金融英語口語聽力教程第1課：西方的銀行(一)

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Banking in the West(1)

西方的銀行(一)

Situation 1

情景 1

Jiro Ito is visiting with his friend ,Bob Jenson ,a banker in New York .

伊滕次郎正與他的朋友鮑勃·詹森閑談。鮑勃是紐約的一位銀行職員。

They are talking about the history of banking in the west .

他們正在談?wù)撚嘘P(guān)西方銀行的歷史。

Ito:I'm curious about the history of banking in the west ,Bob.Can you tell me something about it ?

伊 滕：我很想知道有關(guān)西方銀行史的一些情況。鮑勃，您能給我講一講嗎?

Jensen:Well,Jiro,the earliest banks started in Babylon almost 4,000 years ago .

詹 森：好的，次郎。最早的銀行大約是4，000年前在巴比倫建立的。

They were really temples which collected deposits and made loans .

實(shí)際上，那些銀行只是一種收集存款并進(jìn)行放款的場(chǎng)所。

I :That surprises me .I had always thought that banking started during the Renaissance in Europe .

伊 滕：這可真是出乎我的意料之外，我原來一直以為銀行業(yè)務(wù)始于歐洲文藝復(fù)興時(shí)期呢。

J:No ,it was much earlier than that.Actually ,private firms that handled deposits and loans ,

詹 森：不，比那個(gè)時(shí)期要早多了。實(shí)際上，早在公元前6世紀(jì)就有了私營的商行。

changed coins and even arranged for credit transactions existed as early as the 6th century B.C.

這些商行從事儲(chǔ)蓄存款和貸款，兌換硬幣以至安排信貸交易。

I:Then ,there were banks in ancient Greece and Rome,too?

伊 滕：當(dāng)時(shí)，古希臘和羅馬也有銀行嗎?

J:Yes ,laws in Both Greece and Rome recognized banks and many bank functions .

詹 森：是的，希臘和羅馬都在法律上承認(rèn)了銀行和銀行的許多作用。

It wasn't until the breakup of the Roman Empire and the decline in trade and commercial transactions that banking lost its previous importance .

直到羅馬帝國崩潰，商貿(mào)業(yè)務(wù)衰落，銀行業(yè)才失去了它以往的重要性。

I:What about the laws against usury during the Middle Ages?Didn't such laws made it illegal to charge interest on loans?

伊 滕：中世紀(jì)時(shí)，法律禁止放高利貸是怎么回事?這些法律沒有規(guī)定貸款收取利息是非法的嗎?

J:Yes,they did ,but these laws were gradually changed during the 14th and 15th centuries,

詹 森：規(guī)定了，但是這些法律在14，15世紀(jì)時(shí)逐步地改變了，

and banking functions started appearing again in Italy and Belgium and later in France ,Germany and England .

銀行的作用又在意大利和比利時(shí)開始出現(xiàn)，后來又顯現(xiàn)在法國、德國和英國。

I:I see .So we can really say that banking restarted during the Renaissance .

伊 滕：我明白了。實(shí)際上我們可以說，銀行業(yè)在文藝復(fù)興時(shí)期又重新開始了。