English Quiz 156

(English Quiz 156)

1. If you believe some U.S. officials, the Chinese people are way too thrifty. Hoping to help bring down the soaring U.S. trade deficit with China, which rose by 15% to $232.5 billion last year, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have urged Beijing to encourage Chinese consumers to spend more (preferably on U.S. imports) and save less. It's true that a culture of financial prudence has shaped the psyche of generations of Chinese, leading to a national savings account of $2 trillion at the end of 2006. But it isn't quite fair to suggest that overly frugal Chinese consumers are largely responsible for trade deficits. Households only account for half of China's total savings. High levels of government and business savings also contribute. China's central bank, for example, holds more than $1 trillion in foreign currencies and securities. Moreover, the widely held view of China as a nation of supersavers appears to be increasingly out of touch with reality—a shift that has dramatic implications for the global economy.

Q: 試翻 "It's true that ... at the end of 2006."

Q: 試翻 "Moreover, ... the global economy."

2. HSBC recently conducted a survey on saving and spending patterns among the middle class in six Asian cities: Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo. Surprisingly, it was Shanghai's middle class that stood out as having the highest propensity to spend. Nearly three out of four Shanghainese who answered the survey said they agreed with the statement that "people nowadays will choose a balanced spending and saving mode rather than sacrificing to save." Of this group, 47% said they saved only what was left at the end of the month; almost one out of three said they did not save at all. These results suggest that scrimping and delayed gratification are becoming outmoded traits of an older generation. China's burgeoning middle class is hungry to enjoy the fruits of its labor today, especially in the most prosperous mainland cities, where disposable incomes rose around 12% last year.

Q: 試翻 "These results suggest that ... an older generation."

3. This is not to say that mainlanders are as profligate as, for example, middle-class Americans, whose savings rate is zero. The survey shows that they are value-conscious. Although they are exposed to new trends in high-fashion consumption through the media, many middle-class Chinese still regard "luxury" as a synonym for "unnecessary waste." They tend to buy luxury items such as watches and jewelry sparingly and only when shopping outside the mainland. It's often assumed that Chinese feel obliged to set aside large chunks of their income because the government no longer provides cradle-to-grave benefits as it did under a purely communist system. But China's urbanites are not just stashing away money to fund retirement and meet rising medical costs. Many Shanghainese respondents to the HSBC survey said their two main motivations for saving were to buy real estate (the majority already own at least one property) and pay for their kids' education. Travel was listed as the third most important reason to save. Only 14% of respondents said they were saving for retirement.

Q: 試翻 "They tend to buy ... outside the mainland China."

Q: 試翻 "It's often assumed that ... a purely communist system."