【每日阅读训练第四期——速度越障13系列】【13-14】经管

kudoucliff

Dear all,


It is the first time that Heathcliff takes this role, nervous that I spent vast amounts of time choosing the news.

Sorry for the delay, and I hide the headlines with white color-you can check them after finishing each part.

If you have any concerns, please kindly let me know~~Hope you enjoy it(^o^)




SPEED

【Time 1】
World Bank Makes Prediction for Global Economy
The World Bank released its Global Economic Prospects report this week. World Bank experts are using the words "fragile" and "uncertain" to describe the economic recovery this year.

The report predicts the international economy will grow a little over two percent in 2013. Slightly greater economic expansion is expected in 2014 and 2015.

Predictions of limited growth have become familiar since the financial crisis four years ago. Wealthy countries are expected to have slower growth than developing ones as they deal with larger amounts of debt and big budget deficits.

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim is urging developing countries to become drivers of growth. But he notes that it was important to build a foundation for growth that can last over time.

He said, "What we are suggesting is that we cannot wait for the return growth in the high income countries. We really need developing countries to think about setting the stage for medium- and long-term growth. We have to continue to support developing countries in making investments in infrastructure, in health, in education."

Andrew Burns is lead author of the report. He says it is not only important to build roads and bridges, but to invest money in health care and effort in government reforms. Some high-growth developing countries, such as China, are spending a lot on public works projects, but spend little on health care.

The report notes the threat of European nations failing to make debt payments has eased. The World Bank President says Europe and America have approved some measures to deal with economic weakness. But financial policy remains a work in progress.

He said, "So despite promising, and sometimes courageous measures taken in Europe...issues remain in the Eurozone and of course we have fiscal policy issues in the United States."

The World Bank notes that budget deficits are decreasing in most other high-income nations. But these nations continue to carry a lot of debt compared to the size of their economies.

Developing countries are positioned for stronger growth. But they will face basic risks to economic progress over the next few years. World Bank chief Kim said he is concerned that low supplies of important grains, such as wheat and corn, could bring high food prices, hurting the poor.

The World Bank offers knowledge, assistance and loans to developing countries. Economic conditions in high-income nations affect the developing world because they are the largest and most developed markets for exports. Such nations are also the providers of investment that can fuel economic growth.

(420)


【Time 2】
How's Your Job? Which Professions Are Prospering
2012 was a good year to be a credit analyst, sheet metal worker or tour guide.

Those fields saw their unemployment rates drop by at least six percentage points between 2011 and 2012, according to figures released Friday by the Department of Labor.

The agency's Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks the average annual jobless rates for more than 500 occupational categories.

The data for 2012 mirrors the general direction of a slowly improving labor market, with nearly 300 professions showing higher employment and only around 170 recording losses. (See a chart of unemployment rates by occupation, here.)

Some professions clergy (1.2% unemployed), accountants (4.2%), and dental hygienists (2.8%) showed no movement up or down. Other occupations had too few people (fish and game warden, anyone?) to even register in the statistical galaxy.

Among the relative bright spots are production occupations primarily in manufacturing which collectively posted a gain of 313,000 jobs, and saw unemployment drop from 11.2% in 2011 to 9.3% in 2012.

The new data confirms a trend that the sector while enduring a long-term decline due to globalization and technological change is seeing a mini-renaissance. The unemployment rate for machinists, for example, is 5.9%, well below the national jobless rate of 7.8%. Other production occupations such as welding, soldering and brazing workers, with an unemployment rate that dropped from 13.3% to 11%, are still struggling.

'2012 in general was quite frankly a so-so year in manufacturing,' said Bradley Holcomb, chair of the Institute for Supply Management's Manufacturing Business Survey Committee.

'It started off in fairly good shape but leveled off and went sideways for the last seven months with a lot of overall concern about Europe, China and the fiscal cliff,' he added.


(285)


【Time 3】
Of China's Financial Bondage
Xi Jinping's accession to power has raised hopes China will restart economic reforms, so it is not surprising that observers have latched onto data this month that shows bank lending declining and bond markets growing. But far from an indicator of progress, this trend compounds the challenge of liberalizing China's financial markets.

Analysts estimate that in 2012, bank loans will fall to their lowest level ever as a share of total funding in the economy, to around 55%. This is not because capital is drying up in China. A total funding for the economy is up over 20% this year and is set to exceed an incredible 30% of GDP for the fourth year in a row.

