(单词翻译:单击)
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Now to events on Wall Street this week, where small stock traders made a fortune outwitting big institutional investors. They did it buying stocks in GameStop. Its price hovered around $4 a year ago. Now over $300. They essentially willed this to happen by creating a buzz on social media. Online brokers tried to stop the wild ride, but yesterday, more twists and turns. NPR's Uri Berliner, senior editor on our business desk, has been following all this. I'm sure he can explain it. Thanks for being with us, Uri.
URI BERLINER, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
SIMON: Can you give us a recap of all the ups and downs this week?
BERLINER: Yeah, well, let's start with GameStop. It's a retailer of video games. And it's a familiar story. It hit hard times. It was in a lot of malls — wasn't a good place to be. And a bunch of hedge funds said, you know, that it's only going to get worse for GameStop. So they bet against the stock. It's called short selling. At the same time, though, the online communities where a lot of people have taken to online trading, there were people who were — they were GameStop fans. Maybe they had bought stuff there as kids. And there were a lot more people trading online during the pandemic. And they started buying up the stock when it was really pushed down. And it just started picking up steam, totally proliferated this week. And it became kind of a mass movement. It sent the stock price in the stratosphere. And the big hedge funds took a lot of losses.
SIMON: I mean, that's the point. Some people make money. A lot of people lose money. Who winds up paying the price?
BERLINER: Well, so far, it's the hedge funds, the short sellers. They've lost a lot of money — billions. But that could all change. If the GameStop stock tumbles back to Earth, like, for example, where it was at the beginning of the year, it could be really painful for a lot of people who've joined these message groups, in a place called WallStreetBets, where they gather. They push up the stock. It's been kind of a jubilant atmosphere. But if the stock starts falling, they could get hurt pretty badly.
SIMON: Should we expect greater controls on these rollercoaster trades to come in now?
BERLINER: Well, we saw some during the week. The popular online broker Robinhood restricted trading in GameStop, stopped people from buying the stock. There was a huge backlash against Robinhood. People were saying there was a blatant double standard against small investors. Robinhood opened up trading again on Friday.
Beyond that, there should be hearings in Congress. And the Securities and Exchange Commission put out a warning, says it's on the lookout for market manipulation. But there's no public evidence of that so far in this situation. There's nothing illegal or wrong about being enthusiastic about a stock. Now, if there's evidence the stock price was artificially inflated, that would be a different story.
SIMON: How much has Wall Street been shaken by this, by seeing how — I don't want to say how easy because I'm sure it's not easy — but how this could happen so unexpectedly?
BERLINER: It's a seismic shift. The power was in the hands of small investors for once. You know, Wall Street firms have had a lot of advantages in markets. That's led some people to think they're rigged. And this time, the amateurs got the upper hand. Where this goes, we don't really know. There could be some paring back of short selling, but really we don't really know where this is headed.
SIMON: NPR's Uri Berliner, thanks so much for being with us.
BERLINER: Thank you.
中文翻译
参考译文：
现在来关注本周华尔街发生的事件，相比大型机构投资者，小型股票交易者赚到了更多的钱。因为他们购买了游戏驿站（GameStop）的股票。一年前该公司的股票价格徘徊在4美元左右。而现在其股价已经超过300美元。他们基本上是通过在社交媒体上制造轰动来实现这一点的。网上券商试图阻止这种狂飙，但昨日，出现了更多一波三折的情况。NPR新闻财经组高级编辑乌里·柏林纳一直在关注事态发展。我相信他能解释这一切。谢谢你和我们连线，乌里。
乌里·柏林纳连线：你好，斯科特。
西蒙：你能概述一下这一周的跌宕起伏吗？
柏林纳：好，我们先从游戏驿站说起。这是一家电子游戏零售商。接下来就是我们熟悉的故事了。这家公司经历了困难时期。该公司在很多商场有实体店，但经营情况不太好。大量对冲基金表示，游戏驿站的境遇将每况愈下。因此他们开始做空股票。这也称做卖空。但与此同时，在很多人参与网上交易的网络社区里，也有一些人是游戏驿站的粉丝。也许他们小时候买过该公司的游戏。新冠疫情期间，网上交易的人越来越多。当股票下跌时，他们开始买进。这种行为刚开始活跃后，本周就全面扩散。这演变成了一种群众运动。继而导致股票价格飙升。大型对冲基金也遭受了巨大损失。
西蒙：这就是重点。有人赚钱。但也有很多人赔钱。谁最终付出了代价？
柏林纳：到目前为止，付出代价的是对冲基金和卖空者。他们损失了很多钱，大概有几十亿。但这一切都有可能改变。如果游戏驿站的股票跌到底，比如年初时的水平，那对于很多加入信息群和聚集在WallStreetBets论坛的人来说，可能真的很会痛苦。他们提高了股票价格。这是一种欢乐的气氛。但如果股票开始下跌，他们可能会受到相当严重的伤害。
西蒙：我们是否应该期待对这些过山车似的交易进行更严格的控制？
柏林纳：我们这周看到了一些这类措施。备受欢迎的在线经纪商罗宾汉限制了GameStop股票的交易，阻止人们购买股票。这使人们对罗宾汉产生了强烈的反感。人们认为其对小投资者有明显的双重标准。罗宾汉周五再次开盘交易。
除此之外，国会应该举行听证会。而美国证券交易委员会也发出了警告，称正在留意市场操纵行为。但目前的情况尚没有公开的证据。热衷于一只股票并不是违法或错误行为。现在，如果有证据表明股价被人为抬高，那情况就不同了。
西蒙：这令华尔街有多震惊？我不想说这有多容易，因为我确信这并不容易，但这件事怎么会发生得如此出人意料？
柏林纳：这是一个巨大的转变。权力一度掌握在小投资者手中。华尔街公司在市场上有很多优势。这让一些人认为他们被操纵了。这一次，业余选手占了上风。我们真的不知道这是怎么回事。卖空交易可能会有所减少，但我们真的不知道这将走向何方。
西蒙：以上是NPR新闻的乌里·柏林纳带来的报道，非常谢谢你。
柏林纳：谢谢。
译文属可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载
重点讲解
重点讲解：
1. buy up 大量买进，全部买下（土地、房产或商品）；
The mention of price rises sent citizens out to their shops to buy up as much as they could.
物价上涨的说法使老百姓都涌进商店大量抢购商品。
2. ups and downs 兴衰；浮沉；起落；悲欢；
We are bound to see some ups and downs along the road to recovery.
在经济复苏的过程中，我们一定会经历一些曲折起伏。
3 pick up steam (信念、计划、项目等)变得越来越重要，开始发展壮大；
Just as the presidential campaign was picking up steam, riots exploded in Los Angeles.
正当总统竞选活动的声势日益壮大时，洛杉矶爆发了暴乱。
4. on the lookout for 密切留意；小心提防；
The public should be on the lookout for symptoms of the disease.
公众应当留心这种疾病的症状。
