English Quiz 129

(English Quiz 129)

1. Not surprisingly, comparisons are being drawn between China's stock boom and the U.S. dotcom bubble of the late 1990s. Certainly there are similarities, such as a frenzy for initial public stock offerings. As investor demand for Chinese stocks has intensified, so has the list of mainland companies eager to cash in on the mania by going public. In 2006, Chinese companies raised more than $53 billion in the Hong Kong and Shanghai markets through IPOs and secondary share offerings, up from $24 billion the year before. Among them was the largest IPO in history, November's $22 billion listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). Despite the fact that Chinese banks are known for their lack of transparency and weak management, ICBC was a wild success. Its share price at one point soared 70% above its initial offering price of 39? in Hong Kong. That pushed the bank's market cap so high that for a while it was valued as the second largest financial institution in the world behind giant Citigroup. The appetite for China stocks has encouraged other big corporations to tap the market. Analysts say they're expecting China Mobile, the world's largest mobile-phone company, to issue additional shares this year.

Q: 試翻 "As investor demand ... by going public."

2. If this is a bubble, is it about to burst? Maybe not. Peter Alexander, chief analyst for Z-Ben Advisors, a Shanghai investment consultancy, says Chinese companies are stronger and more efficient than they were a few years ago. "It's dangerous to bet against China," he says. That's what China's new investors think, too. Punters gathered to swap stocks and stories at the Beijing branch office of the China Galaxy Securities brokerage house on Jan. 29 certainly weren't letting a small drop in the market that day dampen their spirits. "I guess the fluctuation will go on for a while, maybe for another month or so," says Jiang Yulan, a trading aficionado, "but in a long term, the price will be going up by the end of this year." So confident are the assembled san hu that they don't even consider trading to be serious business. Instead, they use wan, the Chinese word for "play," to describe their activity. If the market tanks, the san hu won't be the first to discover that investing is not a game.

Q: 試翻 "Punters gathered to ... dampen their spirits."