Key European Banks Face Greek Debt Worries

 　　Key European banks are facing new financial worries over their Greek debt holdings, with the Belgian-French bank Dexia struggling to avoid collapse¹.

　　Shares of Dexia stock plummeted² Tuesday to an all-time low of less than one euro (less than $1.32), even as two of its owners, the Belgian and French governments, pledged their continued support for it. During an earlier crisis in 2008, the two governments helped bail³ out the cross-border bank, Belgium's largest lender, with an $8 billion cash infusion⁴.

　　Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders and French officials said they were moving toward creation of a "bad bank" that would take over Dexia's worst assets - the loans not likely to be repaid in an effort to keep the Greek debt crisis from undermining it. The bank has already taken a $338 million loss on its Greek securities, but its losses could widen substantially in the months ahead depending on whether Greece eventually defaults on its international obligations.

　　Other European banks that bought Greece's bonds could also lose huge sums of money, beyond what they have already acknowledged.

　　Two large French banks, BNP Paribas and Societe Generale, have already recorded $1.2 billion in losses on Greek debt. Financial analysts⁵ say the two banks and others in Europe could lose substantially more if the Greek crisis is not resolved and the continent's debt contagion⁶ spreads to other governments.

1 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

2 plummeted   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Share prices plummeted to an all-time low. 股票价格暴跌到历史最低点。
• A plane plummeted to earth. 一架飞机一头栽向地面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

4 infusion   

n.灌输

参考例句：

• Old families need an infusion of new blood from time to time.古老的家族需要不时地注入新鲜血液。
• Careful observation of the infusion site is necessary.必须仔细观察输液部位。

5 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

6 contagion   

n.(通过接触的疾病)传染；蔓延

参考例句：

• A contagion of fear swept through the crowd.一种恐惧感在人群中迅速蔓延开。
• The product contagion effect has numerous implications for marketing managers and retailers.产品传染效应对市场营销管理者和零售商都有很多的启示。