2020年翻译资格考试一级笔译英译汉练习题四
来源 :中华考试网 2020-01-21
中In Greece, an Economic Revival Fueled by ‘Golden Visas’ and Tourism
“黄金签证”吸引中国投资者,带动希腊经济复苏
Athens – Less than a year after Greece emerged from a multibillion-euro international bailout, Athens is witnessing an investor boom. Hip new hotels with Acropolis views are dotting the skyline. Construction workers are tearing into dwellings owned by Greeks needing cash and converting them swiftly to short-term rentals, Airbnbs or fancy new homes for foreigners.
雅典——在希腊接受了数十亿欧元的国际救援走出经济困境后不到一年,雅典正在见证一个繁荣的投资景象。首都的天际线上点缀着能看到卫城(Acropolis)景色的时髦新酒店。建筑工人正在为需要现金的希腊人翻修他们拥有的住宅,将其迅速转变为短期出租房、爱彼迎民宿(Airbnb),或供给外国人的豪华新居。
Thousands of visa-seekers, a significant portion of them Chinese investors looking for bargain real estate, are coming to this capital city as well as the islands of Santorini and Corfu in search of homes that will give them a European base.
成千上万寻求签证的人,其中很多是希望购买廉价房地产的中国投资者,正来到首都雅典,来到圣托里尼岛和科孚岛,寻找为他们在欧洲提供立脚点的住宅。
Local homeowners, pressed by Greece’s lengthy financial crisis, are trying to take advantage of the investor bonanza, selling apartments or renting their homes to tourists in a frenzy that is quickly changing the housing market.
遭受了希腊长时间金融危机压力的当地房主们,正试图利用投资者带来的机会获利,在一个迅速改变住房市场的热潮中,向外来者出售公寓或出租房屋。
The newcomers are chasing Greece’s so-called golden visas, which other crisis-hit countries like Portugal and Spain have used for years to lure investors in a bid to stoke an economic recovery. Spending a minimum of ?50,000 on a home in Greece secures a five-year renewable visa.
这些外来者正在争取拿到所谓的希腊黄金签证。其他受经济危机冲击的国家,比如葡萄牙和西班牙,多年来一直为推动经济复苏用这种签证来吸引投资者。花至少25万欧元(约合人民币192万元)在希腊买房,就能获得五年有效期的可续签签证。
Greece is a latecomer to the global buying trend – in part because its debt crisis was so dire in 2011 – but it has become a hot destination for those with enough money. The government began offering golden visas in 2013, also drawing investors from Russia, Turkey and the Middle East.
虽然希腊在全球房地产购买趋势中是后来者——部分原因是该国在2011年曾发生了非常严重的债务危机——但对那些足够有钱的人来说,这个国家已成为一个热门目的地。希腊政府从2013年开始发放黄金签证,这种签证也吸引了来自俄罗斯、土耳其和中东的投资者。
Yet the turnaround is coming at a cost. While rising property prices benefit homeowners, renters are being priced out. Families still struggling to recover from the crisis are being pushed from working-class neighborhoods as the wrecking companies move in.
然而,经济好转正在带来代价。虽然不断上涨的房价令房主受益,但租房者却因租金上涨正在被挤出市场。随着拆房公司的进入,仍在努力走出经济危机的家庭正在被挤出工薪阶级社区。
“It’s like what happened in Barcelona, where everyone was forced from the center,” said Maria Dolores, a young artist who lived there before moving to Athens four years ago. She and three roommates were evicted from a ?00-a-month rental in Athens in November as the landlord weighed converting it to an Airbnb or selling to a foreigner.
“这和在巴塞罗那发生的事情一样,大家都被迫离开了市中心。”年轻艺术家玛丽亚·多洛雷斯(Maria Dolores)说,她是四年前搬到雅典来的,之前曾住在巴塞罗那。去年11月,她和三名室友被赶出了他们在雅典的月租金400欧元的公寓,因为房东考虑是否把公寓改造成爱彼迎民宿,或干脆卖给外国人。
Carrie Law, the chief executive of Juwai.com, a Hong Kong-based real estate investment group, said the country that once was an economic basket case has become a top destination for China’s middle class because of the golden visa program. Chinese feel comfortable going to Greece because big Chinese state-owned companies, including Cosco, which owns most of Greece’s Piraeus port, have already invested, she said.
总部设在香港的房地产投资平台居外网(Juwai.com)首席执行官罗雪欣(Carrie Law)说,黄金签证计划已让这个经济状况曾十分糟糕的国家成为中国中产阶级的首选目的地。她说,中国人对去希腊很放心,因为包括中远集团在内的大型国有企业已在希腊投资,中远集团拥有希腊比雷埃夫斯港的绝大多数股权。
Chinese clients often fly to Greece with suitcases filled with cash, the easiest way to get their money out of China, Ms. Law said. Although China caps individual withdrawals to $50,000 per year, a family of six, for example, can pool their cash, or make transfers through foreign branches of Chinese banks, to buy property, she said.
