The Economist 经济学人精读 [3上]
选自 October8, 2016 | Leaders板块
注：划线部分为好词好句，加粗为生词，要加入单词本进行背诵。
1) Deutsche Bank's distress is symptomatic of a wider malaise.
distress - a state of extreme danger and needing urgent help 危难
symptomatic - a sign of sth bad
malaise - a state in which there's sth wrong with the society and there doesn't seem to have an easy solution
1) Deutsche （德意志）银行的危机是一个更加广泛痼疾的预示。
2) It must have been an exquisite moment. On September 30th the central bank in Athens issued a statement reassuring investors that the Greek banking was safe - from a crisis engulfing Germany's flagship bank. Any Schadenfreude felt in Europe's periphery at Deutsche Bank's tumbling shares should be stifled, however. Deutsche is not about to fail: it can survive a harsh funding squeeze, its solvency is not in doubt and if push came to shove, the German government would surely support it. But many of its woes are symptomatic of problems that bedevil the whole continent.
exquisite - a feeling strongly felt
e.g. exquisite pain/ pleasure
engulf - one engulfs another is to cover it in an unexpected way 吞没
flagship - flagship of a group of things owned by a company is its most important one 王牌产品
Schadenfreude [sha/ do/ fro/ yi/ den] - delight in sb's misfortune 幸灾乐祸
periphery - on the edge of sth
tumbling - when prices are tumbling, they decrease rapidly
stifle - to prevent/ control from happening
solvency - the ability to pay off debts
woe - great sadness
bedevil - if you are bedeviled by sth unpleasant, it causes you reams of problems over a long time 长期搅扰
2) 那一刻一定非常痛苦。九月三十号那日，雅典的中央银行发布了让投资者安心的声明。希腊的银行系统不会出现问题，吞并德国最大的银行也并不是一个危机。但是，每一个人，甚至是生活在国家边缘的欧洲人却认为该控制住德意志银行急剧下降的股份。尽管资金紧缩，德意志银行不会就这样败下阵来，他们毋庸置疑还有用一定的负债偿还能力，就算对方逼压力度过强，德国也会站出来救济他们。但是，德意志银行现有的苦难其实预示着一些长期搅扰整个欧洲大陆（除了英国 Britain 以外）的问题。
3) Plenty would deny that. Deutsche is more leveraged than its peers; it is unusual in lacking a crown jewel around which it can base a business model; and it has a stack of derivatives whose prices are hard to observe in the market. More positively, it is light on the non-performing loans that log the balance sheets of banks in places like Italy. But in other ways its problems have a very familiar ring. Deutsche is struggling to make a decent return. It has taken too long to face up to its problems. And the market it operates in is overbanked. Years after American banks were forced to clean themselves up, too many European lenders are still flailing as a result.
leveraged - a company having more debt than profits 杠杆作用的; 举债经营
derivatives - sth developed from sth else; 金融衍生工具
balance sheet - a written statement of the amt of money and property a company has, including the amt owned
over-bank - [self def] water flows beyond banks 河水泛滥，漫滩
flail - wave your arms/ legs in an uncontrolled way 胡乱挥动的
3) 很多人可能会否认这个事实。德意志比其他银行负债比收益利更高；这么一个负债经营的生意形式没有金刚钻确也是奇怪；还有这银行所持有的金融衍生工具的价钱在市场上也确实估摸不定。但是，比较有积极的一方面是他没有很多像记录在意大利银行的资产负债表中不良的借款。从另一方面来说，像德意志银行所面临的困难其实很普遍：他努力地想要得到可观的回报。但是，这个问题发现的太晚了，他所属于的市场一是一滩烂泥。居然在美国不得不收拾他们的银行系统的多年之后，欧洲的领导们还是这样的手足无措。
4) Europeans prefer to blame others for the turmoil. Deutsche has lashed out at "forces in the market" for its most recent bout of trouble. But its shares had already fallen by 42% this year before news broke last month of a proposed Department of Justice (DoJ) fine of $14 billion for mortgage-related misdeeds. German politicians insinuate that the mooted fine represents revenge for Europe's recent tax case against Apple, an American champion. Yet the DoJ has slapped large fines on American banks, too. Deutsche's vulnerability to shocks is the problem, not the shocks themselves.
lash out - lash out at sb is to speak to them or about them very angrily or critically 痛斥
bout - a bout of sth unpleasant is when it occurs many times during a short period
misdeed - a bad/ evil act 不端行为
insinuate - saying sth in an indirect way 暗示
moot - an idea is mooted is when it is introduced for discussion
slap - slap sth on sth implies the act is unreasonable and is done without thought 强加、强制的
4) 欧洲人更愿意把他们的混乱怪到别人头上。对于发生的一系列麻烦，德意志银行痛斥了市场中的无形力量。但实际上，在美国司法部打算因房屋抵押贷款相关的不端行为而罚款 $14 billion （美元）的新闻出来前，他们的股价在今年就已经跌了42%。德国政客纷纷暗指会提出这么大数量的罚款金额完全是因为欧洲近期跟美国苹果公司的税务官司而有的报复，虽然美国本土的银行也被强制的罚款。总的来说，德意志对于这次冲击的脆弱不源于冲击本身，而是他们自己。
5) Fingers also point at global regulators. The boss of Credit Suisse, Tidjane Thiam, says his sector is "not really investible". It is true that the rules have got much stricter in the past few years, particularly for institutions, like Deutsche, that have have big investment-banking arms. It is also true that ultra-loose monetary policy, and in particular the negative interest rates that now prevail in much of Europe, eat away at bank's profitability. But some banks cope better than others in this painful environment. The IMF has compared returns on equity before and after the financial crisis. Those at large European banks fell by 11.4 percentage points. Rather than blaming speculators, Americans and regulators, Europe's bankers and policymakers need to put their own house in order.
prevail - a situation prevails when it is common at the time
equity - [Finance] sum of your assets, with debts subtracted 资产净值; 证券、基金
5) 也有人把这些混乱怪在全球性的监管机构。Credit Suisse 的老板 Tidjane Thiam 却说他所管制的经济部门并不适合投资。最近几年以来，商业规则变得严格是事实，尤其对于德意志这种大型的侧重于投资性的银行机构来说。因货币政策变得宽松，利息率降低这种普遍的现象而导致银行减少收益也是事实。但是在同样严峻的环境里，还是有一些银行相比之下生存的很好。IMF 比较了这次经济危机之前和之后的证券回报率，而那些大的欧洲银行的下降了整整11.4个百分点。所以与其责怪投机者，美国和摸个监管机构，欧洲银行和政府应该从自己国家找问题。
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