实用英语：The Financial Crisis 金融危机
There is only one story in the European press this week – the turmoil thathas engulfed world markets.
A few weeks ago everyone was talking about the credit crunch. This rather
cosy term has now been replaced in the press by ‘financial crisis’, reflecting
the broadening and deepening of the emergency.
As stock markets opened on Monday, shares plummeted across the world. On
Tuesday, US stocks hit their lowest levels in five years, while Japan's Nikkei
closed down 952.58 points, or 9.4%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed 6.2%
lower and markets in Australia, China and Taiwan all fell.
The sharp downturn in the markets has continued despite massive government
interventions in the banking system.
On Saturday, the US Congress finally passed a $700bn (4.7 trillion Yuan)
bail-out plan. The US government will buy the bad mortgage debts which triggered
the crisis in exchange for a stake in the banks they rescue.
On Monday, the entire economy of Iceland came precariously close to
bankruptcy. The government introduced emergency legislation to allow them to
effectively run banks’ operations.
Today it was the British government’s turn, offering banks that are
interested a slice of £50bn (596 billion Yuan) in exchange for a stake. It is
also offering loans of up to £250bn (2.98 trillion Yuan) which banks can use for
a fee. Banks won’t lend to one another at the moment, so the hope is that this
measure will increase liquidity – get money flowing again.
This is vital since the ripples of the credit crisis are already reaching
smaller businesses, who have seen their interest rates on loans increase.
Consumer confidence is also down, affecting sales on the high street.
If the plans work and banks in the UK and US recover, tax-payers in both
countries could make a profit from their governments’ interventions. If the
plans fail, the banking system will simply collapse.
Either way, we should be prepared for another escalation in language, as
the ‘financial crisis’ perhaps becomes a ‘severe economic recession’.
GLOSSARY 词汇表
turmoil
动荡
engulfed
吞没/把…卷入旋涡
cosy
舒适的/容易的
financial crisis
金融危机
plummeted
暴跌
stocks
股价
downturn
下滑
interventions
干预
bail-out
应急措施
triggered
引发
stake
股份/股本
precariously
危险的
bankruptcy
破产
emergency legislation
紧急立法
effectively
有效地
ripples
震荡/波及
consumer confidence
消费者信心
the high street
商业街，销售行业
escalation
加剧
recession
萧条
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