(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
The price of gold fell to its lowest level in five years in trading early Monday. For a time, gold was selling at less than 1,100 dollars an ounce on Asian markets.
Some traders are calling the price drop a "mini flash crash." Thirty billion dollars in short selling took place within half an hour during what are known as "stop-loss" selloffs. Traders executed sell orders when gold prices reached targets set by investors.
Luke Chua is sales and operations manager at Bullion Star, a Singapore business that sells gold and other precious metals.
"In the physical market, this would not be possible because that would consume a whole lot of physical gold. But in the futures market, because it's all digital as long as you find a buyer to bid for it, then that would be possible."
The short selling reportedly began at the Singapore Gold Exchange. Gold trading also quickly increased on China's Shanghai exchange. Financial news agencies reported on the sales in Shanghai.
A desire to sell gold appeared to have been worsened by thinking that concerns about the Greek economy have somewhat eased. There also appeared to be an easing of investors' concerns about the Chinese stock markets.
Some observers were wondering about China's possible involvement in the short-selling of gold Monday. China is the world's largest producer of gold. On Friday, the country said its supplies had increased by 59 percent to 1,658 tons as of the end of June.
Trader Luke Chua in Singapore says that should have driven up the price.
"But that's not what we're seeing in the market these few days. And the reason for that is because, currently, the price levels that we're seeing in the market, is heavily driven by the futures market and not the physical market."
Some observers note China's increase in gold reserves was smaller than expected. But they admit that does not fully explain the intense speculative trading early Monday morning.
Gold prices are now six percent lower compared to prices one year ago.
Metals traders say they expect gold prices to remain around the current level. They also could move still lower because of possible action by the United States Federal Reserve. The U.S. central bank is expected to increase interest rates later this year. That would lead many investors to take their money out of gold and other metals and to buy U.S. government bonds instead.
I'm Bob Doughty.
词汇解析
1.selloff n. 卖清存货；清除存货（廉价出售）
Accordingly, some observers say there are signs the euro selloff is only just getting started.
因此有些观察人士认为，有迹象表明欧元的抛售只是刚刚开始。
2.short selling 卖空
Short selling is disruptive speculation that requires someone else to lose.
买空卖空是破坏性很大的投机勾当，总要导致损人利己的。
3.speculative adj. 投机的；推测的；思索性的
The papers ran speculative stories about the mysterious disappearance of Eddie Donagan.
各家报纸都刊登了有关埃迪·多纳根神秘失踪的猜测性报道。
内容解析
1.But in the futures market, because it's all digital as long as you find a buyer to bid for it, then that would be possible.
bid for 投标；出价；许诺获支持
She decided to bid for a Georgian dressing table.
她决定参与一个乔治王朝时期风格梳妆台的竞价。
to bid for popular support
争取得到民众的支持
2.Trader Luke Chua in Singapore says that should have driven up the price.
drive up 抬高；开车赶到；迫使…上升
The bank drove up interest rates.
银行提高了利率。
The shortage of oil will probably drive prices up.
石油短缺很有可能迫使价格上涨。
参考译文
周一早些时候，黄金交易价格下跌到五年来最低点，在亚洲市场上，黄金一度卖到一盎司字少1100美元。
一些交易者称价格下跌为“迷你闪电崩盘”，在所谓的止损抛售中，半小时内就卖空了300亿美元，当金价抵达投资者所设定的目标时，交易者就发出卖出指令。
卢克·蔡黄金之星公司的销售与运营经理，这是一家从事黄金和其他贵金属业务的新加坡公司。
“在现货市场上这是不可能的，因为这会消耗大量的实体黄金，但在期货市场上，因为一切都是数字化的，只要你能找到愿意出价的买家，那么就是可能的。”
据悉卖空是从新加坡黄金交易市场开始的，黄金交易在中国上海交易市场也快速增加，金融新闻机构也报道了上海的销售情况。
由于投资者认为对希腊经济的担忧已经得到一定缓解，所以愿意出售黄金的意愿似乎更加强烈。而且投资者似乎也不那么担心中国股市了。
一些观察家在疑惑周一中国对卖空的可能干预行为，中国是全世界最大的黄金生产国。周五，中国称截止6月底，其黄金供应已经增加59%，达到1658吨。
在新加坡的交易商卢克·蔡说这原本是可以让价格上涨的。
“但这些天我们在市场上没有看到这些，其原因是，目前我们在市场上看到的价格水平是由期货市场而不是实体市场驱动的。”
一些观察家指出，中国黄金储备的增加比期望的要小，但他们承认这并不能充分解释周一凌晨大量的投机交易。
与一年前相比，目前的金价下降了6%。
金属交易商称他们预测金价将保持在目前水平左右，因为美国联邦储备可能的举动，金价可能会更低些。一般预测美国央行将于今年晚些时候增加利率，这将使得很多投资者将资金从黄金和其他金属市场中取出来购买美国政府债券。
我是鲍勃·多迪。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
