金融英语泛读:金融危机中崛起的产业——典当行

Pawnbroking—A Rising Industry in Financial Crisis金融危机中崛起的产业——典当行

When economic times are tough, it is generally thought that the pawnbroking industry booms-after all, gold and cheap loans are tempting for credit crunchers.

Lynda Damario, regional director of Albemarle&Bond said：“There are increasing numbers of people from all walks of life who are finding themselves in a situation where the banks are unable to help so our business is growing.”

That reluctance by banks to lend has helped earn the UK's biggest pawnbroker a 47 percent rise in profits.

At a time when the price of gold is rising in value it is probably unsurprising that sales of second hand jewellery accounted for 75 percent of the firm's total sales.

Harvey&Thompson, one of Britain's biggest pawnbrokers has seen business increase by 11 percent in recent months and said this is all due to gold-and people coming in to sell their jewellery-not from people simply pawning items.

A spokeswoman for H&T, said that consumers are more aware of the idea of selling their possessions because of the popularity of online auctions.“It's the eBay effect. People are more aware now that they can raise cash by selling things they don't need.”

Pawnbrokers give customers money in return for an object which is held as security until the customer pays off the loan plus any interest charges. No credit checks are needed and, once the item is valued and a rate of interest agreed, the customer can leave with the money.Jewellery and watches are“pledged”most often.

According to the National Pawnbrokers Association, around 88 percent of pledged goods are redeemed. But what if the worst happens and you are unable to pay for the item at the end of the loan period?

You can usually extend the length of time of borrowing. If you cannot do this, as a last resort, the pledge will get sold off, but it is generally not in the pawnbroker's interest to do so, particularly as many of them thrive on repeat customers.

经济不景气的时候，典当业却普遍被看好，因为它提供的金价和低息贷款在信贷紧缩的时候着实诱人。

埃邦典当公司的地区经理林达·达马里奥说：“越来越多的各行各业的人陷入困境，银行帮不了他们，于是我们的生意就好了很多。”

正是银行的惜贷使得这个英国最大的典当公司的利润增长了47%。

如今黄金价格上扬，典当手里的珠宝不足为奇，这块占到了公司所有销售业务的75%。

另一家英国大型典当公司哈维汤普森也表示，近几个月生意量增加了11%。不是简单的物品典当，而是由于金价上涨，人们开始典当手里的珠宝。

哈维汤普森的一名发言人说，由于网上拍卖的日益流行，典当被越来越多的人接受。“这就是‘eBay效应’。更多的人认同出售自己的闲置物品来换取现金。”

光顾当铺的人将物件作为抵押，当铺给出现金，直到典当人偿还本金和利息（偿还后可赎回抵押）。典当人不需经过信用检查，只需交易双方就典当品价值和利息达成一致，典当人即可换得现金。珠宝和手表是最常见的典当品。

据英国全国典当协会统计，大约88%的典当品都被赎回。但是，如果发生什么不幸，你在典当期内无力赎回抵押品该怎么办呢？

通常你可以延长赎回期。若到期你仍不能偿还，典当行最终将会出售抵押品。但是典当商这么做是不得已而为之的，因为他们特别依赖从回头客身上赚钱。

实战提升

核心单词

boom[bu:m]v./n.激增，暴涨

auction['ɔkəʃən]n.拍卖

redeem[ri'di:m]v.买回；赎回

extend[ik'stend]v.伸展；扩大；延续

pledge[pledʒ]n.抵押品，典当品

财经知识一点通

典当行（pawnbroking）

亦称当铺，是专门发放质押贷款的边缘性金融机构，是以货币借贷为主和商品销售为辅的市场中介组织。

信贷紧缩（credit crunch）

一般来说，信贷紧缩是指经营贷款的金融机构提高贷款标准，以高于市场利率水平的条件发放贷款，甚至不愿发放贷款，从而导致信贷增长下降，信贷资金难以满足社会再生产的合理需求的现象。

翻译练习

When economic times are tough, it is generally thought that the pawnbroking industry booms-after all gold and cheap loans are tempting for credit crunchers.

Pawnbrokers give customers money in return for an object which is held as security until the customer pays off the loan plus any interest charges.

According to the National Pawnbrokers Association, around 88 percent of pledged goods are redeemed.