2007年VOA慢速英语special200708100041

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Liquidity¹ is the ease with which an investment can be sold and turned into money. For example, when a stock is traded easily, the market for it is said to be liquid.

Liquidity can also suggest the ease with which money can be raised in debt markets.

And this is where concerns are being raised. Offering credit always carries some risk that the loan will not be repaid. Now experts are saying that investors³ are as concerned about debt risk as they have been since two thousand one.


Subprime lender New Century Financial Corporation had to seek bankruptcy⁴ protection in April.

One way to measure investors' concern is by their willingness to buy new debt investments. Recently, banks, led by J. P. Morgan, postponed⁶ the sale of twelve billion dollars in bonds for the carmaker Chrysler.

The bond offering was part of a deal by private equity⁷ company Cerburus Capital Management to buy Chrysler from German carmaker Daimler. Reports say the deal is not in danger. But it could mean an increase in borrowing costs.

American markets are not the only ones in which banks are having trouble selling bonds. American private equity company Kohlberg Kravis Roberts hoped to raise over ten billion dollars in bonds. This was part of a deal to buy Alliance Boots, a European company that sells medicines. But a group of banks had to postpone⁵ the sale because of a lack of buyers.

Conditions for big deals by private equity companies appear to be cooling. Private equity companies depend on liquid debt markets to lend them money. And investors are less willing to put money into debt securities.

Part of this is the flight from risk involving investments based on subprime home loans. These loans carry lower than average credit quality but also pay higher interest rates. Credit rating agencies are now recognizing that investments based on subprime home loans are riskier⁸ than investors have thought.

Too many high-risk loans were blamed for the failure of the nation's second largest subprime lender. New Century sought bankruptcy protection from its creditors⁹ in April.

Investor² flight from risk means that debt market liquidity could dry up as interest rates rise. But it is too early to tell.

The Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve did not change the federal funds rate when it met on Tuesday. The important interest rate remains¹⁰ at five and one fourth percent.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Faith Lapidus.

1 liquidity   

n.流动性，偿债能力，流动资产

参考例句：

• The bank has progressively increased its liquidity.银行逐渐地增加其流动资产。
• The demand for and the supply of credit is closely linked to changes in liquidity.信用的供求和流动资金的变化有密切关系。

2 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。

3 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

4 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

5 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

6 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

7 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

8 riskier   

冒险的，危险的( risky的比较级 )

参考例句：

• Now they are starting to demand higher returns on riskier assets. 而今他们开始在风险更高的资产上要求更高的回报。
• The problem with that: RIM's business is getting riskier every quarter. 不过问题也随之而来：RIM面临的业务风险正逐季增大。

9 creditors   

n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They agreed to repay their creditors over a period of three years. 他们同意3年内向债主还清欠款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。