欧元借危机扩军？ - 金融英语速读训练

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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

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By Wolfgang Münchau

Published: November 2 2008 17:50 | Last updated: November 2 2008 17:50

<img src=http://media.ft.com/cms/5a7efb32-0f71-11db-ad3d-0000779e2340.gif border=0 style="float:left;margin-right:5px">It was a Friday but for Denmark it might as well have been Black Wednesday – that day in 1992 when sterling was forced out of the European exchange rate mechanism. After a speculative attack on the Danish krone on October 24, the country is now considering whether to adopt the euro.

Last week, Hungary received a €20bn ($25bn, ￡16bn) rescue package led by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union. The austerity conditions ensure that Hungary will all of a sudden fulfil the criteria for membership of economic and monetary union. I also hear that diplomats from Iceland made discreet inquires in Brussels about accession.

While I am still hesitant to make predictions about the long-term economic and geopolitical effects of the financial crisis, it looks like it will accelerate the enlargement of both the EU and the eurozone.

The latter is particularly important, since several EU countries had planned to stay outside the eurozone indefinitely. The UK and Denmark negotiated their opt-outs in the early 1990s. Others piggy-backed, claiming these opt-outs for themselves as well. This group came to include Sweden, Hungary, the Czech Republic and, until last year, Poland.

For Hungary, it turned out to be a near catastrophe. The socialist administration under Ferenc Gyurcsány, prime minister, ran amok with a reckless fiscal expansion after EU accession. No less unsustainable were his government’s financial policies that encouraged the adoption of foreign currency mortgages.

This was usually defended by enthusiastic economists in terms of birth rates and fanciful long-term projections of economic growth – the same silly arguments used to defend the doubling or trebling of house prices elsewhere. Towards the end, almost all Hungarian mortgages were denominated in Swiss francs or euros. National insolvency would follow from simple currency devaluation.

The country will now pay the price for this madness in the form of an IMF-imposed austerity programme at a time when the economy is shrinking. Looked at from boomtown Budapest in 2006, membership of the eurozone seemed absurd. The perspective from depression-bound Budapest in 2009 will be different.

Denmark is wealthier and better run. It experienced one of the biggest property booms in Europe. It also boasts a banking sector several times the size of national annual output. Unlike the British, the Danes never cared about economic independence. Their reasons for staying out of the eurozone were largely political and symbolic. Denmark has participated voluntarily in the ERM and dutifully shadowed the European Central Bank’s monetary policies at every turn.

Ten days ago when the krone was attacked, the Danes discovered there was a price to be paid to maintain this schizophrenic arrangement. The Danish central bank intervened heavily in the foreign exchange market and was forced to raise interest rates from 5 per cent to 5.5 per cent – a full 1.75 points higher than the ECB’s rate. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish prime minister, who supports euro membership, had already talked about holding a referendum as the mood in the country was shifting.

In Iceland, support for EU membership has soared since the crisis erupted. The Reykjavik newspaper Frettabladid carried a poll last week showing approval for EU membership up from 48.9 per cent a year ago to 68.8 per cent now. The number in favour of adopting the euro is even higher. Along with Norway and Liechtenstein, Iceland is a member of European Economic Area, which extends the EU’s single market to those countries. This means membership negotiations, normally long and complex, could be wound up in a short period of time. Talking points will be the euro and fish.

In an illuminating policy paper, the economists Willem Buiter and Anne Sibert* say Iceland is only an extreme case of a more general phenomenon – of a small country with its own currency, and banking sectors too large to be bailed out by national authorities. Others are Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland. The UK is larger and also enjoys – say professors Buiter and Sibert – “minor-league legacy reserve currency” status. But some of the arguments apply to the UK as well. I would expect a renewed debate about eurozone membership to surface in the UK as well, as the country’s 15-year long credit-crazed economic binge unwinds. I will address the issue of future UK euro membership in a separate column.

One of the lessons from Iceland’s and Hungary’s fiasco is that non-eurozone Europe may not be economically viable during times of crisis. Several countries are financially overextended but even those that are not, such as Poland, may be caught in the maelstrom.

Of course, membership of the eurozone offers no panacea. As an EU member, Iceland would still have a crisis, because each country ultimately has to meet the costs of its own financial adjustment. But Iceland’s interest rates would be 3.75 per cent, not 18 per cent. Apart from lower interest rates, eurozone membership offers a joint policy framework and protection from speculative attacks. In good times, few people care, but these are not good times. As I argued last week, the crisis will ultimately produce stronger economic governance. It will also make the eurozone larger, sooner.

*The Icelandic banking crisis and what to do about it , www.cepr.org

Send your comments to munchau@eurointelligence.com

选择正确答案

Which of the following would be the best title for the article?

The author uses this title. It's pretty obvious, isn't it?

A closer look at financial crisis in Europe
What's really wrong with Iceland
Now they see the benefits of the eurozone
Black Wednesday: the financial crisis of Denmark

选择正确答案

Which of the following would be a benefit for a country joining eurozone, according to the author?

Obvious.

It would help trade.
Better protection against speculators and other risks.
Easy to borrow money from other eurozone countries.
So that there's no need to have a central bank for each country, because ECB would do the work.

选择正确答案

What didn't Denmark join the eurozone?

Check out this: "Unlike the British, the Danes never cared about economic independence. Their reasons for staying out of the eurozone were largely political and symbolic."

To keep their economy indepent from other bigger European countries.
To protect itself from financial crisis that affect other European countries.
Mainly for reasons not related to economy and finance.
To follow IMF rules.

选择正确答案

Which of the following, if happens, would damage the author's argument that the financial crisis would make the eurozone larger?

The author's argument is based on "Join the eurozone because euro will not be attached easily". If that assumption is attacked, his whole augument would fall apart.

Euro is attacked by speculators and devalued 50%.
75% of European countries went into recession.
The ECB cut the interest rate of euro to zero.
The UK decides not to join the euro zone even after the financial crisis.

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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...