VOA标准英语--As Brexit Triggered, European and Asian Rivals Circle for London’s Financial Crown

 

LONDON — 

The Eurostar rail link beneath the English Channel, now 23 years old, once symbolized¹ the bonds between Europe and Britain that many thought unbreakable. It was an appropriate way then for London Mayor Sadiq Khan, an ardent² supporter of Britain’s EU membership, to depart Paris Tuesday following a visit to the French and Belgian capitals.

“Even though we've chosen to leave the European Union, we're not going to stop being friends, we're not going to stop being allies,” Mayor Khan told his Parisian hosts.

Friends, but also rivals. Paris is among the European cities vying³ for London’s crown as Britain leaves the European Union in a process that could make it much more costly⁴ for British businesses to operate in Europe.

Britain's government formally notified Brussels Wednesday of its intention to leave the European Union, triggering a two-year period of negotiations⁵ over its departure and future relations.

London is looking on with alarm, as it seems likely Britain will leave the European Single Market, which gives it preferential access to the world’s biggest free trade bloc⁶.

Mark Yeandle is lead author of the Global Financial Centers Index, a six-monthly survey of financial services professionals worldwide. In the latest rankings, published this week, London retained its top spot, but Brexit uncertainty⁷ saw its score tumble.

“Some people will move to other more central European destinations. But overall in London I can’t see a mass exodus⁸. London isn’t suddenly going to disappear off the face of the Earth. I mean all the big America tier 1 banks, they’re based here,” Yeandle told VOA.

He says other European cities will struggle to replicate⁹ London’s mix of financial infrastructure¹⁰, human resources and culture. Its closest European rival is Luxembourg in 18th place on the index.

In 23rd place is Frankfurt, Germany’s economic hub and home of the European Central Bank. Eric Menes, manager of the Frankfurt Rheinmain investment agency, says they are well prepared for Brexit.

"We have got all the international schools in place, we have enough office space, so I think we are ready," said Menes. "We are pretty sure that a rather large contingent¹¹ [of bankers] will actually end up moving to Frankfurt."

Paris has other ideas. It claims to have the culture needed to attract staff away from London. HSBC, Britain's biggest bank plans to relocate around 1,000 jobs from the British capital to Paris by 2019. Arnaud de Bresson is CEO of Paris Europlace, a government agency tasked with making the French capital Europe’s financial hub.

"The difference between Paris and Frankfurt is that Paris, for our clients, is the city of big companies, both French and global, with a lot of activity on the markets,” he said.

Asian markets

Ultimately it is the fast-growing economies in Asia that could benefit, says Mark Yeandle.

“Singapore in third, and then Hong Kong in fourth, were historically well over a hundred points behind London and New York in second. Singapore is now only 20 points behind New York. So there’s a massive catch-up.”

New York also saw its score fall in the latest index rankings, owing to uncertainty surrounding the election of U.S. President Donald Trump¹².

1 symbolized   

v.象征，作为…的象征( symbolize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• For Tigress, Joy symbolized the best a woman could expect from life. 在她看，小福子就足代表女人所应有的享受。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
• A car symbolized distinction and achievement, and he was proud. 汽车象征着荣誉和成功，所以他很自豪。 来自辞典例句

2 ardent   

adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的

参考例句：

• He's an ardent supporter of the local football team.他是本地足球队的热情支持者。
• Ardent expectations were held by his parents for his college career.他父母对他的大学学习抱着殷切的期望。

3 vying   

adj.竞争的；比赛的

参考例句：

• California is vying with other states to capture a piece of the growing communications market.为了在日渐扩大的通讯市场分得一杯羹，加利福尼亚正在和其他州展开竞争。
• Four rescue plans are vying to save the zoo.4个拯救动物园的方案正争得不可开交。

4 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

5 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

6 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

7 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

8 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。

9 replicate   

v.折叠，复制，模写；n.同样的样品；adj.转折的

参考例句：

• The DNA of chromatin must replicate before cell division.染色质DNA在细胞分裂之前必须复制。
• It is also easy to replicate,as the next subsection explains.就像下一个小节详细说明的那样，它还可以被轻易的复制。

10 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

11 contingent   

adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队

参考例句：

• The contingent marched in the direction of the Western Hills.队伍朝西山的方向前进。
• Whether or not we arrive on time is contingent on the weather.我们是否按时到达要视天气情况而定。

12 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。