罗雪欣说,中国客户经常带着装满现金的手提箱飞往希腊,这是把钱带出中国的最简单方式。她说,虽然中国把每人每年能兑换的外汇限制在等值五万美元,但比如说,一个六口之家可以将他们的额度凑起来,通过中国国内银行的海外分行把钱汇出去,用来购买房地产。
Greece’s central bank has recently stepped up scrutiny of transactions after some Greek real estate companies were found allowing Chinese clients to buy properties with a credit card.
希腊的央行最近加强了对房地产交易的审查,因为此前曾发现有些希腊房地产公司允许中国客户用信用卡买房。
Property prices in the country are recovering from a 40 percent plunge that began in 2010. Greece nearly crashed out of the eurozone in 2015, but stability has slowly returned, reviving confidence and tourism, which boomed with a record 33 million visitors last year.
希腊的房价正在复苏中,2010年开始的暴跌曾让房价降低了40%。希腊差点在2015年退出欧元区,但已慢慢恢复了稳定局面,信心和旅游业也在复苏。去年,旅游业蓬勃发展,迎来了创纪录的3300万人次。
Big investors, including Thomas Cook and Wyndham Hotels, are pouring billions into the tourism sector, and dozens of hotel and resort projects are opening or underway, according to Enterprise Greece, the government agency promoting investment and trade. “We are seeing renewed investor confidence in Greece,” said Grigoris Stergioulis, the agency head.
据负责促进投资和贸易的政府机构Enterprise Greece称,包括托迈酷客(Thomas Cook)和温德姆酒店集团(Wyndham Hotels)在内的大型投资商正在向希腊旅游业投入数十亿美元的资金,数十个酒店和度假村项目正在开业或在建设中。“我们看到投资者对希腊的信心正在恢复。”该机构负责人格里戈里斯·斯特乔利斯(Grigoris Stergioulis)说。
Private equity funds are also investing in Greek real estate investment trusts. And some are starting to buy mortgage- or property-backed securities sold by Greek banks that are looking to unload piles of troubled mortgage loans accumulated during the crisis.
私募股权基金也在投资希腊房地产投资信托。一些人开始购买希腊的银行出售的用抵押贷款或房地产担保的证券,这些银行希望把危机期间积累起来的大量问题抵押贷款卖出去。
Greece’s reliance on a bailout of over ?20 billion, or about $360 billion, from the International Monetary Fund ended in 2018, and real estate prices rose by nearly 2 percent, the first increase in nine years, according to the Bank of Greece. Building permits jumped more than 10 percent, reversing a seven-year slump.
据希腊银行(Bank of Greece)的数据,国际货币基金组织向希腊提供的逾3200亿欧元的救助计划已于2018年结束,希腊的房地产价格已上涨了近2%,这是九年来的首次上涨。批准的建筑许可证增加了10%以上,扭转了七年的下降趋势。
Real estate investment grew in 2018 by around 20 percent from a year earlier.
2018年,希腊的房地产投资与上年相比增长了约20%。
Investors have tried to cash in partly by converting properties to lucrative short-term tourist rentals, which have quadrupled in five years, reducing the supply of affordable rental housing for average Greeks. A growing number of tourist rentals are listed on Airbnb, prompting the government to mull restrictions.
投资者试图通过将房产转变为可供游客短期租用、利润丰厚的度假屋从中牟利,度假屋的数量在五年内翻了两番,导致希腊老百姓负担得起的出租房供应量下降。越来越多的度假屋出现在爱彼迎网站上,促使政府考虑对其进行限制。
Argiro Fouraci, 29, recently began renting five apartments that have been in her family for years. A teacher who lost her job during the crisis, she had struggled to get by until offering the apartments, in the popular Koukaki neighborhood near the Acropolis, as Airbnbs. She said she now clears about ?00 per month on each apartment, after taxes and management fees.
29岁的阿吉罗·福拉奇(Argiro Fouraci)最近开始出租她家很久前就拥有的五套公寓。她以前是教师,经济危机期间丢掉了工作,之后一直在艰难度日,直到她开始在爱彼迎上出租自家的房子,它们都位于卫城附近深受欢迎的库卡奇一带。她说,扣除税费和管理费后,她现在从每套公寓得到每月约400欧元的净收入。
The earnings help her care for her parents, who are in their 60s and whose pensions were slashed. They, in turn, support her brother, who has opened a vaping store. “Most of my friends are still unemployed,” she said. “Now I can have a life and help my family.”
这些收入为她照顾60多岁的父母提供了帮助。父母的养老金已被大幅削减,而父母还要接济她的弟弟,他开了一家电子烟店。“我的大多数朋友仍在失业中,”她说,“现在我可以有自己的生活,还能帮助我的家人。”
Such business has lifted fortunes for Stavros Siempos, 53, the owner of Pantopolion, a grocery in Koukaki that sells feta cheese, olives and other traditional Greek products. The rise of Airbnb rentals has driven many Greeks from the neighborhood, he acknowledged. “We don’t have Greek neighbors anymore, we have Airbnb neighbors,” he said. But it is good for business, he added. “We’re better off now, because tourists have money.”
