Bob: Buying property is definitely something to consider. But just because prices have been going up for a long time doesn't mean they will always go up. Lots of countries have experienced what's called a "real estate bubble" that eventually pops.
Steve: That's true. How about gold then? My brother-in-law says we should just buy a couple of gold bricks and store them in a vault somewhere.
B: Every time the economy begins to sour, people turn to gold. The price of gold then goes up because people see it as a safe haven.
Bob覺(jué)得,投資房地產(chǎn)固然可以考慮,但是房產(chǎn)價(jià)格不會(huì)永遠(yuǎn)攀升,很多國(guó)家都經(jīng)歷過(guò) real estate bubble 房地產(chǎn)泡沫,最后都以泡沫破滅而告終。除了股市和房市以外,還可以買黃金。Bob 也認(rèn)為,黃金是很好的避險(xiǎn)投資,people see it as a safe haven. safe haven 是避難所,意思是投資黃金比較安全,不會(huì)賠錢。Every time the economy begins to sour, people turn to gold. 每次經(jīng)濟(jì)走下坡路,大家都把投資轉(zhuǎn)向黃金。
B: But there are two problems with gold. One, there's no guarantee that prices will stay high, and two, while it might be safe, it's not really earning you anything in the same way that a smart investment could.
S: That makes sense. You know, the more I think about this, the more complicated it becomes.
B: One of the safer bets might be government bonds. You give the government your money for say 20 years, and at the end of that period, they return it with a relatively high rate of interest.
S: That's kind of appealing because it means you can't touch the money during that period of time and it removes any temptation to go and buy a new car, for example.
除了黃金以外,另外一種安全投資是政府債券,safe bet, 安全的賭注,這里指萬(wàn)無(wú)一失的投資模式。Steve覺(jué)得,購(gòu)買政府債券確實(shí)不錯(cuò) that's kind of appealing. appealing is spelled a-p-p-e-a-l-i-n-g, appealing 意思是有吸引力的,因?yàn)樵趥狡谥埃@些錢是不能動(dòng)的,所以也就不會(huì)胡亂花掉。
B: Yeah, the money just sits there safely until you're ready to retire. Many banks offer similar long-term investment deals that also pay pretty good interest rates.
S: Thanks a lot, Bob. I'm going to look into government bonds, and I'm going to have a conversation with my bank's investment department.
B: I'd say that's probably the smartest way to go. Good luck.
Bob說(shuō),很多銀行也提供類似的長(zhǎng)期投資產(chǎn)品,而且利息不錯(cuò)。Steve向 Bob表示感謝,說(shuō) I'm going to look into government bonds. look into something 是仔細(xì)研究的意思??磥?lái),Steve 還是準(zhǔn)備穩(wěn)妥起見,進(jìn)行長(zhǎng)期、風(fēng)險(xiǎn)小的投資。