【速度】+【越障练习】GMAT得阅读者得天下，大家一起来练阅读吧

南浦草

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进击的智人阿飞

【越障】1-2 （商业金融）

America's mortgage giants :Fannie and Freddie ride again

   The subprime mess provides anopportunity for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to salvage their reputations

WHERE there is crisis, there isalso opportunity. The turmoil afflicting parts of America's giant residentialmortgage market has already claimed dozens of casualties, including two BearStearns hedge funds that bet the wrong way on structured products backed byloans to subprime borrowers. But Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, thegovernment-chartered siblings that tower over the market, spy gold in therubble—or at least a chance to polish their tarnished reputations.

Founded to promote affordablehousing, Fannie and Freddie make life easier for lenders by buying their homeloans and packaging them as securities, or by guaranteeing third parties'issuance of mortgagebacked bonds. Between them they hold or support assetsworth more than $4 trillion. It was, therefore, no trifling matter when theywere found to have misreported earnings in 2001-04—by a combined $11 billion.Top executives were jettisoned, huge fines imposed, and the pair were hit withportfolio caps and higher capital requirements.

The journey to redemption has beenbackbreaking. They have spent billions of dollars on new systems and controls.At one point, more than 60 “restatement teams” were beavering away at Fannie,trying to make sense of its labyrinthine books. Their work is finally paying off.Fannie said recently that it will return to timely reporting next spring,earlier than expected, while Freddie will do so this year. The surprise liftedFannie's shares, which are up by around 13% this year.

Fannie and Freddie also hope toregain credibility by portraying themselves as buyers of last resort in thesubprime market, as private lenders belatedly tighten standards and investorsrun from toxic mortgagebacked debt. They have pledged to buy tens of billionsof dollars of new subprime mortgages, and are working on products to alleviatethe plight of the worst-hit borrowers. As a result, their market share hasgrown in recent months, though not quite to the level it was at before thescandals. Remarkably, Fannie's portfolio grew at an annual rate of 14% in May.The news this week of problems at another group of hedge funds where subprimebets turned sour, run by United Capital, is likely to send more business theirway.

Some question the motives of theso-called government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), accusing them of using thecrisis to cherry-pick the best subprime customers without taking much extrarisk. “They paint themselves as saviours, but they are essentiallyopportunists,” says Bert Ely, a consultant and long-time critic of the pair.

Satoshi Kambayashi

But with Congress having declaredwar on “predatory” lending, the move is politically smart. Nor can anyone denythat Fannie and Freddie are well placed to take a lead. Sentiment has swungquickly away from exotic adjustable-rate mortgages towards the safer fixed-rateproducts that are their bread and butter. And because they were forced to showrestraint while others grabbed every bit of business going, their portfolioshave plenty of room to grow. James Lockhart, the director of the Office ofFederal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), the GSEs' regulator, sees it asan opportunity for them to educate the market in sound underwriting.

This is a time when Fannie andFreddie can prove their worth as market stabilisers, argues Patricia Cook, asenior Freddie Mac executive. And because the lack of liquidity that comes withinstability means higher spreads, they should be able to meet the mission intheir charters (to provide liquidity, stability and affordability) while alsopleasing their shareholders. “Sometimes it's a very elegant model,” she says.Analysts agree: they have been raising the GSEs' price targets.

But not everyone is so sanguine.Though they do not engage in subprime lending, Fannie and Freddie hold largepiles of bonds linked to such mortgages, some of it packaged externally. Asmall but significant share of this “private label” paper is rated below AAA,the top notch. In a recent report, Federal Financial Analytics, a consultancy,noted that a 15-30% writedown of this non-AAA slice—hardly inconceivable giventhe continuing rise in subprime delinquencies—would result in losses of up to$3 billion for Freddie and $3.6 billion for Fannie. That would knock back theirreturn to financial normalcy.

This kind of analysis sets pulsesracing at the Treasury, where officials worry about the threat the GSEs pose tothe broader financial system. The problem is not just their size. The implicitgovernment guarantee they enjoy, thanks to their charters, means they canborrow at rates close to those on risk-free Treasury bonds, whatever theirfinancial state. This encourages them to grow recklessly. Mr Lockhart pointsout that between 1990 and 2005 their portfolios grew tenfold. American GDPdoubled over the same period.

