VOA慢速英语2018 全球富豪在上周股市大跌中损失千亿美元

World’s Richest Lose $100 Billion in Week of Stock Drops

U.S. stocks suffered their worst losses in years last week. Among the biggest losers were the world’s top billionaires.

美国股市上周遭遇了近年来最严重的大跌。全球最富有的亿万富翁们是其中最大的输家。

Financial experts blamed the first major drop last Monday on investor 1 fears over possible rising inflation and higher interest rates. The Dow regained 2 some ground, but then suffered another drop on Thursday after reports of an increasing U.S. government budget deficit 3.

金融专家将上周一首次出现的大幅下跌归咎于投资者担心通胀上升和利率上涨。随后道琼斯指数有所回升，但是在美国政府财政赤字上升的报告出台之后，美国股市周四再次大跌。

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, also known as the Dow, is a stock market index of 30 large companies based in the U.S.

道琼斯工业平均指数也被称之为道琼斯指数，这是以美国30家大型企业为基础的股市指数。

The losses followed a long period of gains in U.S. stocks when the Dow reached a historic high of 26,616 on January 26.

这次下跌发生在美国股市长期走高，道琼斯指数在1月26日攀升到26616点的历史高位之后。

In repeated tweets and in his recent State of the Union address, U.S. President Donald Trump 4 praised the financial gains. “The stock market has smashed one record after another, gaining $8 trillion and more in value in just this short period of time,” he said.

美国总统在多条推文和近期的国情咨文中赞扬了这一经济获益。他说：“股市在这么短的时间里屡创新高，新增了8万亿美元以上的价值。”

At first, Trump remained silent on last Monday’s losses. But he took to Twitter later on Wednesday to comment.

川普一开始对上周一的大跌保持沉默，但是周三晚上他在推特上发表了评论。

“In the ‘old days,’ when good news was reported, the Stock Market would go up,” he wrote. “Today, when good news is reported, the Stock Market goes down. Big mistake, and we have so much good (great) news about the economy!”

他写道：“在‘过去’，如果传出好消息，股市就会上涨。今天当好消息传出来，股市则出现了下跌。这是大错特错，我们经济方面有这么多好消息。”

Many financial experts have said the big stock drops were not that unusual after the recent gains. They have called the major drops a “correction” in the stock market. A correction is defined as at least a 10 percent drop in stocks since the previous peak.

很多金融专家曾经表示，在最近的涨幅之后，股市出现大跌并不稀奇。他们称这次大跌是股市的回调。回调是指股票在创下峰值之后至少下跌10%。

Analysts 5 expected stocks in many other parts of the world to also have their worst week in years, Reuters news agency reported. Asian markets suffered big losses during the week, including a four percent drop in Chinese stocks on Friday.

据路透社报道，分析师预计全球其它地方的股市也遭遇了近年来最严重的一周。亚洲股市本周遭受重创，其中包括上周五中国股市下跌4%。

European stocks also fell, but not as much as markets across Asia. Bloomberg reported that recent worldwide sell-offs had removed at least $5 trillion from global stocks since January.

欧洲股市也有所下跌，但是跌幅不及亚洲各国股市。彭博社报道称，今年一月以来，全球范围内近期发生的大跌已经使得全球股市缩水了至少5万亿美元。

The losses affected 6 the values of companies and the holdings of many American investors 7.

这次大跌影响到了各家公司的估值以及许多美国投资者的持股。

The world’s billionaires lost a combined $114 billion on Monday alone, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. A total of 18 billionaires in the rankings lost more than $1 billion on the day.

根据彭博社亿万富翁指数，全球的亿万富豪们仅在周一就亏损了1140亿美元。该排名中一共有18位亿万富翁在当天损失超过了10亿美元。

The biggest loser on Monday was businessman and investor Warren Buffett, whose worth on paper dropped by $5.1 billion. Bloomberg ranks Buffett as the third richest person in the world. His current total net worth is listed at $82.6 billion.

周一损失最严重的是商人和投资家沃伦·巴菲特（Warren Buffett），他的账面财富下降了51亿美元。彭博社将巴菲特列为全球第三大富豪，他目前的净资产为826亿美元。

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg lost the next largest amount, $3.6 billion. He is number four on the richest people list, with a current net worth of $70.8 billion.

Facebook首席执行官马克·扎克伯格（Mark Zuckerberg）以36亿美元的损失排名第二。他是全球第四大富豪，目前净资产为708亿美元。

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos – listed as the richest person in the world – lost $3.2 billion. But unlike the others, he is currently still way up for the year to date, by at least $14.2 billion. His overall net worth is now estimated to be $113 billion.

亚马逊首席执行官杰夫·贝索斯（Jeff Bezos）是世界首富，他损失了32亿美元。但与其他人不同的是，他今年迄今为止仍然上涨至少142亿美元。他的净资产目前估计为1130亿美元。

Microsoft founder 8 Bill Gates – who holds the number two position on the wealthiest list behind Bezos – lost $2.2 billion.

微软公司创始人比尔·盖茨（Bill Gates）在全球富豪榜上仅次于贝索斯，他损失了22亿美元。

And the top executives for Google’s parent company Alphabet – Larry Page and Sergey Brin – each lost $2.3 billion, Bloomberg reported.

谷歌的母公司Alphabet高管拉里·佩林（Larry Page）和谢尔盖·布林（Sergey Brin）每人亏损了23亿美元。

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

smash – v. to beat or destroy easily or completely

peak – n. the highest level or degree of excellence 9, quantity, activity, etc.

ranking – n. list of people or things that are ordered according to quality, ability, size, etc.

holdings – n. property (such as land or stocks) that is owned by someone —usually plural 10

net worth – n. the higher amount of the value of assets over liabilities.