展望2009：至少巧克力会卖得好 - 金融英语速读训练

商业训练营 > 金融英语速读 > 展望2009：至少巧克力会卖得好

每天一篇《金融时报》

在全球化日益激烈的金融行业中，能迅速地阅读英文的专业文献，把握全球金融趋势，和海外的金融业者交流，已经成为每个金融业者必备的技能。如果你能坚持每天阅读一篇《金融时报》精选的文章，并不断提高阅读速读和理解准确率，你的专业水平和英文水平，必将令人刮目相看。

准备好了吗？开始吧。

为什么要每天阅读《金融时报》？
- 对于全球的金融业从业人员来说，阅读《金融时报》是每天必须进行的修炼。要想把握金融业的趋势，提高自己的“金融智慧”，和全球的金融业者站在同一高度，《金融时报》是你的首选。
为什么要训练阅读速度？
- 在信息爆炸的今天，能够迅速地阅读和理解大量资料，已成为金融业者必不可少的技能。著名的投资家股神巴菲特曾表示，他每天都会阅读大量报刊和年报，这也是他多年来始终能做出正确的投资决策的基础。
训练阅读速度的小工具
- 自动滚屏助你提高速度。点击该按钮后，屏幕就开始滚动，迫使你改掉向回看的习惯，加快速度。默认为每分钟140字（朗读速度）。随着你的技能提升，你可以挑战更高的速度，直到达到1000。

速度：+ -

阅读以下文章

<b>Business in 2009: On the bright side, the chocolate-makers will be fine</b>

By John Gapper

Published: December 29 2008 18:38 | Last updated: December 29 2008 18:38

The beginning of the year is usually an arbitrary moment on the business calendar but this one could – with luck – prove an exception.

The collapse of Bernard Madoff’s investment advisory business in the last days of 2008, and his alleged confession to have committed a $50bn (€35bn, ￡34bn) fraud, was a suitable end to an annus horribilis in the financial world.

The coming year may prove just as horrible for other parts of the economy in the US, Europe and elsewhere. These are very dark days, not only for individual companies but for enterprise as a whole.

The hope for businesses – including retailers that suffered poor sales in the Christmas season – is that 2009 will mark the start of the recovery from what is already a long recession. The National Bureau of Economic Research dates the US recession as starting in December 2007.

If that does not occur, the contraction that is gripping not only banks and investment banks but also consumer industries from media to leisure could be the most painful since the 1970s.

Indeed, there are already marked similarities with the economic transition from the 1960s to the 1970s in business. A period of rapid expansion and wealth creation in the 1960s ended with the oil shock and western property crises of the following decade, which brought stagflation and discontent.

It also intensified an ideological struggle between left and right that was decided by the election of Margaret Thatcher in the UK in 1979 and Ronald Reagan in the US in 1980. They introduced a broad era of privatisation, deregulation and belief in free enterprise.

The 2008 crisis on Wall Street and in the City of London was the book-end to that era. Things that had been taken on trust in business – the clear benefits of allowing financial innovation to flourish, the harmful consequences of regulation, even the undesirability of state ownership – were suddenly questioned.

This was true above all in the financial sector, where the liquidity crisis that struck investment banks including Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers eventually led to the US Treasury taking equity stakes in banks. In the UK, the government ended up with a majority stake in Royal Bank of Scotland.

The question for financial institutions in 2009 is whether they can regain the confidence of investors, which is unlikely until asset prices – particularly US house prices – stabilise. The difficulty is that, even if many securities have been heavily written down, banks face a wave of losses from business failures.

The ways in which financial “deleveraging” feeds into the broader economy are exemplified by the car industry. Annual US sales of light vehicles are expected to hit about 12m in 2009, from a peak of about 17m. Not only have consumers stopped spending money, but credit to buy a new car is much scarcer.

As a result, one of Barack Obama’s first decisions when he becomes president in January will be how to deal with the Detroit big three, which have gained $17bn of aid to keep them going. That decision affects not only General Motors, Chrysler and Ford but also suppliers and dealers.

Meanwhile, other industries are being hurt by Detroit’s difficulties. The car companies are among the biggest advertisers in newspapers and on television and are now, like others, cutting back. ZenithOptimedia has forecast that US advertising spending will fall by 6.2 per cent in 2009.

That has affected the troubled newspaper industry – the Tribune US regional newspaper group filed for bankruptcy this month, unable to support the debt load from Sam Zell’s $8.2bn leveraged buy-out in 2007. In 2009, it will affect large media groups and even internet enterprises.

Indeed, all kinds of consumer-facing companies face difficulties. The luxury goods industry, having enjoyed a long period of growth in which competition grew and companies exploited the thirst for “affordable luxury” and accessories, must retrench.

