[General] Help listen to two sentence.

[michael147]

1. its manufacturing index in August expanded as fast as *(it could?) since June, 2011 --- 1 by user437283654 on SoundCloud - Hear the world?s sounds

2. the secretary of state made the case ***** on Capitol Hill. --- 2 by user437283654 on SoundCloud - Hear the world?s sounds

Thank you for your help. This has troubled me for the last two days.

 

[5jj]

I couldn't catch the first. The second was:

The Secretary of State made the case for US action earlier today on Capitol Hill.

 

[emsr2d2]

The first sounded like "... expanded at its fastest clip since June, 2011". It doesn't make sense to me but it could be business speak.

 

[michael147]

The first sounded like "... expanded at its fastest clip since June, 2011". It doesn't make sense to me but it could be business speak.

I think you are right. I thought of "clip", but I didn't know it can mean "pace" initially. "at its fastest clip" totally makes sense here.

 

[emsr2d2]

Ah, yes, of course. "Going along at quite a clip" can mean "at a fast pace" or "at speed". I only really think of that usage with horses so it didn't even occur to me to connect it with this context.

 

[Tdol]

1 expanded at its fastest clip (=rate) since June
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/clip_3
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/clip (noun, definition 6)

 

[5jj]

Well, we lives and learns.

 

[SlickVic9000]

(Not a Teacher)

Not sure about the very first word, but here's the first sentence:
"Dow's manufacturing index in August expanded at its fastest clip since June of 2011."
Dow Jones is basically a major financial news company that publishes, among other things, the Dow Jones Industrial Index.