Rather, it's because bank loans are no longer the only source of capital. Unlike a decade ago when bank lending accounted for 90% of corporate financing, now corporate bonds and loans arranged by trust companies have entered the picture. This is supposed to be good news because it weakens the grip of the state-owned banks on the financial system.

However, the state-owned banks are the biggest buyers in the bond market. The most important thing to understand about China's financial markets is that the big five state banks are nearly the only source of capital, simply because they control 70% of all retail deposits. These banks hold over 60% of all outstanding bonds, including government, policy-bank and corporate bonds. Other state-owned entities hold a further 30%.

This means that the much-heralded bond markets are little more than thinly disguised loan markets. Banks' bond portfolios are huge, accounting for 25% to 30% of total bank assets.

It is no surprise, then, that when bond issuance surges, bank bond portfolios expand. Since 2008, bank bond portfolios have grown at a remarkable average compounded rate of 27% per year. In other words, a decline in bank lending and a surge in bond issuance doesn't exclude banks from the borrowing and lending process.

(326)


【Time 4】


The reform argument is also weakened once we consider who's actually selling in the bond market.

About 96% of all corporate issuers are state-owned, and they account for 99% of all capital raised.

Moreover, 45% of all issuers in 2012 were local government financing platforms, now infamous for the debt they piled up in the post-crisis years. These players used the market to refinance their existing borrowings with longer-maturity bonds.

Because these issuers are mostly state entities, one has to be suspicious about how their credit risks are assessed. China's five ratings agencies, also state-owned, have naturally declared all the issuances investment grade and even the bonds of local governments. It's extremely unlikely that these agencies will face pressure to downgrade state debt. In contrast, at least the judgment of regular bank managers is routinely questioned by external auditors, investors and regulators.

Further muddying financial-market transparency is the fact that bonds in China are extremely illiquid. Instead of trading them in a robust secondary market, banks buy them and hold them until maturity. In effect, the bonds go on bank balance sheets and disappear. So investors aren't constantly assessing the credit-worthiness of a company or a local government, as they do in the West. This is one reason banks' non-performing loans remain suspiciously low at around 1% of all assets.

That's not all. The story of these bond markets cannot be complete without touching on China Development Bank, the country's de facto second Ministry of Finance. CDB funds itself by selling its long-term bonds to the state banks and, according to its mission statement, invests in infrastructure projects across China. But in the last two years it has begun to work with local governments to restructure their short-term commercial-bank borrowings into its own long-term loans. Essentially, it's buying these loans off commercial banks.

This is hugely problematic for transparency since CDB is unlikely ever to be listed and does not provide detailed financial statements. Hence, the magnitude of its new role as a super asset management company is not just unknown today, it's unknowable.

(344)


【Time 5】


The bond markets have simply become another tool Beijing uses to kick the can of the economy's non-performing loan problem down the road. In the absence of a major credit event (i.e., default), state banks are under no pressure to mark bonds to market to reflect lower asset quality. With credit ratings fictitious, and government backing assumed by all, banks won't need to provision anything for the bonds.

And since there will be fewer worries about financial indicators such as loan-loss provisions, banks are now free to lend more of their deposits out. It would seem that everybody wins: shareholders, regulators and bankers on one hand, and on the other, corporate borrowers and in turn China's economy as it resumes growth off another credit expansion.

There is a one immediate cost to this financial sleight of hand. Despite longer maturities, the yields on Chinese bond portfolios tend to be significantly lower than loan portfolios. Swapping loans for bonds then inevitably squeezes bank margins.

More importantly, as bond portfolios grow larger, interest-rate liberalization becomes more politically difficult. In recent months, there has at least been some regulatory interest in freeing China's artificially depressed lending and savings rates, but now that could vanish too. Higher interest rates would not only hurt banks' margins on their traditional lending, it would also hit their bond portfolios by forcing a mark-to-market charge, since as yields go up the price of these securities would go down.

It's unlikely China's banks will collapse in the near term, but the systemic risks to the financial system are growing. If China is to abandon its investment-driven economic model, it has to unwind its bank balance sheets. The creation of captive bond markets makes that reform even more difficult.