There are, of course, bright spots. It is a tenet of recession that a company making small, affordable treats – quintessentially, chocolate bars – will fare well. People who cannot afford luxury watches want something to give them some comfort.

But, overall, it is a better time to be in the public sector, or have a taxpayer-funded customer, than be exposed to cash-strapped customers and businesses. Public budgets are strained as tax receipts fall but many countries are committed to stimulus spending to try to get their economies out of recession quickly.

That has brought some hope to technology and infrastructure providers including General Electric. Mr Obama’s plans for “green energy” and the improvement of US infrastructure mean new orders.

In terms of hope, that is about it. Not only do businesses face depressed demand and credit difficulties, but financial institutions are already unpopular among taxpayers who unhappily bailed them out.

There are few signs so far that governments that have taken equity stakes in banks want to extend their influence over the rest of the private sector. But when politicians are given a lever to pull, they find it hard to resist the temptation to do so.

The executives from the Detroit big three car companies who travelled to Congress to seek a bail-out in their corporate jets were caught off-guard by the public response. In 2009, plenty more executives will discover that their world has changed.

john.gapper@ft.com

选择正确答案

Which of the following best describes the author's attitude toward business in 2009?

Obvious

Pessimistic
Optimistic
Pessimistic but hopeful
Cautiously optimistic

选择正确答案

Which of the following industry does the author take a long view?

Obvious

Newspaper
Infrastructure
Banking
Car

选择正确答案

Why would chocolate makers fare well in 2009, according to the author?

Obvious

In times of financial difficulty, people tend to buy cheaper things like chocolate bars.
Chocolate makes people happy, helping to ease the pain caused by the financial crisis.
Chocolate makers have sound risk management during times of bubble. Now they are benefiting from it.
All of the above.

选择正确答案

The author would agree that:

Obvious.

More industries would face diffculties in 2009.
Financial sector will bottom out in 2009.
US Newspapers will disappear in 2009.
Big three car makers will go bankrupt in 2009.

放松与总结

今天的训练暂告一段落，FT中文网还将陆续推出更多的训练项目，欢迎您来信建议。(电子邮件：customer.service@ftchinese.com)

<<后退

开始>>

您的正确率太低，在目前这个阶段，对你来说最重要的是提高英文水平和金融专业水平，而不是速度。请您点击后退仔细查看您答错的题目，并和原文对照。对原文中所有不懂的句子和知识点，也请一一查明。建议您：
1. 在进行下一次训练的时候，将滚屏速度保持在100以下。
2. 您可以找一些有声读物，如《经济学人》的audio edition，帮助你提高英文水平。

看得出你是非常认真来进行这次训练的，如果你坚持的话，你会获得非常大的提高。目前你的阅读速度偏低，可能是因为英文不是你的母语。不过，请不要放慢阅读速度。研究表明，阅读速度越快的人，其理解的正确率反而越高。因此，您可以同时提高您的阅读速度和理解能力。给你一点建议：
1. 一定要改掉默念的习惯
2. 不要一个词一个词的看，要学会把一个语义群当作一个整体来看。比如“an emergency $180bn injection of dollar”这个语义群，你要学会把他当作一个整体来看。
3. 看DVD的时候，切换到英文字幕。

用正常语速来朗读一篇文章，平均速度是每分钟140词。这说明你的阅读速度比朗读还要慢。建议您：1. 每一段的第一句话往往是最重要的。
2. “速读”最忌讳的就是“读”，不要一边看一边默念。
3. 在下一个训练中将滚屏速度设为140，迫使自己不能回头去看已经读过的部分。

您的阅读速度已经超过了正常语速，说明你已经开始有些速读的感觉了。美国大学生的最低阅读速度为每分钟250词，加把劲你就可以赶上了。建议您：
1. 养成习惯，读过的部分不要回头去看，这样会影响速读。
2. 加强“扫描”的训练，让自己的眼睛能“一目一行”。

您的阅读速度已经达到了美国大学生的水平，可喜可贺。不过作为金融从业人员，每天需要阅读数不清的中英文研究报告、公司年报、报刊杂志等，您还需要向每分钟350字进军。建议您：
1. 加强“扫描”的训练，让自己的眼睛能“一目两行”。
2. 对中英文的数字，尤其是大数字(million, billion)的转换进行总结和练习。

厉害，您的阅读速度已经超过了美国大学生的水平。不过，要成为巴菲特那样的金融专家，您需要锻炼出“一目十行”的火眼金睛。建议您在每次的训练中注意三个要点：
1. 您已经学会了将文章分成语义群，而非词来阅读，现在，你需要扩大每一个语义群中的词数。
2. 加快阅读每个语义群的速度。
3. 看过的内容尽量不要回看。

这就是传说中的“一目十行”吗？难以置信！

世界纪录才每分钟416,250字，居然被你破了！无语...