英语每日一读.doc

Up?goes?gold,?down?goes?the?dollar? 　　MOST?economists?hate?gold.?Not,?you?understand,?that?they?would?turn?up?their?noses?at?a?bar?or?two.?But?they?find?the?reverence?in?which?many?hold?the?metal?almost?irrational.?That?it?was?used?as?money?for?millennia?is?irrelevant:?it?isn’t?any?more.?Modern?money?takes?the?form?of?paper?or,?more?often,?electronic?data.?To?economists,?gold?is?now?just?another?commodity. 大多数经济学家都讨厌黄金。要知道，这可不是因为他们瞧不起一两块金条，而是因为他们发现许多人对这种金属的崇敬几乎到了毫无理性的地步。这与它被用作千禧年的货币并无关系：那已经是昨日黄花了。现代货币采用的是纸币的形式，或者，更多时候，采用的是电子数据的形式。对经济学家来说，黄金现在只是另外一种商品。　　So?why?is?its?price?soaring??Over?the?past?week,?this?has?topped?$450?a?troy?ounce,?up?by?9%?since?the?beginning?of?the?year?and?77%?since?April?2001.?Ah,?comes?the?reply,?gold?transactions?are?denominated?in?dollars,?and?the?rise?in?the?price?simply?reflects?the?dollar’s?fall?in?terms?of?other?currencies,?especially?the?euro,?against?which?it?hit?a?new?low?this?week.?Expressed?in?euros,?the?gold?price?has?moved?much?less.?However,?there?is?no?iron?link,?as?it?were,?between?the?value?of?the?dollar?and?the?value?of?gold.?A?rising?price?of?gold,?like?that?of?anything?else,?can?reflect?an?increase?in?demand?as?well?as?a?depreciation?of?its?unit?of?account. 那么为什么金价会大幅上涨呢？在过去一周里，每金衡(1金衡约31.1025克)的价格达到了450美元，比年初上涨了9%，而比2001年4月则上涨了77%。啊，答案来了，黄金交易是以美元来计数的，价格的上涨只是反映了美元对其他货币的比价，尤其是对欧元比价的下跌，而本周美元对欧元的比价又创新低。用欧元计数的话，金价的波动要小得多。然而，美元价值和黄金价值之间似乎并没有固定联系。像其他任何东西一样，金价的上涨反映了需求的增加以及计价单位的贬值。 　　This?is?where?gold?bulls?come?in.?The?fall?in?the?dollar?is?important,?but?mainly?because?as?a?store?of?value?the?dollar?stinks.?With?a?few?longish?rallies,?the?greenback?has?been?on?a?downward?trend?since?it?came?off?the?gold?standard?in?1971.?Now?it?is?suffering?one?of?its?sharper?declines.?At?the?margin,?extra?demand?has?come?from?those?who?think?dollars--indeed?any?money?backed?by?nothing?more?than?promises?to?keep?inflation?low--a?decidedly?risky?investment,?mainly?because?America,?with?the?world’s?reserve?currency,?has?been?able?to?create