(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
China Cuts US Investments
China's direct investment in the United States has dropped sharply in recent years.
Rhodium Group, a New York-based research service, reports that direct investment dropped by 80 percent from 2016 to 2018.
The biggest drop came in real estate holdings and hotels. Chinese investors seem no longer in a hurry to buy major properties in cities such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Chinese real estate investment in the United States rose 200 percent from 2015 to 2016, when it reached $16.5 billion. Then, it stopped expanding. During 2018, not a single Chinese real estate or hotel investment reached more than $100 million, the Rhodium Group found.
Oceanwide Holdings, a Chinese company, is putting up buildings on prime properties in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Work reportedly has stopped on one of the towers at the San Francisco Oceanwide Center. Work also has stopped at the Los Angeles Oceanwide Plaza.
"The skylines are no longer filled with cranes, really supplied by Chinese investments coming over here in the downtown," said Stephen Cheung, president of the World Trade Center in Los Angeles. He also is executive vice president of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.
"What we're worried about [is] the construction that's already here that cannot be finished because of the financing situations," Cheung said.
Construction work stalled
The billion-dollar Oceanwide Plaza is being built on land near the Los Angeles convention center and the place where the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers play basketball. Construction stopped in January for the Plaza's apartment housing, hotel and shopping center. Cheung said he has seen very little activity since then.
The unfinished building at Oceanwide Plaza is just one sign of a sharp drop in investment money from China.
Overall, direct foreign investment between the two countries set a record in 2016 of $60 billion, the Rhodium Group reported.
One reason for the drop in investment money is a change in China's monetary policy.
"There were the currency controls out of China...I think it was probably to get money out of China into a safe investment. (But) the Chinese cracked down," said Dale Goldsmith. He is a managing partner at the law offices of Armbruster Goldsmith & Delvac LLP.
"The Chinese companies couldn't get the money out of China... so certain projects here we've seen (stop)," Cheung said.
Chinese investment had also fallen because of questions being asked by a federal watchdog organization, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The Rhodium Group estimates the committee's investigation has led Chinese investors to walk away from more than $2.5 billion in U. S. deals.
The relatively strong U.S. economy is another reason for China's declining investment.
"The dollar has been very strong," said Goldsmith, noting that a strong dollar makes investing in the United States less appealing to the Chinese. He added that the rising costs of U.S. building projects also hurt.
In addition, there is no sign the trade war between the two countries will end soon. As a result, Chinese companies are not sure whether they should enter the U.S. market, Cheung added.
Southeast Asia gains
The trade war has created a new market. To avoid high tariffs, international companies are moving manufacturing out of China. They are going to places like Vietnam.
In Los Angeles, Cheung noted he is seeing increased interest from Southeast Asian countries. Vietnam is now looking very carefully into Los Angeles because it has such a large Vietnamese population, Cheung said.
"We're also working with our partners in Singapore and Indonesia and Thailand to really expand those opportunities, because we have been dependent on China for such a long time," he added.
So long as economic tensions remain high between China and the United States, Los Angeles and other U.S. cities will have to look elsewhere for investments.
I'm Susan Shand.
重点解析
1.look for 寻找
Maybe he is not the one I should look for.
也许，他真的不是我要寻找的那个人。
2.trade war 贸易战
The most important thing is to reach an agreement and to avoid a trade war.
最重要的是达成协议，避免贸易战。
3.no longer 不再
I go there no longer.
我不再去那儿了。
4.work with 与...共事
You have to work with him.
你得和他一起工作。
5.So long as economic tensions remain high between China and the United States, Los Angeles and other U.S. cities will have to look elsewhere for investments.
So long as只要
So long as what you do is right, I'll go along with you.
只要你们做得对，我都随着。
He will be all right so long as you don't touch his sore spot.
只要你不提起他的伤心事，他是没有什么的。
6.Chinese investors seem no longer in a hurry to buy major properties in cities such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
in a hurry 着急；匆忙
He got up late this morning, so he went to shool in a hurry.
今天早晨他起来晚了，因此匆匆忙忙地去上学。
She forded the river in a hurry.
她匆匆忙忙涉水过了河。
参考译文
中国对美直接投资大幅下降
近年来，中国对美国的直接投资大幅下降。
总部位于纽约的研究服务机构荣鼎咨询公司报告称，从2016年到2018年，中国对美国的直接投资下降了80%。
跌幅最大的是房地产和酒店。中国投资者似乎不再急于购买纽约、芝加哥、旧金山和洛杉矶等城市的大型地产。
从2015年到2016年，中国在美国的房地产投资增长了200%，达到了165亿美元。随后，它停止了扩张。荣鼎咨询公司发现，在2018年期间，没有一个中国房地产或酒店投资超过了1亿美元。
中国泛海控股公司正在旧金山和洛杉矶建造高端房地产。据报道，旧金山泛海中心的一栋塔楼已经停工。洛杉矶的泛海广场也已经停止了施工。
位于洛杉矶的世贸中心总裁斯蒂芬·张（Stephen Cheung）表示：“高空不再到处都是起重机，这些其实都是由中国投资人张罗的。”他也是洛杉矶县经济发展公司的执行副总裁。
斯蒂芬·张表示：“我们担心的是，由于融资情况，这里已经施工的建筑无法完工。”
施工陷入停滞
耗资数十亿美元的泛海广场建在靠近洛杉矶会议中心的地区，这里也是洛杉矶湖人队和快船队篮球馆所在地。该广场的公寓、酒店和购物中心在1月份停止了施工。张表示，自那以后几乎很少看到施工。
泛海广场未完工的建筑只是中国投资资金大幅减少的迹象之一。
荣鼎咨询公司报告称，总体而言，2016年中美的外国直接投资创下了600亿美元的纪录。
投资下降的原因之一是中国货币政策的变动。
戴尔·戈德史密斯（Dale Goldsmith）表示：“中国对货币流出实行了管制。我认为这可能是为了让中国流出的资金转移到安全投资上。”他是Armbruster Goldsmith & Delvac LLP的执行合伙人。
张表示：“中国公司无法让资金流出国内，因此这里的某些项目都停止了施工。”
由于美国外国投资委员会这一联邦监管机构提出的各项问题，也导致中国投资有所下降。荣鼎咨询公司估计，该委员会的调查导致中国投资者放弃了超过25亿美元的美国交易。
美国经济相对强劲也是中国投资下降的另一个原因。
戈德史密斯表示：“美元一直非常强劲。”他指出，美元强劲降低了美国投资对中国人的吸引力。他还指出，美国建筑项目成本的不断上涨也对此造成了伤害。
张还说，此外，没有迹象表明两国的贸易战会很快结束。因此，中国公司不确定是否应该进入美国市场。
东南亚国家获益
贸易战创造了一个新市场。为了避免高关税，跨国公司正在将制造业转移出中国。他们要去越南等国家。
在洛杉矶，张指出，他看到东南亚国家对美国越来越感兴趣。张表示，如今越南正在谨慎关注着洛杉矶，因为这里的越南人口众多。
他补充说：“我们还在跟新加坡、印尼和泰国的合作伙伴接触来切实扩大这些机会，因为我们长期以来一直依赖中国。”
只要中美之间的经济紧张局势仍然高涨，洛杉矶等其他美国城市将不得不到其他地方寻求投资机会。
苏珊·尚德为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
