2014年经济学人 伦敦大使馆 招人嫉妒的大使馆

London embassies

Envoy¹ envy

Embassies in London are worth a lot of money

IN 2009 America sold its embassy in fashionable Grosvenor Square for a reported ￡500m ($800m) to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund. By 2017 its new embassy should be ready in gritty Vauxhall. The details of embassies' ownership or leaseholds² are not known, but a new survey has created a sort of “fantasy embassy valuation”, estimating how other nations could be cashing in.

The report, by Spear's, a magazine, and Lichfields, a buying agent, suggests that the embassies of Japan, Germany and Saudi Arabia could be worth more than ￡100m each (assuming they were sold as residential³ freeholds). More surprisingly, the Nepalese embassy and Zambian high commission, both in Kensington, are worth ￡30m and ￡40m respectively. Many members of the British Commonwealth⁴ gained locations in central London decades ago: Uganda, Zimbabwe and Tanzania have swanky central digs that would fetch a fortune.

Some are already liquidating⁵ their assets. Canada sold the long lease on Macdonald House, its consular⁶ section in Grosvenor Square, for ￡306m last year. The Dutch embassy on Hyde Park Gate is for sale and could fetch ￡150m. The Chinese may sell their embassy in Portland Place and search for a new site, perhaps also in Vauxhall.

The cheapest embassy appears to be North Korea's semi-detached house in Gunnersbury. But least proportionate to national wealth could be the consulate⁷ of Tuvalu, based in a ￡750,000 property in Wimbledon. If sold, it could pay off 11% of the tiny state's national debt.

1 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

2 leaseholds   

n.租赁权，租赁期，租赁物( leasehold的名词复数 )

参考例句：

3 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

4 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

5 liquidating   

v.清算( liquidate的现在分词 )；清除（某人）；清偿；变卖

参考例句：

• Liquidating collateral is clearly a second best source of repayment. Why? 抵押品显然并不是获得贷款偿还的最佳方法。为什么？ 来自互联网
• There are often costs and inconvenience associated with liquidating other assets. 这些资产变现时总须花费，也不方便。 来自互联网

6 consular   

a.领事的

参考例句：

• He has rounded out twenty years in the consular service. 他在领事馆工作已整整20年了。
• Consular invoices are declarations made at the consulate of the importing country. 领事发票是进口国领事馆签发的一种申报书。

7 consulate   

n.领事馆

参考例句：

• The Spanish consulate is the large white building opposite the bank.西班牙领事馆是银行对面的那栋高大的白色建筑物。
• The American consulate was a magnificent edifice in the centre of Bordeaux.美国领事馆是位于波尔多市中心的一座宏伟的大厦。