新西兰英语 330 SCF Company in receivership

　　South Canterbury Finance¹ company went into receivership this week. The company owes $1.6bn which is a huge sum of money. It was a sad day for the company which had worked hard to stop this from happening. There are a number of interesting things about this company.
First it is the second largest finance company in New Zealand and the debt of $1.6bn is the biggest debt that a New Zealand finance company has ever had.
Second, the government has agreed to use taxpayer² money to take control of the company. Two years ago, the government decided³ to guarantee investments⁴ in finance companies and banks. This means that if a finance company is bankrupt⁵, the government will pay back investors⁶. They will not lose their money.
Listen to July 24th 2008 for more about finance companies in trouble.
Also listen to Oct 15th 2008 for more about the government guarantee for finance companies.
This company, SCF, was started in 1926. In the 1950s, a Timaru accountant Alan Hubbard, bought most of the shares in the company. He wanted to lend money to farmers in Canterbury although today many other businesses borrowed money from this company, including property developers. When the property market was in trouble, SCF was in trouble too.
Alan Hubbard made a lot of money in the last few years but he is a generous man and gave millions of dollars to many organisations. He is very popular in Timaru because of the good work he has done for people. He and his wife live in an old house and he drives an old VW car. They do not live a life of luxury⁷. He is now 82 and not in good health. He had to give up working in this company recently but he still has a lot of shares in the company. He will lose all his money because shares are not covered by the guarantee.
Questions
1. Investors who put their money in a finance company instead of a bank can expect higher interest but there is a higher risk. Should the government pay back these investors?
2. When investors get their money back in the next two months, what will they do with it? Will this be good for the economy?
3. One CEO of a company recently took his family on a long expensive holiday after the company went into receivership. How do investors feel when a CEO of a finance company in receivership still lives a life of luxury?

1 finance   

n.财务管理，财政，金融，财源，资金

参考例句：

• She is an expert in finance.她是一名财政专家。
• A finance house made a bid to buy up the entire company.一家信贷公司出价买下了整个公司。

2 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 investments   

n.投资( investment的名词复数 )；投资额；（时间、精力的）投入；值得买的东西

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile, investments are at great risk. 由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All their money was tied up in long-term investments. 他们所有的钱都搁死在长线投资上了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 bankrupt   

n.破产者；adj.破产的；vt.使...破产

参考例句：

• That factory has gone bankrupt.那家工厂倒了。
• The enemy's scheme went bankrupt.敌人的计谋破产了。

6 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

7 luxury   

n.难得享受到的愉悦；奢侈，奢华的生活

参考例句：

• He invited me to his suite. The luxury takes your breath away.他请我到他的套房里去，那豪华的气派真会令你吃惊。
• The government has imposed strict reins on the import of luxury goods.政府对奢侈品的进口有严格的控制手段。