四六级

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　　Gold Was The Strongest Major Currency

　　Investment in the latter part of 2002 and at the startof 2003 has been driven by geopolitical concerns1 but the underlying background is more complex, and reflects currency concerns, along with the desireto hedge against risks in the equity and bondmarkets and, notably in the case of2 Argentina and Japan, risks in the banking sector. Corporate governance problems also played a strong part during the first part of 2002 , as adeepening mistrust of corporate reports and accounts augmented some investors’desire tohedge against equity exposure . Gold thus reasserted itself as an alternative asset class, enabling the professional investor to diversify his risk. With concerns also swirling in themarkets about the destiny of the dollar, the euro and the yen, gold and the Swiss franc cameinto play as reserve currencies.

　　As a consequence, the professional investor is once again looking at gold as a hedgeagainst risk — something that many individuals in developing nations have never ceased to do. These individual investors in the Middle East, Indian sub-continent and the Far East haveremained loyal to gold as a safe haven, or an“ ultimate investment”as a portable、 anonymous form of money and it is this sustained activity which has formed the foundationof the change in sentiment in the rest of the world. The“retail”investor in the so-called firstworld is also aware of gold ’s resurgence and there has been a noticeable rekindling ofinterest in coins and bars from this quarter as well interest in gold in other forms from otherinvestment pools.

　　Offsetting this fresh demand to some extent is the fact that the slowing global economy had anegative effect on purchases of gold in the jewellery sector, and the poor Indian monsoon3 meant that Indian offtake, the world ’s largest, was particularly badly hampered. This is one ofthe answers to the question“why didn’t the price rise further, given all the other uncertainties inthe world?”One of the important features of gold is that more often than not, a reason for oneman to buy it is the same reason for another man to sell it. It is this that helps to make it anattractive alternative asset class as it has characteristics all of its own and a negative, ifany, correlation with many of the other major asset classes. In this case the slowing economyhindered jewellery purchases, but prompted purchases from investors concerned that stockmarket valuations were too high given the deteriorating outlook for earnings.

　　It is worth pointing out also that if the price had rocketed, the integrity of the demand sidewould have been severely undermined and such a rally would have proved unsustainable.

　　练习题：

　　Ⅰ. Translate the following expressions into English according to the passage :

　　1. 关于地缘政治的考虑

　　2. 股票债券市场

　　3. 对⋯⋯有负面作用

　　4. 不确定因素

　　5. 和⋯⋯成反比

　　6. 匿名的

　　Ⅱ. Questions :

　　1. Which country buy the most gold to make jewelry?

　　2. What are“reserved currencies”?

　　参考答案：

　　Ⅰ. 1. geo-political concerns

　　2. the equity and bond markets

　　3. have a negative effect on

　　4. uncertainties

　　5. a negative , if any, correlation with

　　6. anonymous

　　Ⅱ. 1. India.

　　2. Gold and the Swiss franc .

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