1⃣️ The first is that family offices could endanger the stability of the financial system.2⃣️ Combining very rich people, opacity and markets can be explosive.3⃣️ LTCM, a $100bn hedge fund backed by the super-rich, blew up in 1998, almost bringing down Wall Street. 4⃣️Scores of wealthy people fell for a Ponzi scheme run by Bernie Madoff that collapsed in 2008. 5⃣️Still, as things stand family offices do not look like the next disaster waiting to happen. 6⃣️ They have debt equivalent to 17% of their assets, making them among the least leveraged participants in global markets. 7⃣️On balance, they may even be a stabilising influence. 8️⃣Their funds are usually deployed for decades, making them far less vulnerable to panics than banks and many hedge funds.
(一)段落大意
从这一段开始作者开始剖析家庭办公室可能会带来的隐忧。
第一个担忧是家庭办公室会危及到金融系统的稳定性。当有钱人，信息不透明，市场这几大要素加在一起，就可能点爆金融市场。文中用了两个金融市场上著名的例子来佐证观点。一个是LTCM的濒临倒闭事件，一个是2008年的庞氏骗局。大亨们的荣损会牵连整个金融体系。LTCM, 一个由超级有钱人资助的价值1000亿的对冲基金， 在1998年被引爆了，几乎拖垮了华尔街。2008年，大批的有钱人陷入了Benie Madoff的庞氏骗局中。然而，家庭办公室并不坐等下一个灾难的来临，他们也有相当比例的债务，相当于资产的17%，为了保持平衡，他们自己也是维稳势力的一部分。因为他们的资金被调动的频率都是数十年。相比起银行和对冲基金来说，他们应对金融恐慌要从容得多。
（二）词句精析
1⃣️ The first is that family offices could endanger the stability of the financial system.
👉 endanger 危及到（put sth. in danger of being hurt damaged, or destroyed）我们更为熟悉的用法是endangered animals ，濒危动物，作动词。 endanger 本身可以理解为是danger的动词，把.....置于危险中，e.g. Smoking during pregnancy can endanger your baby's health.怀孕期间吸烟会危及到宝宝的健康。
2⃣️ Combining very rich people, opacity and markets can be explosive.
👉opacity 正式语体，此处理解为信息不透明。opacity一个意思是模糊不透明（ the quality of being difficult to see through），一个意思是晦涩，费解（difficult to understand）近义词 obscurity, 反义词transparent
3⃣️ LTCM, a $100bn hedge fund backed by the super-rich, blew up in 1998, almost bringing down Wall Street.
👉blow up 爆炸，引爆（it is destroyed by an explosion）这个词组挺有意思的，也可以指给气球或者轮胎打气 (If you blow up something such as a balloon or a tyre, you fill it with air.)可能打气打过了就爆炸了吧
作者使用了同义词替换表示爆炸，blow up 是动词词组， “explosive"是形容词。
4⃣️Scores of wealthy people fell for a Ponzi scheme run by Bernie Madoff that collapsed in 2008.
👉 "scores of” 注意是复数，表示很多，大量的。类似的表达还有 a plethora of
6⃣️ They have debt equivalent to 17% of their assets, making them among the least leveraged participants in global markets.
👉leveraged 举债经营，融资（use borrowed money in order to buy it or pay for the company or investment). 这是在商业中的用法。我们更为熟悉的是它的名词leverage，杠杆力.还有一个常见用法是影响力和优势。仔细想来在杠杆的低端那个部分就是有优势有影响力的一端，好用的搭配有** political /diplomatic leverage** ，表示政治影响和外交影响
8️⃣Their funds are usually deployed for decades, making them far less vulnerable to panics than banks and many hedge
👉** deploy** 有效利用（资源）这个词原本是用来调兵遣将，用在军队士兵当中，deploy forces/troops/weapons etc， 调配军力部队和武器什么的。
这里是一个正式的用法，为了某个特定目的有效的利用（to use something for a particular purpose, especially ideas, arguments etc)
Eg： a job in which a variety of professional skills will be deployed
（三）文化背景
LTCM- Long Term Capital Management was a large hedge fund led by Nobel Prize-winning economists and renowned Wall Street traders that nearly collapsed the global financial system in 1998. This was due to LTCM’s high-risk arbitrage trading strategies.这个被号称梦之队的有两个诺贝尔经济学奖得主发起成立的有史以来规模最大的对冲基金，在1998年崩塌了。当年一个月时间市值几乎缩水一半，于是9月底14家银行在美联储的组织下收购了LTCM，这家公司的所有原始合伙人完全失去了对基金的控制权。
庞氏骗局相信大家都不会陌生，但究竟什么事庞氏骗局呢？简单来说有点像传销。A Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud which lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors by using funds obtained from more recent investors. The victims are led to believe that the profits are coming from product sales or other means, and they remain unaware that other investors are the source of profits.
