2007年VOA标准英语-Asian Stocks Extend Fall as US Credit Fears Rem

By Heda Bayron
Hong Kong
17 August 2007

The global financial turmoil¹ continues, with another bruising² trading day in Asia. Analysts³ say investors⁴ are worried the credit crisis in the United States will slow down the economy and hurt Asian exporters. VOA's Heda Bayron reports from Hong Kong.

Worker at Tokyo Stock Exchange gazes at stock price board Friday, 17 Aug 2007

The Japanese stock market reeled from another day of heavy selling Friday. The Nikkei 225 index plunged⁵ 5.4 percent to close at 15,273 - its lowest level in a year.

There was no let-up to this week's selling across Asia. South Korea's KOSPI fell three percent to 1,638. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell as much as five percent before recovering somewhat and closing down almost 1.4 percent. China's Shanghai Composite index ended 2.28 percent lower at 4,656.

Analysts say investors fear the U.S. sub-prime loan crisis could trigger a slow down in the U.S. economy, which could ultimately hurt Asian exporters.

Japanese exporters such as Honda, Canon and Toyota saw shares drop sharply Friday.

Yoshimasa Maruyama is an economist⁶ at investment bank BNP Paribas in Tokyo.

"The Japanese economy is depending on the U.S. economy so today the Japanese market was worried about U.S. consumer spending will go down because of the sub-prime problem and slow down the U.S. economy," Maruyama said.

Adding to Japan's woes⁷, the yen⁸ reached a 14-month high against the dollar, making Japanese exports more expensive.

Over the past several years, many U.S. finance companies issued mortgages to people with poor credit histories. As U.S. interest rates have risen, many of those borrowers have defaulted, and some lenders have gone bankrupt, creating a credit problem in the United States.

Many investors are selling their shares because they fear the problem will spread to other companies and make it hard for businesses to borrow cash for their operations.

The crisis has triggered global stock market volatility⁹ in the past two weeks. Worries of a credit squeeze have prompted central banks in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Japan to inject billions of dollars into the money markets to raise liquidity¹⁰ and market confidence. On Friday, the Bank of Japan injected $10.5 billion into the system.

1 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

2 bruising   

adj.殊死的；十分激烈的v.擦伤(bruise的现在分词形式)

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• He slipped and fell, badly bruising an elbow. 他滑倒了，一只胳膊肘严重擦伤。 来自辞典例句

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 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

5 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

6 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

7 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

8 yen   

n. 日元；热望

参考例句：

• He wanted to convert his dollars into Japanese yen.他想将美元换成日币。
• He has a yen to be alone in a boat.他渴望独自呆在一条船上。

9 volatility   

n.挥发性，挥发度，轻快，（性格）反复无常

参考例句：

• That was one reason why volatility was so low last year.这也是去年波动性如此低的原因之一。
• Yet because volatility remained low for so long,disaster myopia prevailed.然而，由于相当长的时间里波动性小，灾难短视就获胜了。

10 liquidity   

n.流动性，偿债能力，流动资产

参考例句：

• The bank has progressively increased its liquidity.银行逐渐地增加其流动资产。
• The demand for and the supply of credit is closely linked to changes in liquidity.信用的供求和流动资金的变化有密切关系。