万花筒 2009-10-22&10-24 去银行买金条

Well, gold may be the investment that everyone is interested in these days, but it still has a certain exclusive aura. So it's not surprising that if I want to go and buy some just walking off the street. I have to go to London's top people's store-- Harrods.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Charles Hodson from CNN.

Chris Hall, Harrods Bank.

So you’re the head of Gold Bullion¹. How does this work? When here are the coins, can I just walk in and with a pile of cash or even with the credit card and say, I like a few of those and walk out with them?

Yes, that's the idea. The idea is that we have a simple service for customers. They are able to come in and purchase gold over the counter. Provided that they meet our ID requirements, they can come in and purchase in the usual way, walk straight out.

Can I, Can I get my hands on some of these gold?

Certainly if you like.

Ok.

Here is a set of gloves there for you.

So how much is that particular?  Is it an ingot or is that just a bar?

That's what we call a bar and that is 12.5 kilograms which is proximately 400 ounces.

That's quite some weight, isn't it?

That is. Just be careful on that. It's quite big for its size.

All right. OK Let’s see if I can lift that. That is heavy, isn't it?

It is indeed.

Really. You are not certain it's about half the size of half a brick, but weighs, I don't know, three or four times, twice of a brick.

Yes, gym membership would be needed.

Yeah. Supposing I decided² it was just too heavy for me or alternatively I didn't think the price was gonna go up anymore. Can I sell it back to you?

Yes, that's a service we offer as well. And something we offer to our customers only. So if they would like to sell that gold, they can come back to us. We will make an honorably good-treat offer to them. And the reason we do that is to make sure that they have at least one easy channel through which they can sell.

How does the price compared with what, you know, a professional investor³ will buy gold at?

Well, for physical gold, it's a very competitive price that you would resell your physical gold at within London. If you were selling a derivative⁴ or some other forms of gold investment, it would be very different.

So what sort of investors⁵ you’re looking at here? It's kind of the average Joe or who?

We're looking for regular investors. We are looking for people a lot like Harrods customers or Harrods Bank account holders⁶ who are interested in gold and they need a place where they can come and buy in a prudent⁷ manner. And they know that they're getting the best possible product and from a company that you would respect.

Did this come with advices as such,i mean, you know…?

Unfortunately, we cannot provide advice on this. It was evident that there's a demand for gold amongst retail⁸ investors now. And for as long as a demand is there, we will continue to service and we’ve taken a business decision on this. It is breaking some new ground. But historically that’s what Harrods has always done. And our motto is everything for everybody everywhere.

Thank you very much indeed. I'm gonna give you this gloves back.

Thank you very much.

And meanwhile, do your do chocolate gold bars cause i think there is might be a little bit more of my price range for today?

Ground floor, food halls.

Ok. Thanks very much indeed, Chris.

That's a pleasure.

Well, I just worked out that the gold bar was worth nearly half a million dollars, certainly weigh it on. The good thing by the way that the Harrods has a safety box scheme. So you don't just have to slip that into your handbag if you want to put it somewhere safe.

But seriously, I'm not sure I would want to bet nearly half a million dollars of my money on the idea that with the gold price where they are, they're gonna go much further north from here.

Charles Hodson, CNN, London.
 

1 bullion   

n.金条，银条

参考例句：

• In the London bullion market yesterday,the price of gold was steady.昨天伦敦金银市场黄金价格稳定。
• Police have launched a man-hunt for the bullion robbers.警方已大举搜捕抢劫金条的罪犯。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

4 derivative   

n.派(衍)生物；adj.非独创性的，模仿他人的

参考例句：

• His paintings are really quite derivative.他的画实在没有创意。
• Derivative works are far more complicated.派生作品更加复杂。

5 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

6 holders   

支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物

参考例句：

• Slaves were mercilessly ground down by slave holders. 奴隶受奴隶主的残酷压迫。
• It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the up-holders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 正是对怜悯的作用有了认识，才使得死刑的提倡者指控主张废除死刑的人感情用事，同情谋杀犯胜过同情受害者。

7 prudent   

adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的

参考例句：

• A prudent traveller never disparages his own country.聪明的旅行者从不贬低自己的国家。
• You must school yourself to be modest and prudent.你要学会谦虚谨慎。

8 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。