(289)


【OBSTACLE】

2013: Talk Gets Cheaper, TV Gets Smarter

Personal technology never stops changing. Some new products and services are game changers, like Apple's iPhone and iPad. Others are clever twists or refinements, like each successive version of Google's Android platform, which gets better and better. Others are bold gambles, like Microsoft's new Windows 8, which hopes to combine both a tablet experience and a traditional PC environment in one operating system. But there's always something new, from large companies and small ones.

So here are a few things consumers will likely see in technology in 2013. Many of these began to take shape in the past year, but will be stronger trends in the new year.

Tablets vs. PCs

While the iPad line, including the new Mini, continues to dominate the tablet market, Android-based tablets are finally gaining traction. But the bigger story is that tablets will continue to erode the role of laptop PCs.

Consumers are using tablets for more and more tasks formerly performed by laptops. Traditional computers aren't going away -- they still do certain tasks, like heavy content creation, better than tablets. But consumers seem, at the very least, to be replacing their laptops less often and spending discretionary funds on tablets, which are gradually replacing another device: the dedicated e-reader. Many analysts had expected Windows 8 to halt or reverse this trend, and it may yet do so. But early indications aren't encouraging.

Integrating Hardware And Software

Meanwhile, another big trend is emerging: Apple's model of one company making the entire device -- hardware, operating system, core apps and an online ecosystem -- is beginning to take hold elsewhere. In October, Microsoft unveiled its first computer, the Surface tablet. The company will follow it up as soon as this month with a second, more powerful version. I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft also made its own smartphone this year.

Google is also moving in Apple's direction. It now sells three devices -- a smartphone and two tablets -- under its Nexus brand. These products are built by partner companies, but designed by Google. Now that Google owns its own hardware company, Motorola Mobility, I expect it to get deeper into the integrated model. Motorola, freshly stocked with former Google executives, is reported to be building advanced new hardware devices tightly integrated with Android.

Rethinking Television

Samsung and others already make TVs that can connect to the Internet, and stream Internet video and run tablet-type apps, without any special set-top box. But I find them clumsy, and their 'smart TV' functions haven't taken off with consumers yet. This may be the year they do.

The biggest expectation is that Apple, which has been working hard on the problem, will finally unveil its long-rumored TV this year, with the goal of greatly simplifying the TV and smoothly melding Internet and cable content. Many, including me, thought it might appear in 2012, but the company reportedly ran into difficulties in negotiating with media companies for content rights. Meanwhile, Apple's tiny, $99 Apple TV box, while still a relatively small seller, is gaining popularity, partly because the company has built into its laptops, tablets and phones a feature called AirPlay which can use an Apple TV box to wirelessly stream audio and video to a TV.

Cheaper Smartphones and Plans

Smartphones are everywhere in the developed world, but most are still expensive -- around $200 after a carrier subsidy that requires a two-year contract. And the monthly service fees can easily approach or exceed $100, especially if you use a lot of data, which is the very essence of a smartphone's purpose.

There are already some smartphones, usually older, less capable or less popular models, available for $99 or $49 or even free with a contract. But I expect to see better smartphones at lower prices in 2013, especially those running the dominant Android platform, and the handsome, but low-selling Windows Phone platform from Microsoft.

In addition, some companies are beginning to offer really cheap monthly plans. One example: Republic Wireless, which offers unlimited voice, text and data for $19 a month on a small, Android phone, the Motorola Defy XT, using older software that has been modified to make voice calls where possible over Wi-Fi instead of a costlier carrier network.

Costlier, Better Music Players

Audiophiles and recording artists have never much liked the compressed music files that now fill every iPod and smartphone. They complain that the richness of the original recording is lost because the song files are optimized for minimum space and download time, and because they are often made from CDs, not from the master studio tapes.

So in 2013, there will be a push to sell a new kind of portable music player that can handle high quality music. The Korean electronics company, iRiver, has introduced the Astell & Kern AK100, a $700 player that can play much higher fidelity digital music. The legendary rocker Neil Young is backing a second venture, Pono, which is doing something similar. In addition to the price, there's another downside: The files can be 10 to 20 times as large as standard digital songs, so many fewer tracks fit in a given amount of memory.

Fitness and Health Monitors

In 2012, sensor-packed wristbands like the Nike+ FuelBand and the Jawbone Up were introduced to measure how many steps people take in a day, how well they sleep, and other indicators of health and fitness. I expect this trend to continue in 2013, in different forms and with more sophisticated sensors. One new product, the Basis, is a watch with sensors on the back that measures resting heart rate. All of these devices tie into mobile apps or Web-based dashboards to track progress and offer advice.

