讀點(diǎn)好英文:George Soros-the FinanciaI CrocodiIe　金融大鱷—喬治·索羅斯

George Soros-the FinanciaI CrocodiIe　金融大鱷—喬治·索羅斯

·James·

George Soros wants to be the Bono of the financial world. The speculator whose assault on sterling ejected Britain from the European exchange rate mechanism that September of 10 years ago has a mission-to use his estimated$5 bn fortune and his fame to help tackIe what he sees as the failures of globalization.The idea that a man who made billions betting on the financial markets sides with the anti-globalization movement might strike some as ironic.Soros is clearly genuinely appalled at the damage wrought on vulnerable economies by the vast sums of money which flow across national borders every day.

“The US governs the international system to protect its own economy. It is not in charge of protecting other economies，”he says.“So when America goes into recession, you have anti-recessionary policies.When other countries are in recession, they don't have the ability to engage in anti-recessionary policies because they can't have a permissive monetary policy, because money would flee.”In person, he has the air of a philosophy professor rather than a gimlet-eyed financier.In a soft voice which bears the traces of his native Hungary, he argues that it is time to rewrite the so-called Washington consensus-the cocktail of liberalization, privatization and fiscal rectitude which the IMF has been preaching for 15 years.Developing countries no longer have the freedom to run their own economies, he argues, even when they follow perfectIy sound policies.He cites Brazil, which although it has a floating currency and manageable public debt was paying ten times over the odds to borrow from capital markets.

Soros, who at one stage after the fall of the Berlin Wall was providing more assistance to Russia than the US government, believes in practising what he preaches. His Open Society Institute has been pivotaI in helping eastern European countries develop democratic societies and market economies.Soros has the advantage of an insider's knowledge of the workings of global capitalism, so his criticism is particularly pointed.Last year, the Soros foundation's network spent nearly half a billion dollars on projects in education, public health and promoting democracy, making it one of the world's largest private donors.

Soros credits the anti-globalization movement for having made companies more sensitive to their wider responsibilities.“I think（the protesters）have made an important contribution by making people aware of the flaws of the system，”he says.“people on the street had an impact on public opinion and corporations which sell to the public responded to that.”Because the IMF has abandoned billion dollar bailouts for troubled economies, he thinks a repeat of the Asian crisis is unlikely. The fund's new“tough love”policy-for which Argentina is the guinea pig-has other consequences.The bailouts were a welfare system for Wall Street, with western taxpayers rescuing the banks from the consequences of unwise lending to emerging economies.Now the IMF has drawn a line in the sand, credit to poor countries is drying up.“It has created a new problem-the inadequacy of the flow of capital from centre to the periphery，”he says.

詹姆士

喬治·索羅斯想成為金融界的博諾（U2樂(lè)隊(duì)主唱）。這位在十年前的那個(gè)9月份攻擊英鎊迫使英國(guó)退出歐洲匯率機(jī)制的投機(jī)商有一項(xiàng)使命——利用他大約五十億英鎊的財(cái)產(chǎn)和他的名聲來(lái)幫助解決他所認(rèn)為的全球化失敗問(wèn)題。一個(gè)靠在全球金融市場(chǎng)上的投機(jī)賺了幾十億的人會(huì)支持反全球化運(yùn)動(dòng)，這對(duì)許多人來(lái)說(shuō)是具有諷刺意義的。很明顯，對(duì)于每天在各國(guó)之間流動(dòng)的大量資金給經(jīng)濟(jì)脆弱國(guó)家造成的傷害，索羅斯從心底感到震驚。

