英国新闻听力 个人理财大揭秘

Demystifying the World of Personal Finance(个人理财大揭秘)

你知道吗？目前18岁到44岁年龄段之间，女性百万富翁要多于男性。如果这种趋势继续的话，到2025年，英国个人财富总和的百分之六十将属于女性。

词汇注释：

1.millionaire n. 百万富翁

2.demystify vt. 使非神秘化

3.comedienne n. 喜剧女演员

4.syndrome¹ n. 综合病症

5.discipline n. 纪律

6.carpet n. 地毯

7.Sheboygan 希博伊根市

8.liquidate² v. 清算

9.genius n. 天才

10.spreadsheet 电子制表软件，电子数据表

11.grocery n. 食品杂货店

12.ostrich³ n. 企图靠拒绝面对现实来躲避不利情况的人

13.gamble n. 冒险辩

Demystifying the World of Personal Finance

Now did you know that there are more female millionaires between the ages of 18 and 44 than males ones and that by 2025 women will own more than 60% of personal wealth in the UK. With that in mind, this week saw the start of a series of events designed by women for women aimed at "demystifying the world of personal finance". And among those there was comedienne Ruby⁴ Wax. Money Box reporter Heather Payton went to learn more.

ROBERTS: Do you think that managing your money is more fun than sex, gardening or visiting the pyramids in Egypt?

AUDIENCE: More fun or less fun? Shouldn't it be the other way round? Shouldn't it be less fun?

PAYTON: Well that's the Master of Ceremonies, Nigel Roberts, launching a session about the ABC of investing. The weather outside is truly horrible, so at least the 170 women and a brave sprinkling of men who've paid ￡200 for today are getting a day in the warmth. Maybe they've come to hear Ruby Wax; maybe, like me, they really need the advice. Here's Anna Yallop, one of the organisers.

YALLOP: Several of us about a year ago, we were at the stage where we really needed to start making our money work for us. One of the speakers this morning talked about the bag lady syndrome. One is faced with this terror of what it would be like to be old without money and the way of dealing⁵ with it is to simply put your head in the sand or stand there like a rabbit in the headlights. Now I think that describes most of the women we know.

PAYTON: One of the speakers at the conference is Justin Urquhart Stewart of Seven Investment Management. Justin, this business about having something specially⁶ for women - it's as though we're a completely different breed or something. Why?

URQUHART STEWART: You look at the way most financial decisions are made. They're mostly made by men and yet we now know of course there are more women than men in the population, that there are now more women with more money than men, and the main purpose of today is to take women through some of the basic rules that they can apply themselves. It's not actually very difficult, but there is a process, a structure and a discipline to try and get people away from punting on the latest fashion fad⁷.

PAYTON: The presence of Ruby Wax has got to be a big draw. Anna Yallop says the organisers chose her because she has a special relationship with money.

WAX: I had an experience where I had to really quickly learn about what happens to money. Both my parents kind of went into outer space …

PAYTON: Would you explain that?

WAX: They kind of lost the plot and I'm the only child, so I was suddenly left with 2,000 bonds - some of them in dairy milk, Illinois farmers and carpet cleaners of Sheboygan - and I was left with no instructions. Nor did I know where the banks were, so I had to sort of go on this treasure hunt for 5 years to find out where it was.

PAYTON: Did it work in the end?

WAX: In the end I found it and then the next thing was what do you do with 2,000 bonds? And then the journey began and now I'm quite clever because I asked the right people.

PAYTON: It can be a bit boring of course, all this investing, can't it?

WAX: It's really, really boring. But when my dad lost his marbles, actually if I hadn't learned to become the investor⁸ the situation in America is they would have liquidated⁹ all his funds and taken it and I would have been given $75,000 to deal with my dad for the next 5 years. So that was a real necessity.

PAYTON: When you were growing up, did the women in the family look after money or was that something that you just didn't do?

WAX: My mother was a financial genius. Merrill Lynch used to call her and she'd be doing spreadsheets all night. That was her fix. When we'd go grocery shopping, she'd beat the cash register. And instead of saying, "Mummy, how do you do that?" I rebelled against her and decided¹⁰ I think I'll just become an actress like an idiot and she'd say, "Come and let me explain what the Dow Jones is" and I rebelled and never listened to the woman. I got my punishment when it was too late.

PAYTON: Members of the audience have broken up into smaller groups to discuss investment strategies for Mrs Smith, a fictional¹¹ 46 year old divorcee with around a million pounds to invest. What then have they learned?

WOMAN 1: I've never invested in anything. I'm a cash fund baby and it was really driven home to me today that I shouldn't always depend just on a cash fund.

PAYTON: Do you think it's made you more likely to invest money in the future?

WOMAN 2: Well yes because I admit to being the ostrich. (Laughs) I have to face it. It doesn't make me think I want to jump into it though. I've always considered it a gamble and I think it's proved that nobody has the answers.

A'COURT: Heather Payton and the inimitable Ruby Wax.