Internet-Controlled Everything

Another trend I expect to see in 2013 is an expansion of apps and devices that let people wirelessly control many everyday objects, from light bulbs to appliances, using low-powered networks and smartphones or tablets. And we'll likely see more smart devices with such intelligence built in, similar to the Nest intelligent thermostat, which is Wi-Fi powered.

These are just a few of the trends likely to mark the consumer tech landscape in 2013. Others will also be prominent, most notably the continued reliance on the cloud, or remote servers, to store content and work collaboratively. One thing is sure: There are certain to be developments that will surprise us all, and can't be forecast here.

(1068）

TerraceHo

終於明白占座沙發是神馬意思哇！占一個~~~謝謝lz啊~~知道不少tech東東~~~!! 當天交作業done~~!!><

2013/1/23
[speed]
2'25
The world bank released the global economic report and thinks that the global economic environment is uncertain in the 2013. Besides, it also believes that developing countries are the potential growth for the global economy.
1'55
According to the figures released by the Department of labor, the passage generalizes the unemployment rates among different sectors in 2012.
2'35
Although the banking lending is shrinking and the bond markets are growing, it does not mean that China's financial markets are more liberated. Because bank loans are not the only source of capital now, and most bonds are bought by the state-owned banks, the grip of the state-owned banks on the financial markets is still very strong.
3'03
Because the bonds are issued and sold by the goverment entities, the reform of bond markets is misguided. Besides, the ratings agencies are all state-owned, so it is impossible to have a fair and proper ratings of the issued bonds. And the reasons why the bonds in China are illiquid lie in the huge grip of stagnant capital of the banks and also the opaque financial situation of the China Development Bank.
2'55
The passage continues to demonstrate why the reform of bond markets in China is difficult. Although banks are free to lend more money out, the low yields of the bonds cause the cost to be relatively high. Besides, interest-rate liberalization becomes harder as bond portfolios grow larger.
[Obstacle]
9'00
The passage introduces some predictable changes in technology.
-->consumers will be less likely to replace their laptops and spend discretionary funds on tablets.
-->hardware companies and software companies will be integrated to make devices.
-->as the technology of TV connecting the Internet gets widespread, Apple is going to sell its TV products.
-->given the less popular models and cheap monthly plans, the total price of smartphones will go down.
-->portal music players can play music with high quality but also with high price.
-->products to measure the health of humans are getting widespread.
-->the technology of wireless control will apply to more products.

铁板神猴

cliff的帖子质量真不错呀！赞一个！占座明早来读~ cliff同学辛苦啦！ORZ~~

kudoucliff

（1）2:21，The passage announced a report using negative words to predict economy in 2013. The leader urged developing countries to be the engine of the world economy, they asked to establish a mode that can benefit them in mid- or long-term rather than short term. Investment structure is also discussed, more investment on health care highly appreciated. Developed countries have taken measures to deal with economic weakness, but several issues remain.
（2）1:29，The passage is about employment rate. In some industries, the rate has been lowered down, while in others, it is still struggling. Manufacturing experiences a renaissance, but not too exciting.
（3）2:03，The passage is about the relationship between bond and lending in financial market of China. Xi was access to power, bringing confidence to economic reform, which in turn discouraged loans and encouraged bonds. Recently, the surge of bonds market weakens the role of state-owned banks in the economy. However, state-owned banks are the primary buyers of bonds, of government, of policy banks and of companies. Thus, state-owned banks still play an essential role, even influencing the economy in other ways in spite of lending.
（4）1:59，The passage is about the disguise state-owned banks used. State-owned banks are the major issuers of corporation bonds. Most of the corporations are state-owned entities, whose credit were graded by state-owned institutions. Thus, the corporations' financial condition is suspicious. Also, the liquidity of the bonds is low; banks buy them but not sell out. This is why banks' assets are relatively low. CDB, China's politic bank, never discloses its financial data. It finances itself by issuing long term bonds to state-owned bank and invests the collected money to infrastructure.
（5）1:46，The passage is about the financial truth of China. As lacking reliable credit grading, the state-owned banks don't know the risk it really confronts by purchasing the bonds. Every one seems to be the winner. However, China should divert its way of investment. This expansion of credit is not sustainable.
（6）6:06，The passage predicts several technology steps in the following year. 1, The tablets and PCs are likely to sell well; tablets are increasingly popular, causing more people to use the stuff to substitute PCs, while Microsoft develops Win 8, which is likely to stimulate the demands for PCs. 2, The smart TVs provision to be popular because Apple develops apps connecting Iphones and Ipads to smart TVs. 3, Some new stuffs are made for high-tech music. 4,  Cheaper smartphones are highly appreciated. 5, More apps to track people's health status and management. 6, People needs more apps to influence everyday life.

