(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
From VOA Learning English, this is the Economics Report.
Hilton Worldwide is selling the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City to a Chinese company for $1.95 billion. The buyer -- Anbang Insurance Group -- will pay one of highest prices ever for a U.S. hotel. Hilton Worldwide says it will use the money from the sale to buy other hotels in the United States. As part of the deal, Hilton will continue to operate the Waldorf Astoria for the next 100 years.
The Chinese buyer has said it will invest in remodeling the famous property on Park Avenue to bring it back to its "historical grandeur."
Reports say the deal is the largest for a Chinese company buying a U.S. building. Chinese investors increasingly have become interested in U.S. properties. Homes -- especially costly ones -- are considered a good investment. The National Association of Realtors says China's spending on homes in the U.S. has increased sharply. The trade group estimates that Chinese buyers spent $22 billion on real estate properties in the twelve-month period ending in March 2014. That is an increase of 72 percent over the 12-month period before.
Chinese companies also increasingly are seeking businesses outside of the energy and raw materials industries. Last year, a Chinese company bought Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the U.S., for nearly $5 billion.
China holds about $1.2 trillion dollars in United States treasury securities. While these investments are safe, they do not give high returns, or yields. China has increasingly looked for other ways to invest its huge trade surplus with the U.S.
For many years, Japan has had a large trade surplus with the U.S. In the 1980s, Japanese companies bought important U.S. properties. These included a controlling share of Rockefeller Center, also in New York, in 1989. However, not all of these investments made a profit.
The Waldorf Astoria hotel opened in 1931. It has been a symbol of the wealth and culture of New York City since that time. World leaders and other very famous people have stayed at the hotel. Recently, many delegates to the United Nations General Assembly stayed at the hotel.
The Waldorf Astoria was named a New York City landmark in 1993. Other landmarks are the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge.
And that's the Economics Report from VOA Learning English. For more of our programs, visit our website learningenglish.voanews.com. I'm Christopher Cruise.
文本来自51voa，译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
词汇解释
1.grandeur n. 壮丽；庄严；宏伟
He is wholly concerned with his own grandeur.
他只关心他自己的显赫地位。
2.realtor n. （美）房地产经纪人
He will have to pay a commission to the realtor.
他必须付经纪人佣金。
3.landmark n. [航]陆标；地标；界标；里程碑；纪念碑；地界标；划时代的事 adj. 有重大意义或影响的
The Menger Hotel is a San Antonio landmark.
蒙尔饭店是圣安东尼奥的一个标志性建筑。
内容解析
1.The Chinese buyer has said it will invest in remodeling the famous property on Park Avenue to bring it back to its "historical grandeur."
bring back 拿回来；使…恢复；使…回忆起来
Your article brought back sad memories for me.
你的文章勾起了我悲伤的回忆。
Pennsylvania brought back the death penalty in 1978.
宾夕法尼亚州于1978年恢复了死刑。
参考译文
这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道。
希尔顿全球酒店集团将纽约华尔道夫酒店以19.5亿美元的价格卖给一家中国公司，买方是安邦保险集团，这是有史以来以最高价格购买美国酒店的交易。希尔顿集团称将使用这笔资金来购买美国其他酒店，作为交易的一部分，希尔顿将在100年内继续运营华尔道夫酒店。
中国购买方称将投资改造这个公园大道的著名建筑，使之回到“曾经的富丽堂皇”。
报道称这是中国公司购买美国大厦最大的一笔交易，中国投资者越来越对美国地产感兴趣。住宅、尤其是昂贵的住宅被视为不错的投资，全美房地产经纪人协会称中国在美国住房上的开支剧增。该交易组织估计截止2014年4月的12月期间，中国购买方花了220亿美元用于购买房地产，这比之前的12个月增加了72%。
中国公司也开始越来越多地在能源和原材料行业之外寻找生意，去年，一家中国公司以近50亿美元的价格购买了美国最大的猪肉生产商史密斯菲尔顿食品公司。
中国持有大约1.2万亿美元的美国国债，尽管这些投资很安全，但收益率并不高。中国开始越来越多地寻找其他办法来投资其同美国的贸易顺差。
多年来，日本同美国有着巨大的贸易顺差。20世纪80年代，日本公司购买了美国一些重要的地产，其中包括198年控股纽约的洛克菲勒中心，然而这些投资并非都有回报。
华尔道夫酒店于1931年开业，自那时起一直是纽约财富和文化的象征。世界领导人和其他名人都下榻过这座酒店，最近，参加联合国大会的很多代表都住在这里。
1993年华尔道夫酒店被称作纽约的地标建筑，其他的地标建筑包括飞过大厦和布鲁克林大桥。
这就是美国之音慢速英语经济报道，登陆learningenglish.voanews.com获得更多节目，我是克里斯多夫·克鲁斯。