If Fannie or Freddie were to getinto serious trouble, taxpayers would be on the hook for huge amounts. Worse,banks would be severely hurt, since they are allowed to hold as much of the twoinstitutions' debt as they want. Thousands do. Many hold more GSE paper than theydo regulatory capital. This raises the spectre of a broad financial crisis ifeither of the mortgage giants were to collapse.

That seems highly unlikely at themoment. Indeed, as Brian Harris of Moody's points out, even without theirimplicit guarantee Fannie and Freddie would be among the most highly-ratedfinancial institutions. And yet things can change quickly: Fannie, remember,fell into technical insolvency in the 1980s, not long after having been inapparently fine fettle. This is why the Treasury, OFHEO and others are urgingCongress to pass a bill that gives the currently feeble regulator similarpowers to those of bank supervisors.

The GSEs seem unworried by theprospect of more stringent regulation. Deep down they are probably moreconcerned about threats from new forms of competition, such as covered bonds(on-balance-sheet instruments that enjoy a AAA rating because they are wellcollateralised) and home-loan securitisation trusts, which serve groups ofbanks. These innovations, as well as an increasingly liquid secondary marketwhen times are good, could allow commercial banks to muscle in on the GSEs'turf. Fannie and Freddie should enjoy their subprime bounce while it lasts.

（1038 words）

NicoleJHL

楼主加油！9.10之后和你一起打卡！

进击的智人阿飞

速度 1-2
计时1 +3行
计时2 56s
计时3 +3行
计时4 +3行
计时5 50s  
有些字直接粘贴过来就粘在一起了，今天发的会排版一下的。
以及发现读的太细反而又慢又记不住文章大意了，快速扫过反而要好些

进击的智人阿飞

越障1-2   9min 20s
这篇感觉专业词汇好多，而且是不能忽视的那种。提前预警两个单词
Subprime 次级房贷   (of a loan) made to a borrower with a poor credit rating, usually at a high rate of interest
Underwriting 担保：  If an institution or company underwrites an activity or underwrites the cost of it, they agree to provide any money that is needed to cover losses or buy special equipment, often for an agreed-upon fee.
这篇讲了Fa 和 Fre两个房贷公司在危机下的表现和一些批评担忧
1. 总起段：虽然处于经济危机，但两个公司是向好的
2. 介绍了下着这种公司的主要事业: 通过买入债券发形式借出钱？
危机：他们 2001-2004的财务报表数据被认为作假，接下来就讲了如何化解的
3. 建立了一个小组去分析，解释这些disparity
4. 把自己塑造成一个次贷危机的接盘侠
5. GSE （国企）对Fa 和Fre的批评：说他们乘人之危，利用危机去赚那些次贷者的钱（但后面有说他们没有直接参与次贷借款，这里有点忘了是咋操作的），实际没有承担风险
6. 解释了Fa 和Fre 向好的一个原因：在国家政策对predatory lending 的反感下，他们是受到支持的。以及他们没有直接涉及次贷，但他们的金融资产涉及（？？？）
7. 有人担忧了一下Fa 和Fre 发生危机可能产生的后果，但作者马上否认了发生这种危机的可能
8. GSE 对competition的concern（忘了为什么写这个）

进击的智人阿飞

越障1-2 长难句 （from 谷歌翻译）

Founded to promote affordable housing, Fannie and Freddie make life easier for lenders by buying their home loans and packaging them as securities, or by guaranteeing third parties'issuance of mortgage backed bonds.
为了促进经济实惠的住房，房利美和房地美通过购买房屋并将其打包成证券，或通过保证第三方对抵押贷款债券的保证，使贷款人的生活更轻松。

Fannie and Freddie also hope to regain credibility by portraying themselves as buyers of last resort in the subprime market, as private lenders belatedly tighten standards and investors run from toxic mortgage backed debt.
房利美和房地美也希望通过将自己描绘成次级抵押贷款市场的最后购买者来重新获得信誉，因为私人贷款机构姗姗来迟地收紧标准，而投资者则来自有抵押贷款支持债务。