度假屋生意也给53岁的斯塔夫罗斯·西恩波斯(Stavros Siempos)带来了不少收入,他在库卡奇拥有一家名叫Pantopolion的杂货店,经营羊乳酪、橄榄等传统希腊产品。他承认,爱彼迎民宿数量的增加迫使许多希腊人离开了这个居民区。他说:“我们不再有希腊邻居,我们有爱彼迎邻居。”不过,他补充说,这对生意有好处。“因为游客有钱,我们现在也更富裕了。”
As Airbnb makes inroads into the country’s real estate, Greece’s golden visa program has opened its housing market – and reshaped its pricing structure. A scan of property listings show many mid-sized apartments in Athens, Thessaloniki and on Greek islands are priced at exactly ?50,000, the minimum needed for buyers to qualify for the visa program.
随着爱彼迎进入希腊的旅游市场,希腊的黄金签证计划也开放了该国的住房市场,改变了房产的价格结构。快速查阅雅典、塞萨洛尼基和希腊小岛上出售的房产可以看到,许多中等公寓的价格正好定在25万欧元,这是让购房者具有获得黄金签证资格的下限。
The program has drawn about 10,000 investors from China, Russia and other non-European Union countries, channeling around ?.5 billion into Greek real estate in the last five years, according to Enterprise Greece. Chinese investors account for more than 40 percent of visa buyers.
据Enterprise Greece的数据,黄金签证项目已吸引了来自中国、俄罗斯和其他非欧盟国家的约一万名投资者,这些人在过去五年里向希腊房地产市场注入了约15亿欧元的资金。中国投资者在为获得签证买房的人中占40%以上。
Developers say that Chinese investment companies have bought apartment buildings throughout Athens, including in low-cost immigrant neighborhoods and once-rough areas like Exarchia, a graffiti-filled district populated mostly by university students.
开发商说,中国的投资公司在雅典各处购买了公寓楼,包括在便宜的移民社区,以及在伊哈瑞亚这样以学生为主的住宅区,这里到处都是涂鸦,曾不太安全。
Yannis Anastassiadis, chief executive of Anastassiadis Group, a real estate company that works with many Chinese investors, said companies typically renovate an apartment and then sell directly to clients seeking visas.
阿纳斯塔西迪斯集团(Anastassiadis Group)是一家与许多中国投资者有合作的房地产企业,它的首席执行官亚尼斯·阿纳斯塔西迪斯(Yannis Anastassiadis)说,公司通常的做法是,对一套公寓进行翻修,然后直接卖给寻求签证的客户。
Real estate agents arrange to meet groups of Chinese visitors at the Athens airport, drive them to view properties and wine and dine them. Lawyers work with the agents to help buyers acquire tax numbers and bank accounts. A buyer does not have to live in the property to qualify for a visa, so after the deal is done, Mr. Anastassiadis’s firm also manages the apartment as a rental.
房地产经纪人在雅典机场安排迎接中国的来访者,开车带他们参观房产,用美酒佳肴款待他们。律师与经纪人合作,帮助买家获得纳税号和银行账户。买家不需要在买来的公寓里住就可获得签证,所以房子的买卖做完后,阿纳斯塔西阿迪斯的公司还承担把公寓作为出租房管理的业务。
Lefteris Potamianos, president of the Athens-Attica Real Estate Association, said the visas have helped revive the market and, in turn, pushed up rental costs in some areas by as much as 30 percent.
雅典-阿提卡房地产协会(Athens-Attica Real Estate Association)会长莱夫特里斯·波塔米亚诺斯(Lefteris Potamianos)说,黄金签证帮助提振了房地产市场,进而把部分地区房子的租金最多推高了30%。
Activists have warned that, when combined with the proliferation of Airbnb, a housing crisis is threatening entire communities.
活动人士警告,黄金签证的做法与爱彼迎的扩张相结合所导致的住房危机正在对整个社区构成威胁。
Ms. Dolores, the artist who had to find a new home, said a foreign investor also bought a building that housed her employer, a nongovernmental organization. The group, AMOQA, conducts research and promotion of arts and studies on sexuality and gender. The building was also home to a martial arts school and a children’s activity center, she said.
被迫寻找新住所的艺术家多洛雷斯说,一名外国投资者还买下了她的雇主所在的大楼。她的雇主是AMOQA,是个非政府组织,从事有关性和性别的研究,并促进相关的艺术。她说,那栋大楼里还有一所武术学校和一个儿童活动中心。
“Now, the investment company will turn the building into apartments,” Ms. Dolores said. “Aside from people and families, collective spaces and neighborhood networks are also getting displaced and vanishing from the map.”
“现在,该投资公司将把这栋楼改造成公寓,”多洛雷斯说,“除了个人和家庭外,集体空间和社区网络也被迫搬走,它们正在从地图上消失。”
“It’s like a domino effect,” she said. “And the most vulnerable are losing out.”
“这像是多米诺骨牌效应,”她说,“最脆弱的群体正在被取代。”
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