to misleading the public about two safety issues. The problems cause some vehicles to gain speed uncontrollably.
"Today, we can say for certain that Toyota intentionally concealed information and misled the public about the safety issues behind these recalls," said Holder.
The settlement ends a four-year investigation into how much information Toyota withheld from safety officials. The problems involved poorly made floor coverings and gas pedals that could become stuck in position. The affected vehicles could speed up unexpectedly as a result.
The company recalled about 10 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles. But it did not describe the full extent of the problems and said drivers were to blame. Attorney General Holder said Toyota agreed to have an independent group look at how the company deals with safety issues.
"The company will submit to rigorous review by an independent monitor that will examine and assess the manner in which Toyota regularly reports safety issues to the public and its regulator," said Holder.
Mr Holder said the fine was the largest criminal penalty against a car company in US history. He said the amount was right, because of Toyota's actions in the case.
Toyota owners have brought hundreds of private legal cases against the company in connection with the acceleration issue. Last year, the carmaker agreed to pay more than $1 billion to buyers who said their vehicles lost value after the announcement of the recall.
Toyota released a statement saying it has made "major changes" to its operations to become a more "responsive" company.
The world's second largest carmaker, General Motors is also under federal investigation. GM has recalled more than 1.5 million vehicles. Federal officials are investigating problems with the starting mechanisms in some GM models from 2003 to 2007. A number of deadly accidents have been linked to the problems.
And that is the VOA Learning English Economics Report. For more programs, English learning lessons and videos, go to our website learningenglish.voanews.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. I'm Mario Ritter.
文本来自51voa，译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载
词汇解释
1.uncontrollably adv. 控制不住地
She started to weep uncontrollably.
她不由自主地哭了起来。
2.gas pedal 油门；加速器；汽车加速踏板
The driver had to let off the gas pedal to slow down.
驾驶员必须放开油门以使车速放慢。
3.stuck v. 刺（stick的过去式） adj. 被卡住的；不能动的
He said his car had got stuck in the snow.
他说他的车已经陷在雪里动不了了。
内容解析
1.withheld sth from 隐瞒某事，不给某人...
A fundamental human right is being withheld from these people.
这些人被剥夺了一项最基本的人权。
Visas were withheld from some members of the delegation.
代表团的一些成员被拒发签证。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道。
丰田汽车公司3月19日同意接受创纪录的12亿美元罚款，这就为美国就某些丰田汽车安全问题而进行的刑事调查画上了句号。
丰田是全世界最大的汽车制造商，美国司法部部长埃里克·霍尔德说该公司承认就两个安全问题误导过公众，这些问题导致一些汽车无法控制地加速。
“今天，我们能确定地说，丰田在召回问题的背后就安全问题故意掩盖信息并误导公众。”
这就结束了为其四年的调查工作，调查的重点是想知道丰田对安全官员隐瞒了多少信息。这些问题包括劣质地板、油门不能复位，这就导致问题汽车会意想不到地加速。
该公司召回了1000多万辆丰田和雷克萨斯汽车，但未能充分描述问题的程度，还称要归咎于驾驶者。司法部部长埃里克·霍尔德说丰田同意由独立组织来监督本公司如何处理安全问题。
“该公司将由独立检测机构进行严格的审查，将检查并评估丰田将安全问题报告给公众和检测机构的方式。”
霍尔德说罚金的金额是美国历史上对汽车公司进行的最大刑事处罚，他说考虑到丰田在案件中的表现，这个数额是没问题的。
丰田车主已就加速问题对该公司提起数百起私人案件，去年，丰田同意向购买者支付10多亿美元的赔偿，这些购买者称这些汽车在召回声明发出后失去了价值。
丰田发表声明称已对其行为作了“重大修改”，希望成为更“负责”的公司。
全世界第二大汽车制造商通用汽车公司目前也在接受联邦调查，通用已召回150多万辆汽车。联邦官员正在调查2003年到2007年期间一些通用模型的启动装置。很多致命事故都与这些问题有关。
这就是美国之音慢速英语经济报道，登陆learningenglish.voanews.com获得更多节目、英语学习课程和视频，我是马里奥·利特。
