很多同學喜歡閱讀經濟學人 [The Economist], 這的確是本很實用的雜誌, 我摘錄了一篇與IELTS 寫作第二題社會議題有關的文章, 這篇有中英文對照, 給大家做學習參考(不是要你去學翻譯啦, 別誤會了). 你們會讀到很多眼熟的句型以及字彙, 都是老師我上寫作課有提到過的喔!

以下文章轉載自:
http://www.ecocn.org/bbs/thread-38034-1-1.html

Global house prices  全球房價
Froth and stagnation 泡沫和停滯

House prices in parts of Asia continue to soar, despite efforts to slow them
儘管努力使其放緩，亞洲部分地區的樓價還是持續暴漲。

IN RECENT months several countries have experimented with measures to cool bubbly property markets. Yet since The Economist’s global round-up of housing markets was last published in April, house-price inflation has accelerated in some of the very countries where the authorities have intervened to slow its rise.
最近幾個月，多個國家試著採取措施為充滿泡沫的房地產市場降溫。然而，自最近一次本刊全球樓市綜合資訊4月出版後，房價通貨膨脹加快的正是一些當局介入放緩上漲的國家。

Asia has been at the forefront of such interventions. In February Singapore’s government raised down-payment requirements and imposed stamp duties on all residential properties sold within a year of purchase in a bid to curb speculation. Despite these steps prices in the island nation rose by nearly 40% in the year to the end of the second quarter, after a rise of just over 25% in the year to the end of the first quarter. Singapore has overtaken Hong Kong to become the frothiest housing market among those we monitor.
亞洲是這種干預的帶頭。2月，新加坡政府提高了首付要求，並向所有在購買後一年內出售的住房徵收印花稅以抑制投機。儘管採取了這些步驟，到今年第二季度末，島國的房價上漲了近40%，今年第一季度上漲僅僅逾25%。新加坡超過香港成為我們監控的樓市中泡沫最多的樓市。

House prices in Australia rose by 20% in the year to the end of the first quarter, faster than the 13.5% recorded in the 12 months to late 2009. More concerning, however, is our analysis of “fair value” in housing, which is based on comparing the current ratio of house prices to rents with its long-term average. By this measure Australian property is the most overvalued of any of the 20 countries we track. A frothy property market was one of the reasons for the Reserve Bank of Australia raising interest rates six times between October and May. Since then, the bank has become more sanguine about the state of the market. It cited “some signs that the earlier buoyancy in the housing market was easing” when keeping interest rates on hold in June.
今年第一季度澳大利亞的房價上漲了20%，比到2009年末12個月中創下的13.5%的記錄還要快。然而，更加令人憂慮的是我們對於住房中“公平價值”的分析，這是基於目前房價與租金的比率和其長期平均比率的比較。根據這種標準進行衡量，澳大利亞的房地產是我們跟蹤記錄的20個國家中高估最多的。充滿泡沫的房地產市場是澳大利亞央行在去年10月至今年5月期間六次加息的原因之一。此後，澳大利亞對市場狀況變得更加樂觀。它稱，六月份通過控制利率，“有跡象表明較早時候活躍的樓市正在緩和”。

China’s property-cooling measures, meanwhile, which were similar to Singapore’s, were announced in April. Our house-price figures for China now extend to the end of May. They help explain why the Chinese government had become more concerned. Year-on-year house-price inflation peaked in April at 12.8%, but has since moderated a bit.
與此同時，4月份，中國宣佈了房地產降溫措施。這些措施與新加坡的措施大同小異。目前，我們擁有了到5月末的中國房價資料。它們有助於解釋為何中國政府日益憂慮。同期房價通脹率4月份高居12.8%，但是隨後有所緩和。

The prospect that house prices in China are about to fall sharply worries some. Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard professor, said this week: “You’re starting to see that collapse in property and it’s going to hit the banking system.” But Sun Mingchun, chief economist for China at Nomura, an investment bank, reckons that high down-payment requirements and the preponderance of cash purchases by Chinese homebuyers will help to limit the effects of any falls on the real economy.
中國房價將暴跌的預期讓一些人擔憂。哈佛大學教授肯尼斯羅格夫本周說：“你將目睹房地產崩潰從而重創銀行系統。”但是野村證券投資銀行駐中國首席經濟學家孫明春認為首付金的高要求以及中國住房買家現金買房的優勢將有助於限制任何實體經濟崩潰的影響。

For America the balance of evidence points to a renewed housing slowdown. Although both the Case-Shiller national and ten-city indices are up year-on-year, the national index fell during the three months to the end of March. The FHFA index, which excludes houses that are financed with large mortgages, was still down compared with a year earlier. More recent home-sales data have been similarly downbeat. Sales of new homes declined by 33% from April to May, thanks to the expiry of a tax credit. Just 28,000 new units were sold during May, the lowest total on record for that month. In Asia policymakers are trying to prick a bubble. In America they are still dealing with the consequences of the last one.

就美國而言，衡量證據表明房價將再次下滑。儘管凱斯席勒全國和十大城市指數同比上揚，但是全國指數在到3月份為止的三個月期間有所下跌。剔除由大量抵押貸款提供資金的住房的[聯邦住房融資機構指數]與一年前相比仍然在下跌。更多最近的賣房資料也是類似的萎靡不振。由於稅收優惠政策結束，新住房銷售量在4月至5月期間減少33%。5月，只售出了2.8萬套新住房，是這個月的最低記錄。在亞洲，決策者正努力刺破泡沫。在美國，他們還在應對上次泡沫破裂的後果。