And because the lack of liquidity that comes with instability means higher spreads, they should be able to meet the mission in their charters (to provide liquidity, stability and affordability) while also pleasing their shareholders.
而且由于缺乏流动性带来的不稳定意味着更高的利差，他们应该能够履行其章程中的使命（提供流动性，稳定性和可负担性），同时也让股东满意。

兔公主最乖

谢谢楼主

进击的智人阿飞

今天先把越障发了，是从美国海洋局博客摘的，比较短。原链接在这里 https://noaacoastsurvey.wordpress.com/2018/07/20/noaa-surveys-the-unsurveyed-leading-the-way-in-the-u-s-arctic/
【越障1-3】NOAA surveys the unsurveyed, leading the wayin the U.S. Arctic （自然地理）

President Thomas Jefferson, who founded Coast Survey in 1807,commissioned Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery Expedition in 1803, the first American expedition to cross the western portion of the contiguous United States. Today there remains a vast western America territory that is largely unknown and unexplored – the U.S. waters off the coast of Alaska. As a leader in ocean mapping, NOAA Coast Survey launches hydrographic expeditions to discover what lies underneath the water’s surface.

Alaska is one-fifth the size of the contiguous United States, and has more than 33,000 miles of shoreline. In fact, the Alaskan coast comprises 57 percent of the United States’ navigationally significant waters and all of the United States’ Arctic territory. Alaskan and Arctic waters are largely uncharted with modern surveys, and many areas that have soundings were surveyed using early lead line technology from the time of Capt. Cook, before the region was part of the United States. Currently only 4.1percent of the U.S. maritime Arctic has been charted to modern international navigation standards.

In part, Arctic waters are difficult to survey because of the sheets of sea ice persist throughout the majority of the year. Traditionally,thick ice sheets have restricted the number of vessels that travel in the area.But Arctic ice is declining and sea ice melt forecasts indicate the complete loss of summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean as early as two or three decades from now, meaning year-round commercial vessel traffic is likely to increase.

Given the vast expanse of ocean to be charted in the U.S. Arctic, Coast Survey determined charting priorities and coordinated activities in the U.S. Arctic Nautical Charting Plan, the third issue of which was released in August 2016. The plan proposes 14 new charts and was created following consultations with maritime interests, the public, and federal, state, and local governments.

In July and August, the crew aboard the NOAAShip Fairweather is fulfilling a piece of the U.S. ArcticNautical Charting Plan as they conduct hydrographic surveys in the vicinity of Cape Lisburne and Point Hope, Alaska. Seventy percent of this area has never been surveyed, while the remaining 30 percent has only lesser bottom coverage from single beam surveys conducted in the early 1960s. The data will be used to produce nautical charts that align with Coast Survey’s new rescheming efforts as stated in the National Charting Plan. This is one of seven hydrographic surveys NOAA has planned inAlaska for 2018.

The data Coast Survey collects is the firststep, as exploration is an iterative process and bathymetric data provides a foundation from which to build. The benefits of surveying extend beyond safe navigation. Accurate seafloor depths are important for forecasting weather,tsunami, and storm surge events that affect local communities. Bathymetric data also informs the discovery of seabed minerals, historic wrecks, and naturalresource habitat mapping.

As with any new endeavor, there is a balance between exploration, safety, environmental conservation, and commerce. Lt. BartBuesseler is Coast Survey’s regional navigation manager for Alaska and works directly with Alaskancommunities, mariners, and port authorities to communicate local needs,concerns, and requests. As many Native Alaskan coastal communities still rely on subsistence hunting of marine mammals, these changes in ice and vessel traffic create a direct impact to their way of life. With that in mind, Lt.Buesseler works with communities and maritime users to identify the priorities that will best support the needs of an area while still addressing the concerns of the communities. It is through this collaboration that the balance between exploration, safety, conservation, and commerce can be achieved.

The Lewis and Clark expedition aimed to map anew territory, learn about the environment, and find a practical land route through the continent. By conducting hydrographic surveys to collect depthmeasurements of the ocean – and putting those markings on a nautical chart with other navigation information – Coast Survey leads the way for safe maritimepassage in the U.S. Arctic.

（673 words）

兔公主最乖

小安阅读81篇，只看到文章，没看到题目啊？