商业报道:欧美信用危机

Anniversary of credit crisis 信用危机

One year after the onset¹ of a global credit crunch², has anything fundamentally changed?

A year into the global credit crunch, \ Wall Street is still nursing its wounds. Investment banks are racking up billions of dollars in losses related to mortgages. Nine regional banks have been forced out of business. Stocks have dipped into bear market territory. Analysts³ say fear is still the prevailing⁴ emotion.

I think it's going to be a very difficult path ahead. I don't think that you can visualize⁵ a recovery coming from Wall Street, because Wall Street has been based on innovation in the past years and I think that there is fear out there guiding any future innovation at least at this point in time.

In Wall Street's absence, the US government has been trying to take the lead. The Bush administration's stimulus⁶ package passed in February put a little cash back in homeowners' pockets. The Federal Reserve also came to the aid of struggling mortgage finance giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Administration officials claim we are on the road to recovery.

While home price adjustments will continue for some time, and certainly well beyond the end of this year, I believe we can move through the bulk of the correction in months rather than years.

People we talked to on the streets of New York, however, did not share Paulson's optimism.

I think we're in for a tough run, probably for the next 5 to 10 years.

I have a friend that works in real estate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and she's lost her job. And she's had, she's had her job for a long time. And she said it got so bad that in her office they couldn't even afford to buy toilet paper.

So when can we expect these tough times to turn a little brighter? Analysts say, don't hold your breath.

I think this is more a long term, a long term scenario⁷ where you would see recovery, that doesn't necessarily mean 2009. It will depend on a great deal \ what the mortgage market does at the homeowner level, at the pricing level. Unfortunately these links there are still very very, very heavy.

Government assistance and renewed confidence on Wall Street may help. But many market watchers, including former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, believe the global credit crisis won't end until the US housing market recovers. Maggie Lake, CNN, New York.

1 onset   

n.进攻，袭击，开始，突然开始

参考例句：

• The drug must be taken from the onset of the infection.这种药必须在感染的最初期就开始服用。
• Our troops withstood the onset of the enemy.我们的部队抵挡住了敌人的进攻。

2 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

3 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。

4 prevailing   

adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的

参考例句：

• She wears a fashionable hair style prevailing in the city.她的发型是这个城市流行的款式。
• This reflects attitudes and values prevailing in society.这反映了社会上盛行的态度和价值观。

5 visualize   

vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想

参考例句：

• I remember meeting the man before but I can't visualize him.我记得以前见过那个人，但他的样子我想不起来了。
• She couldn't visualize flying through space.她无法想像在太空中飞行的景象。

6 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

7 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。