聽力原文:

Business in Africa
非洲商業
Making Africa work
玩轉非洲
The continent’s future depends on people, not commodities
非洲的未來取決于人，而不是商品
“IS ANYONE here actually hoping to make any money, or are you all just trying to minimise your losses?” The question, asked at a dinner in London for investors who specialise in Africa, showed how the mood has changed in the past year. The financiers around the table—mostly holders of African bonds—all said they were simply trying not to lose money.

重點詞匯：

1 commodity商品
2 bond債券；公債 按揭貸款協議；按揭貸款

聽力原文:

Only a few years ago people were queuing up to invest in Africa. As recently as 2012 Zambia paid less than Spain to borrow dollars. Private-equity funds dedicated to Africa raised record sums to invest in shopping malls and firms making everything from nappies to fruit juice. Business folk salivated at the prospect of selling to the fast-growing African middle class, which by one measure numbered 350m people. Miners sank billions into African soil to feed China’s appetite for minerals. Now investors are glum. In the short run, they are right to worry. In the long run, as our special report on African business shows this week , the potential rewards from a market of 1.2 billion people are too juicy to ignore, despite the risks.

重點詞匯：

1 Private-equity funds 私募股權基金
2 dedicated獻身的：專心致志的；一心一意的
3 nappy尿布
4 Business folk 商人
5 salivate（尤指看到或嗅到食物時）垂涎，流口水
6 number總計；共計；數以…計
7 sink下沉；下陷；沉沒
8 mineral礦物；礦物質
9 miner礦工；采礦者
10 glum憂郁的；死氣沉沉的；悶悶不樂的
11 juicy有吸引力的；報酬豐厚的；令人滿足的

聽力原文:

For decades, sentiment about Africa has followed commodity prices, rising and falling like a bungee-jumper at Victoria Falls. The recent plunge has caused a 16% drop in sub-Saharan Africa’s terms of trade (the ratio of the price of its exports to that of its imports). Growth across the region will slow to about 3% this year, predicts the World Bank, down from 7-8% a decade ago. That is barely ahead of population growth of 2.7%. