VOA标准英语2008年-South Korea Hears Echoes of 1997 in US Financia

South Korea's currency and stocks have taken a beating this week following the financial crumbling¹ of another major US financial institution. For many Koreans, the crisis appears quite similar to what they experienced 11 years ago but this time, some say Washington appears to be changing its prescribed remedy.
　
A screen showing share prices graph at the Korea Stock Exchange Market in Seoul, 19 Sep 2008

South Korea's main stock index, the KOSPI, dipped to its lowest point in a year and a half this week, amid worries over a string of major bank failures in the United States, including the collapse² of Lehman Brothers, one of the country's largest investment institutions. South Korea's currency, the won, plunged³ against the dollar as central banks around the world pumped $180 billion worth of cash into credit-starved markets.

South Korea's economy is the world's 12th largest, and depends heavily on exports, especially to the United States. That makes this country extremely vulnerable to international crises but it has also helped Seoul build up substantial reserves of U.S. dollars as a cushion against turbulence⁴.

South Korea's finance minister said this week the country has enough reserves to inject into the market as needed. However, some economists⁵ note Seoul's reserves have dropped by nearly ten percent since March, and may not be sufficient to deal with a protracted⁶ period of crisis. Lee Seong-tae, governor of South Korea's central bank, warned lawmakers this week it remains⁷ what the impact of the global crisis will be.

Koh Yu Seon is an analyst⁸ with Daewoo Securities here in Seoul. She says the current meltdown on Wall Street closely parallels the economic crisis South Korea and Asia experienced in 1997.

She says American investment banks have made excessive loans, which created a real estate bubble and made the lenders insolvent⁹ on bad debt. That, she says, is similar to what happened in South Korea, where enterprises borrowed excessively to chase bad investments.

Many South Koreans refer to that period in common speech as the "IMF crisis, in reference to the International Monetary¹⁰ Fund, which, with U.S. support, loaned South Korea about $20 billion, but, as Koh recalls, imposed austere¹¹ conditions that limited the country's economic flexibility¹².

She says, the U.S. viewed bankruptcies¹³ as inevitable¹⁴ to get rid of inefficiencies and solve South Korea's financial problem. We had a chain reaction of them here, she adds. But now, she says the United States is taking a completely different set of actions because it wants to avoid paralysis¹⁵ of the entire financial system.

U.S. officials draw a distinction between the $20 billion IMF bailout of South Korea and Washington's more than $250 billion bailout of U.S. financial institutions. U.S. banks and insurers do business all over the world, and their problems can rapidly spread to the global entities¹⁶ that are exposed to them. By contrast, the negative influence of South Korean bankruptcies was confined mainly to Asia.

Many ordinary South Koreans view the IMF rescue period as a humiliation¹⁷ imposed on their nation from outside, but the country paid back the loan and recovered far more quickly than many expected. Still, economists warn if Washington does not draw a line in its rescue of faulty lenders, it could lose credibility in preaching tough free market medicine abroad in the future.

1 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

4 turbulence   

n.喧嚣，狂暴，骚乱，湍流

参考例句：

• The turbulence caused the plane to turn over.空气的激流导致飞机翻转。
• The world advances amidst turbulence.世界在动荡中前进。

5 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 protracted   

adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The war was protracted for four years. 战争拖延了四年。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We won victory through protracted struggle. 经过长期的斗争，我们取得了胜利。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 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。

8 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

9 insolvent   

adj.破产的，无偿还能力的

参考例句：

• They lost orders and were insolvent within weeks.他们失去了订货，几周后就无法偿还债务。
• The bank was declared insolvent.银行被宣布破产。

10 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

11 austere   

adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的

参考例句：

• His way of life is rather austere.他的生活方式相当简朴。
• The room was furnished in austere style.这间屋子的陈设都很简单朴素。

12 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

13 bankruptcies   

n.破产( bankruptcy的名词复数 )；倒闭；彻底失败；（名誉等的）完全丧失

参考例句：

• It's a matter of record that there were ten bankruptcies in the town last year. 去年这个城市有十家破产是事实。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Business bankruptcies rose 50 percent over the previous year. 破产企业的数量比前一年增加５０％。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

14 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

15 paralysis   

n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症)

参考例句：

• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。
• The paralysis affects his right leg and he can only walk with difficulty.他右腿瘫痪步履维艰。

16 entities   

实体对像； 实体，独立存在体，实际存在物( entity的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Our newspaper and our printing business form separate corporate entities. 我们的报纸和印刷业形成相对独立的企业实体。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities. 北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

17 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。