2012Michelle

欢迎Kudoucliff加入工作组！

辛苦了，文章很赞，特别是越障对平板、手机、电视等未来技术和市场变化的展望，很有趣。速度的文章难度比较合适，越障文章的框架很清晰，谢谢！

交作业

【13-14】
Time1-2'18"
Time2-1'26"
Time3-1'43"
Time4-1'56"
Time5-1'42"
Obstacle 5'15"

铁板神猴

Speed
2'27''
World bank released a report that a growth in 2012 is fragtile.
developing countries as a main global eco engine should pay more resource on basic risks such as health care, not just fundamental investment.
developed countries face a relative large danger of failing to make debt payments, though decreasing now.

1'52''
the employment improved this year, in many statistics.

2'11''
the state of the bank loans declines because of a rising bond market which might liberizing China's financial market.

2'33''
however almost all of bond issuers are state-owned, and the China Development Bank buys lots of the bonds. These two things weaken the economic reform.

2'07''
the bond market is simply a tool govenment uses to balance the bank loans (growing risks). however it could lower the bank margins.
Moreover, it's more difficult to liberalize the interest rates as the bond market grows????

Obstacle
6'49''

IrisZZZ

呀 今天太晚回来了。。。赶紧补上阅读
感觉整个速度越看越慢。。。
time
2'57'
2'28'
2'35'
3’24’
2‘40’
obstacle
7‘14’

perfectends

4.30

The world economy is in frigile and uncertain situation and as the developed countries covers slow, more expertaion was put on the ecnomic growth of developing countries. And more developed countries should invest to developing countries for their education, health and so on.


2.27
The unimployment rate declined slowly in general. Some of the professions' unimployment rate do not change while other either dropped or raised a little, except those professions which too few people worked in the fields.

3.37
Xi Jinping's accession rise people's hope of China's finicial reform.


渣死了。。。头一回参加阅读训练。。。靠，这速度，等死8 。。。回忆也够渣的。。。单词瞅着眼熟想不起来那叫折磨。。。
先补作文，明天补全今天的剩余，还有检查修改下这渣回忆。。。

修一一

2'49
1'45
1'51
2'08
1'47
O:5'31赞一个！相当有意思！

fifiwong

1.(03'49'')experts use the word "fragile" and "uncertain" to describe the economy recovery in this year;the developing countries are considered the economy driver,but there are still some risk and challenge
2.(02'11'')in 2012 some fields saw their unemployment rate declined, but others kept in the same level or were struggling...
3.(02'34'')a economy reform in china has been expected, analysts estimate that in 2012 bank loans will fall to the lowest level because they are no longer the only source of capitals;however, the state-owned banks control nearly 70% of all retail deposits in China's financial market,a decline in bank lending and a surge in bond issuance doesn't exclude banks from the borrowing and lending process
4.(02'23'')the reform argument is weaken when we consider who is selling in the bond market; state-owned cooperates account for a large proportion;bonds in china are extremely illiquid, ...cannot be completed without touching on china development bank...
5.(02'36'')the bond markets have become another tool beijing uses to ...since...immediate cost...politically difficult...It's unlikely China's banks will collapse in the near term, but the systemic risks to the financial system are growing.
obstacle（07’46‘’）
main idea:a few things consumers will see in technology in 2013
1.many consumers use tablets to complete tasks which previously performed by laptops
2.more and more companies will provide consumers with integrated services included hardware and software
3.rethingking of smart TV?...
4.the price of better smart phones will be lower
5.portable music player that can handle high music quality
6. health fitness monitord with more different types and sophisticated sensors
7.internet-controlled everything, the expansion of apps let people control daily objects...
conclusion:there will be developments that surprise us and that cannot be predicted now