錢(qián)的笑話：2、 Loan 貸款

2. Loan

A businessman walked into a New York Citibank and asked for the loan officer. He was going to Europe on business for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000. The loan officer said it would need some security1 for such a loan. The business man then handed over the keys to a Rolls Royce2 that was parked on the street in front of the bank. Everything checked out and the loan officer accepted the car as collateral3 for the loan. An employee then drove the Rolls into the bank's underground garage and parked it there.

Two weeks later the businessman returned, repaid the $5,000 and the interest which came to $15.41. The loan officer said, "We do appreciate your business and this transaction4 has worked out very nicely, but we are a bit puzzled. While you were away we checked and found that you are a multimillionaire. What puzzles us is why you would bother to borrow $5,000?"

The business man replied, "Where else in New York City can I park my car for 2 weeks for 15 bucks?"

Notes:

1. security 擔(dān)保，安全

2. Rolls Royce 勞斯萊斯轎車(chē)

3. collateral 抵押品

4. transaction 交易

貸　款

一位商人走進(jìn)紐約花旗銀行要求見(jiàn)貸款員。他要去歐洲出差兩周需要借5000美元。貸款員說(shuō)這樣一筆貸款銀行需要抵押。這個(gè)商人把他停在銀行門(mén)口街道上的一輛勞斯萊斯轎車(chē)的鑰匙交給了貸款員。經(jīng)過(guò)查驗(yàn)，貸款員接受了這個(gè)抵押。一位銀行雇員把勞斯萊斯轎車(chē)開(kāi)進(jìn)了銀行的地下車(chē)庫(kù)并停在那里。

兩周以后商人回來(lái)了，交回了5000美元以及15.41美元利息。貸款員說(shuō)：“我們很感謝您的惠顧，這筆交易也非常順利，但是我們都有點(diǎn)不理解。你走后我們查了一下發(fā)現(xiàn)你是百萬(wàn)富翁。令我們不解的是為什么你會(huì)不厭其煩地借5000美元呢？”

商人答道：“在紐約，還有什么地方能讓我花15美元停車(chē)兩周呢？”

Useful link:

花旗銀行總部位于美國(guó)紐約派克大道，是華盛頓街最古老的商業(yè)銀行之一。1812年，紐約州特許建立紐約城市銀行（City bank of New York）——今日花旗集團(tuán)的前身。1865年7月17日，按照美國(guó)《國(guó)民銀行法》，紐約城市銀行取得了國(guó)民銀行的營(yíng)業(yè)執(zhí)照，更名為紐約國(guó)民城市銀行。此后，紐約國(guó)民城市銀行迅速發(fā)展成為全美最大的銀行之一。