个人理财大揭秘

你知道吗？目前18岁到44岁年龄段之间，女性百万富翁要多于男性。如果这种趋势继续的话，到2025年，英国个人财富总和的百分之六十将属于女性。也正是由于这个现象，本周起开展了一系列由女性策划，服务于女性的活动，旨在"揭秘个人理财"。喜剧女演员鲁比·瓦克斯是活动中的一员。《财富箱》栏目记者希瑟·佩顿对其进行了详细的采访。

罗伯茨：你认为管理个人资产比享受性生活和园艺的乐趣以及游览埃及金字塔更加有趣吗？

听众：更有趣或者没那么有趣？是不是还有相反的说法呢？难道就不能是无趣吗？

佩顿：好的，这位是节目主持人奈杰尔·罗波茨。他正在做一个投资基础的节目。今天，屋外的天气十分恶劣，但至少，为今天付了200英镑的170位女性和少数勇敢的男士们将体验到温暖的一天。也许他们今天来是为了见卢比·瓦克斯，也许和我一样，需要一些专业建议。接下来我们有请安娜·耶洛普，本次活动的组织者之一。

耶洛普：就在一年以前，我们中的许多人还急于想用手中的钱来为自己投资。今天早上，有一位演讲者提到拾荒女人综合征。有人害怕，老了没钱会变成什么样。解决的方法无非两种，要么当鸵鸟逃避问题，要么去撞车一死了之。我觉得大部分女性都属于这两种人之一。

佩顿：大会的演讲人之一是来自七号投资管理公司的贾斯廷·厄克特·斯图尔特。贾斯廷，关于你们说的要特别为女性介绍理财，那么女士在理财方面有什么特别之处么，为什么呢？

厄克特·斯图尔特：你应该考虑一下大多数金融决策是如何作出的。那些决策者大部分是男性，虽然我们现在知道其实女性在人口中的比例比男性大，有钱的女性多于男性，女性拥有的财产也多于男性。我们今天的主要目的就是告诉女性一些她们可以现学现用的基本规则。其实这也不难，但还是要经过一个过程，一个计划和一些训练，使人们不再把钱扔在流行时尚上。

佩顿：卢比·瓦克斯的出现一定是个大亮点。安娜·耶洛普说，主办方选她是因为她与金钱有着特殊的关系。

瓦克斯：我的一次经历要求我必须尽快学习金钱方面的知识。就某种程度而言，我的父母都去了天堂……

佩顿：你能解释一下吗？

瓦克斯：他们都不省人事，而我还是个孩子。所以我突然获得了2000份债券，包括每日牛奶，依利诺斯农场和希博易根地毯清理公司的债券，但我当时得不到任何指导。由于不知道这些银行在哪，所以这场寻宝持续了5年，直到我找到了为止。

佩顿：你最后成功了吗？

瓦克斯：最后我找到了银行，但下一个问题就是，我该如何处理这2000份债券？于是我又开始了另一段经历。现在我已变得相当明智了，因为我当时问对了人。

佩顿：当然所有这些与投资相关的事情可能都比较枯燥，是吗？

瓦克斯：它真的、真的是很枯燥。但当我父亲陷入昏迷后，如果我不学习投资的话，美国政府将清算并收回我父亲的所有基金。并在其后5年里，政府将给我7万5千美元，让我来照顾父亲。所以当时我必须那么做。

佩顿：在你成长的那个年代，女性在家中管理财务吗？还是仅仅因为你没有去做？

瓦克斯：我的母亲是个理财高手。美林·林奇曾给她打过电话，然后她就花整个晚上来制作电子数据表。这是她的职业定位。我们去超市购物时，她的算术比收银员还快。但我并没有说："妈妈，你是怎么做到的？"相反的，我反抗她，觉得如果我像傻瓜一样要成为一个演员，她肯定会说："过来，让我给你解释一下什么是道·琼斯。"我一直都没有听她的话。所以当一切都无法挽回时，我受到了惩罚。

佩顿：观众们已经在分组讨论史密斯太太的投资策略了。史密斯太太是一个虚构的人物，46岁，离婚，约有100万英镑要进行投资。我们来看看她们都学到了什么？

女性甲：我从未在任何方面投资过。我对现款的认识只到最低级别。今天我真正理解到，我不应该只守着我的现款。

佩顿：你认为今天的活动会促进你将来的投资吗？

女性乙：是的，我承认自己是只鸵鸟，（笑）所以我必须面对它。但今天的节目并不会激起我对投资的狂热。我一直认为投资是个赌博，而且很显然，没有人会对此有十足的把握。

希瑟·佩顿和独一无二的鲁比·瓦克斯为您报道。

1 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

2 liquidate   

v.偿付，清算，扫除；整理，破产

参考例句：

• A unanimous vote was taken to liquidate the company.全体投票一致通过停业清理公司。
• They have not hesitated in the past to liquidate their rivals.过去他们曾毫不犹豫地铲除对手。

3 ostrich   

n.鸵鸟

参考例句：

• Ostrich is the fastest animal on two legs.驼鸟是双腿跑得最快的动物。
• The ostrich indeed inhabits continents.鸵鸟确实是生活在大陆上的。

4 ruby   

n.红宝石，红宝石色

参考例句：

• She is wearing a small ruby earring.她戴着一枚红宝石小耳环。
• On the handle of his sword sat the biggest ruby in the world.他的剑柄上镶有一颗世上最大的红宝石。

5 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

6 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

7 fad   

n.时尚；一时流行的狂热；一时的爱好

参考例句：

• His interest in photography is only a passing fad.他对摄影的兴趣只是一时的爱好罢了。
• A hot business opportunity is based on a long-term trend not a short-lived fad.一个热门的商机指的是长期的趋势而非一时的流行。

8 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

9 liquidated   

v.清算( liquidate的过去式和过去分词 )；清除（某人）；清偿；变卖

参考例句：

• All his supporters were expelled, exiled, or liquidated. 他的支持者全都被驱逐、流放或消灭了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• That can be liquidated at market value any time. 那可按市价随时得到偿付。 来自辞典例句

10 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。

11 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。