索羅斯說(shuō)：“美國(guó)管理國(guó)際經(jīng)濟(jì)體系是為了保護(hù)本國(guó)利益，它并不負(fù)責(zé)保護(hù)其他國(guó)家的經(jīng)濟(jì)。因此，當(dāng)美國(guó)陷入衰退后，美國(guó)會(huì)出臺(tái)反衰退政策。而其他國(guó)家陷入衰退時(shí)，卻無(wú)力這樣做，因?yàn)檫@些國(guó)家不能實(shí)行自由開放的金融政策，否則資金就會(huì)外流。”索羅斯本人并不像一個(gè)目光敏銳的金融家，他更具有哲學(xué)教授的氣質(zhì)。帶著匈牙利母語(yǔ)口音，他輕聲地說(shuō)，現(xiàn)在是修改所謂的“華盛頓共識(shí)”的時(shí)候了。他指的是國(guó)際貨幣基金組織十五年來(lái)宣揚(yáng)的自由化、私有化和財(cái)政透明的綜合體制。他說(shuō)，發(fā)展中國(guó)家即使執(zhí)行非常合理的政策，也不能自由地控制本國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)了。他援引巴西的例子說(shuō)，盡管巴西實(shí)行了浮動(dòng)匯率制和可控國(guó)債，但它向資本市場(chǎng)借款還是付出了比正常條件下高出十倍的成本。

索羅斯在柏林墻倒塌后一段時(shí)間內(nèi)向俄羅斯提供的援助曾一度超過(guò)美國(guó)政府的援助。他堅(jiān)定地實(shí)施自己宣揚(yáng)的觀點(diǎn)。他的“開放社會(huì)研究所”在幫助東歐國(guó)家發(fā)展民主社會(huì)和市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)方面發(fā)揮了重要作用。索羅斯具有業(yè)內(nèi)人士的優(yōu)勢(shì)，了解全球資本主義的運(yùn)行，因此他的批評(píng)會(huì)受到特別關(guān)注。去年索羅斯基金網(wǎng)絡(luò)在教育、公共衛(wèi)生、促進(jìn)民主項(xiàng)目上花費(fèi)了近五億美元，使索羅斯基金成為世界上最大的私人捐助集團(tuán)之一。

索羅斯贊揚(yáng)反全球化運(yùn)動(dòng)使各公司更加認(rèn)識(shí)到自己更廣泛的責(zé)任。他說(shuō)：“我認(rèn)為（反對(duì)者們）做出了重要貢獻(xiàn)，使大眾意識(shí)到這個(gè)體系的缺陷。大街上的人們對(duì)輿論會(huì)有所影響，而向公眾推銷商品的公司也會(huì)對(duì)輿論作出反應(yīng)?！庇捎趪?guó)際貨幣基金組織已經(jīng)拒絕向經(jīng)濟(jì)困難的國(guó)家提供數(shù)十億美元的救濟(jì)，索羅斯認(rèn)為亞洲經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)不會(huì)重演。國(guó)際貨幣基金組織“既愛(ài)又嚴(yán)”的新政策——阿根廷是該政策的試驗(yàn)品——帶來(lái)了其他后果。西方納稅人挽救了銀行因不理智地向新興國(guó)家提供貸款造成的惡果，而國(guó)際貨幣基金組織的那些救濟(jì)金則成了華爾街的福利制度?，F(xiàn)在國(guó)際貨幣基金組織對(duì)貧困國(guó)家的貸款正在枯竭。索羅斯說(shuō)：“這就產(chǎn)生了一個(gè)新問(wèn)題——資金從中心向周邊流動(dòng)不足?！?/p>

核心單詞

tackIe['t?kl]v.著手對(duì)付（或處理）；與……交涉

perfectIy['p?：fiktli]adv.完美地；圓滿地；完全地

odds[?ds]n.機(jī)會(huì)，可能性；成功的可能性

pivotaI['piv?tl]adj.中樞的；重要的

rescue['reskju：]v.援救；營(yíng)救；挽救。

實(shí)用句型

Now the IMF has drawn a Iine in the sand, credit to poor countries is drying up.

現(xiàn)在國(guó)際貨幣基金組織對(duì)貧困國(guó)家的貸款正在枯竭。

①has drawn是現(xiàn)在完成時(shí)的表達(dá)方式，have/has+done。

②dry up 干涸，類似的表達(dá)還有dry out 干透，dry off變干等固定搭配。

翻譯練習(xí)

1.經(jīng)理不在時(shí)，他負(fù)責(zé)這個(gè)商店。（in charge of）

2.救生艇被派出去救沉船的水手了。（rescue from）

3.主辦國(guó)本身也因外來(lái)人才的到來(lái)而獲益匪淺。（benefit from）