在本课中, 你会听到与黄金有关的词, 和黄金储备. 和, 在播客的结尾, 我会分享一些关键词的正确英文发音. 您还有机会赢取免费英语课程, so stay tuned to hear this week’s episode of English for Economists.

你好, 来自世界各地的朋友. 这是播客号 59. I am glad you could join me.

Listen to this headline that was published on December 1st, 2022 in the Economist magazine.

Why central banks are stockpiling gold.

出色地, to ‘stockpile’ something means to accumulate a stock of that item. Possibly to hold as a reserve. To stockpile, 在这种情况下, gold.

So some central banks have begun to accumulate gold. To stockpile gold.

Why you might ask?

出色地,  according to the article, there are two reasons that explain this new behavior.

The subheading of the title reads “The metal offers a hedge against inflation”. 出色地, that is one reason. Some central banks are moving out of treasury bills and into gold because the rise in the FED’s reference rate has pushed bond yields up, making them less attractive as a holding. Gold becomes a “hedge” against this risk. A kind of protection against this risk. 在这种情况下, it also becomes something of a replacement.

Now listen to the complete subheading:

The metal offers a hedge against inflation –– and a way to circumvent sanctions.

Circumvent sanctions? 出色地, ‘circumvent’ is to get around sanctions. To avoid the sanctions. To circumvent.

The metal offers a hedge against inflation –– and a way to circumvent sanctions.

The article suggests that gold isn’t as easily tracked as other alternatives, and gold offers buyers and sellers more in the way of anonymity, which makes it easier to avoid – to circumvent — any imposed restriction.

Listen to the headline and subheading one last time.

Why central banks are stockpiling gold

The metal offers a hedge against inflation—and a way to circumvent sanctions

好的, I wanted to try something new on today’s podcast and offer you a little more than just new vocabulary taken from headlines.  As an English teacher, I find that students often mispronounce the same keywords. That word is just trickier to say than others. Sometimes, these words can be crucial to the meaning of your sentence, so being clear and understandable is key.

For the next few podcasts, I’ll cover five of these words so you can make sure you are pronouncing them correctly.

仔细听.

• Financial
• Variable
• Structural
• Barrier
• Cement

结论

目前为止就这样了. It’s been fun. If today’s lesson interested you, you might want to check out our lessons on Central Banks Raising Policy Rates 和 Economic Sanctions and Their Effect on Currencies for more banking vocabulary. Subscribe to this podcast if you haven’t done so already. I’ll be back soon with another lesson. 小心.

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Image credit: CC license: Stevebidmead