自去年10月達成交易以來，貝爾斯登的股價已從當時的大約120美元跌至約80美元。中信證券的股價已下滑40%，至大約71元人民幣。

　　Bear’s shares have fallen from about 0 when the deal was signed in October to about now. Citic’s shares have dropped 40 per cent to about Rmb71.

　　據(jù)知情人士介紹，去年11月，在貝爾斯登股價出現(xiàn)驟跌后，中信證券首先提出重新討論它將在這家美國投行持有的股份。

　　Citic first broached the subject of renegotiating the stake it would take in Bear last November following a precipitous drop in the US bank’s shares, according to people familiar with the matter.

　　中信一位發(fā)言人表示，他不知道有任何談判正在進行。記者無法聯(lián)系上貝爾斯登駐日本的一位發(fā)言人置評。

　　A Citic spokesman said he had no knowledge of any ongoing negotiations and a Bear spokeswoman in Japan could not be reached for comment.

　　一名了解談判情況的人士稱，雙方增持對方股份是“合理的”，反映了雙方股價的下跌。 For the two sides to take larger shares in each other was “reasonable” and reflected their lower share prices, according to one person close to the negotiations.

　　另一位知情人士則持更為懷疑的態(tài)度。他表示：“這些都是猜測，是我們的競爭引起監(jiān)管機構擔憂造成的。雙方的股價都下跌了，但這并不意味著需要重新談判，除非這么做符合雙方股東的利益?！?/p>

　　Another source familiar with the matter was more sceptical, saying: “It is all speculation driven by our competition which is causing the regulators to become concerned. The prices on both sides have come down but that doesn’t mean that the deal will be renegotiated unless it is in the interest of shareholders on both sides.”

　　BEC中級考試閱讀素材2

　　Read the following text.

　　? Choose the best sentence from the list on page 52 to fill each of the gaps.

　　? For each gap 8 – 12 mark one letter A – I on your Answer Sheet.

　　? Do not mark any letter twice.

　　The Cash-free Society

　　Imagine a society in which cash no longer exists, Instead, “ cash ” is electronic, as in bank-card Systems. Currency and coin are abandoned.

　　____ example ____ . Theft of cash would BECome impossible. Bank robberies and cash-register robberies would simply cease to occur ____ ( 8 ) ____ . Purse snatchings would become a thing of the past. Urban streets would become safer ____ ( 9 ) ____ . Security costs and insurance rates would fall. Property values would rise. Neighbourhoods would improve.

　　Drug traffickers and their clients, burglars and receives of stolen property, arsonists for hire, and bribe-takers would no longer have the advantage of using untraceable currency. ____ ( 10 ) ____ These prosecutions, in turn, would inhibit further crimes.

　　In a society devoid of physical money, a change from cash to recorded electronic money would be accompanied by a flow of previously unpaid income-tax revenues running in the tens of billions of dollars. ____ (11) ____

　　Cash has been the root of much social and economic evil. ____ (12)____ Eighty percent of Americans regularly use credit cards. The development of a federal system to handle the country’s 300 billion annual cash transactions in the United States electronically is within reach.

　　Example: H.

　　A. A national electronic-money system would operate as a debit-card system.

　　B. Retail shops in once dangerous areas could operate in safety.

　　C. As a result, income tax rates could be lowered or the national debt reduced.

　　D. The use of cash has diminished substantially since World War II.

　　E. Attacks on shopkeepers, taxi drivers, and cashiers would all end.

　　F. The emergence of electronic funds-transfer technology makes it possible to change the nature of money and to divorce it from evil.

　　G. Almost every present-day cash transaction can be duplicated electronically.

　　H. The immediate benefits would be profound and fundamental.

　　I. Electronic “money” would leave incriminating trails of data, resulting in more arrests and convictions.

　　答案：Questions 8 – 12: E, B, I, C, F

　　BEC中級考試閱讀素材3

　　Owning a cat can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes by more than a third, researchers have found.

　　Scientists said that having a cat helped to relieve stress and anxiety, which is known to help protect against heart disease by lowering blood pressure and reducing the heart rate.

　　The 10-year study looked at 4,435 adults aged between 30 and 75, about half of whom owned a cat.

　　The findings, presented at a stroke conference in America, showed that 3.4 per cent of the cat owners died from a heart attack over 10 years. Among the group who had never owned a cat the rate was 5.8 per cent.

　　Cat owners still had a much reduced chance of developing strokes or heart attacks when researchers took account of other factors known to trigger heart disease, including high cholesterol levels, smoking and diabetes.

　　Prof Adnan Qureshi, from the Minnesota University, who carried out the study, said he was surprised by the strength of the effect that owning a cat appeared to have.

　　"The logical explanation may be that cat ownership relieves stress and anxiety and subsequently reduces the risk of heart disease."

　　He believes one reason could be that stroking the pet could cut the level of stress-related hormones in the blood. Reducing stress is known to help protect against heart disease by lowering blood pressure and reducing the heart rate.

　　But Prof Qureshi added that the type of person who owned a cat was usually already fairly stress-free and at low risk of heart disease.

　　研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，養(yǎng)貓能使患心臟病和中風的風險降低三分之一以上。

　　科研人員稱，養(yǎng)貓有助于緩解壓力、減輕焦慮，而減輕壓力可以降低血壓和心律，因此有助于預防心臟病。

　　研究人員對4435名年齡在30歲至75歲之間的成年人進行了為期十年的調查，其中有一半的人養(yǎng)貓。

　　研究結果顯示，在這十年中，僅有3.4%的養(yǎng)貓人士死于心臟病，而從未養(yǎng)過貓的人死于心臟病的比例為5.8%。該結果在美國召開的一個中風研討會上公布。

　　研究人員還綜合考慮了高膽固醇、吸煙和糖尿病等可能引發(fā)心臟病的其它一些因素，結果發(fā)現(xiàn)，養(yǎng)貓人士患中風或心臟病的幾率還是要小很多。

　　開展該研究的明尼蘇達大學教授阿德南?庫勒什說，他很驚訝養(yǎng)貓有這么大的好處。

　　“合理的解釋應該是，養(yǎng)貓能夠緩解壓力和焦慮，從而降低患心臟病的風險。”

　　他認為其中一個原因是，愛撫小貓能夠降低血液中的應激激素水平。而減輕壓力則能夠降低血壓和心率，從而有助于預防心臟病。

　　但庫勒什教授說，喜歡養(yǎng)貓的人往往自身就沒什么壓力，患心臟病的幾率也較小。

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