【新闻精讲】

But excessively rapid growth, built on flimsy business models, risks doing more harm than good.
但是基于脆弱商业模式上的快速发展往往弊大于利。
There have been plenty of worrying signs.
令人担忧的迹象不胜枚举。

Excessive 过分，过量
The government says that local authority spending is excessive.
Flimsy
轻而薄的：轻、薄且不牢固的：
a flimsy fabric. 轻薄的织物
a flimsy excuse. 站不住脚的借口

The most aggressive firms have scaled up by offering guaranteed returns of 6% or more on short-term investment products, an extremely risky strategy for what is supposed to be a sober and reliable industry.
一些激进的公司通过提供6%甚至更高保底收益率的短期投资产品，迅速扩大自身规模，这种策略对于原本应该是冷静可靠的保险行业来说风险极高。

Aggressive
积极的：过分自信的、大胆的和积极进取的：
an aggressive young executive.
一个进取心很强的年轻管理人员
Scale up 规模扩大
Since then, Wellcome has been scaling up production to prepare for clinical trials.
Supposed 原本应该
Public spending is supposed to fall, not rise, in the next few years.
Sober
1. 节制 = temperate
He'd been drunk when I arrived. Now he was sober.
2. 朴素
He dresses in sober grey suits.
3. 不言过其实的：没有轻浮、过度、夸张或玄想的想象的；直率的：
gave a sober assessment of the situation. 结合形势作了符合实际的评估

To deliver these returns despite a lackluster stockmarket, they have piled on debt and cut into their own margins.
在股市死气沉沉的情况下，要实现这一收益，这些公司已经是债台高筑，甚至削减自己的利润。

Deliver
1. 递送：带到或运送到适当的地方或接受者；分送：
deliver groceries; deliver the mail.
运送食品；投递邮件
2. 制造，生产：
The oil well delivered only 50 barrels a day.
这口油井每天只产原油五十桶
3. 陈述，发言：用言辞表达；发表，讲：
deliver a lecture. 发表演讲
lackluster == dull
淡的、无光泽的或缺乏活力的；
Luster => 光泽
Pile
大量堆积（某物）：
piled potato salad onto the plate.
在碟中乘一堆马铃薯沙拉
Debt
负债状态：
a young family always in debt. 总是负债的年轻人的家庭
Margin 收益

Moreover, these short-term products do not necessarily help investors through retirement: people are free to cash out when their policies mature, leaving them with no coverage against death, illness or accidents.
而且这类短期产品不一定能帮助投资者过好退休生活投资者可以在保单到期时自由套现，这就使得他们在死亡、疾病和意外事故上毫无保障。

Retirement 退休
Free 释放
freed the slaves; free the imagination.
释放奴隶；自由想象
free to cash out
自由套现
Mature
1. 到期的；应支付的：
a mature bond. 到期的债券
2. 成熟的：已达到完全自然的成长或发展程度的：
a mature cell. 成熟的细胞,
3. 慎重作出：

“able to digest and mature my thoughts for my own mind only”(&b{John Stuart Mill})
“仅我自己对想法进行消化和慎重的考虑”(约翰•斯图尔特•米尔)
Coverage = cover
1. 保险覆盖范围
2. 新闻覆盖范围
Now a special TV network gives live coverage of most races.

Regulators appear to have had enough.
监管部门显然已经不能忍受这种情况了。
In March they announced their strictest rules yet to curb speculative behaviour.
三月份他们宣布了一条至今以来实施过的最严厉规定来制止投机行为。

Appear
看来好象，看来似乎：
appeared unhappy. 看来好象不高兴
Have had enough. 受够了
Stop yelling at me. I've had enough.
Strict
严格的：在执行，遵守或要求上认真仔细的；严格的：
strict standards.
严格的标准
Curb 限制
Inflation needs to be curbed in Russia.
Speculative
1. 投机
speculative stocks.投机股票
2. 猜测性
He has written a speculative biography of Green Span.

They barred insurers from selling products with maturities of less than one year and began to phase out those with maturities of less than three years.
他们禁止保险公司销售保期低于1年的产品，同时淘汰保期低于3年的保险产品。

Bar 禁止
Many jobs were barred to them.
Phase 阶段，时期：发展的显著阶段：
“The American occupation of Japan fell into three successive phases”(&b{Edwin O. Reischauer})
“美国占领日本的过程可以划分三个连续阶段”(埃德温O.赖肖尔)
Phase out 淘汰
Over the following three years, the use of the drug will be phased out.

These measures, though somewhat crude, should help prevent mismatches between long-term assets and short-term liabilities.
这些措施虽然有点残忍，但其可以避免固定资产与短期负债失配的问题。

Measure
1. 措施，方法
desperate measures. 孤注一掷的办法
2. 标准，尺度：比较的估价或基础：
“the final measure of the worth of a society”(&b{Joseph Wood Krutch})See Synonyms at &b{standard} “社会财富的最终估价尺度”(约瑟夫•伍德•克鲁彻)
Crude 粗糙 = rough
Standard measurements of blood pressure are an important but crude way of assessing the risk of heart disease or strokes.
Mismatch
不匹配
There is a mismatch between the skills offered by people and the skills needed by industry.
liabilities
1. 负债
The company had assets of $138 million and liabilities of $120.5 million.
2. 不利情况
As the president's prestige continues to fall, they're clearly beginning to consider him a liability