2008年的Bernard Madoff领导的庞氏骗局引发的金融海啸现在好像还历历在目。这个来自华尔街纳斯达克交易所的前主席，便用庞氏骗局玩转华尔街20年，从顶级精英的口袋里拿走了600多亿美元。他的两个儿子 Mark 和 Andrew Madoff 把他交给FBI,终结了这场骗局，被判了150年监禁。
1️⃣The second worry is that family offices could magnify the power of the wealthy over the economy. 2️⃣This is possible: were Bill Gates to invest exclusively in Turkey, he would own 65% of its stockmarket. 3️⃣But the aim is usually to diversify risk, not concentrate power, by taking capital from the original family business and putting it into a widely spread portfolio. 4️⃣The family-office industry is less concentrated than mainstream asset management, which a few firms such as BlackRock dominate. 5️⃣Compared with most fund managers, family offices have welcome habits, including a longer-term horizon and an appetite for startups.
第二个担忧是家庭办公室会放大有钱人在经济领域中的权力。想象一下假如比尔盖茨单单只在土耳其投资的话，他会坐拥65%的股票市场，几乎就占据了整个土耳其的股票市场。但是家庭办公室理论上不会做出这种行为，因为投资是为了将资金从原有的家族企业中取出来，再放到更广的投资组合中，不会把鸡蛋放在一个篮子里，以此来分散风险，而不是集中权力。而且，即便是主流的资产管理的企业，也被一些大公司所控制，比如BlackRock。与大多数的资金管理者相比，家庭办公室的操作更受欢迎，比如更长期限的时间，扶持创业公司。
1️⃣The second worry is that family offices could magnifythe power of the wealthy over the economy.
👉magnify这个词让人很容易想到它的名词形式magnifier放大镜。它的动词意思也和它的名词息息相关。
第一层意思字面意思的“放大”，eg:A lens would magnify the picture so it would be like looking at a large TV screen.
第二层意思是”夸大，夸张” 近义词是exaggerate， 和中文也有异曲同工之妙，放大也有夸大事实的意思。
eg. The report tends to magnify the risks involved.
2️⃣This is possible: were Bill Gates to invest exclusively in Turkey, he would own 65% of its stockmarket.
👉were... would 虚拟语气, If Bill Gates were to invest exclusively in Turkey, he would own 65% of its stockmarket.
3️⃣But the aim is usually to diversify risk, not concentrate power, by taking capital from the original family business and putting it into a widely spread portfolio.
👉portfolio 商业领域中，是指投资组合。通常使用时，是指代表作品集，尤其是美术作品集。
5️⃣Compared with most fund managers, family offices have welcome habits, including a longer-term horizon and an appetite for startups.
👉horizon领域，眼界，范围（limits of what you want to do or of what you are interested or involved in.）这个词的最常见释义是地平线，
做眼界的意思大多数是复数形式。常见的搭配有expand/ broaden horizons
eg. By embracing other cultures and genres, we actually broaden our horizons, rather than narrow any existing ones.
on the horizon 即将来临的（ seem likely to happen in the future）
Business is good now, but there are a few problems on the horizon.
👉appetite for 强烈渴望 their strong desire for something. 这个词本来是指胃口，想要吃东西，引申一下也指对某事的渴望。
Eg. Someone's appetite for success
（三）文化背景
BlackRock, Inc. is an American global investment management corporation based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is today the world's largest asset manager with $6.29 trillion in assets under management as of December 2017. -Wiki
BlackRock这个公司随手查了一下发现虽然感觉没有听过这个名字，但确是一个金融世界的巨头。2016年，全球经济排名前三的国家中除了美国和中国之外，第三名是日本，它的GDP总规模是4.38万亿美元。这家公司管理着超过日本GDP总量的资金，其资产规模在资产管理行业几无对手，甚至超过了很多知名银行和保险公司。苹果、麦当劳、壳牌等我们常常听到的跨国企业，这个投资公司都是他们的最大单一股东之一。
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