新英美报刊选读（第五版） 课件 unit 4 passage 2.pptx

;Overview of the Passage;Inflation is hitting three big areas of household budgets;;;The influence of inflation ;Warming-up Questions 1, What is your understanding of inflation? 2, Have you experienced inflation in your life? 3,how would you like to tackle the influence of inflation?;;Detailed Reading;1 Inflation grew at its fastest clip in almost four decades?last month — and rising costs are hitting the biggest areas of household budgets. 2 Inflation measures changes in the price consumers pay for goods and services. 3 It jumped 6.8% in the year through November 2021, the largest annual spike since 1982, the Labor Department1 said Friday. A consumer who paid $100 for a good last year would pay $106.80 for the same thing today. 4 That U.S. inflation reading includes prices for all sorts of items, like alcohol, fruit, airfare, firewood, hospital services and musical instruments.;5 Higher inflation was concentrated in a few areas like used cars and trucks earlier in the Covid pandemic — a cost burden many households may have been able to dodge. (Not all households need to buy a car.) Now, rising costs seem to be impacting a broader set of goods and services that are harder to avoid. 6 “In terms of core household expenses, you weren’t seeing it there [earlier this year]. You are now,” Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate2, said of inflation. 7 “You’re not seeing price declines to offset that,” he added. “The price increases are pretty pervasive.” 8 Housing, transportation and food are generally the three biggest expense categories for the average American household each year, according to the Consumer Expenditures Survey.;9 In 2020, housing costs (like rent and utilities) represented about 35% of the average person’s budget. Transportation costs (like vehicle purchases and gasoline) ate up 16% of the budget, and food expenses (groceries and restaurants) another 12%. 10 The three categories are seeing many cost components increase at their fastest pace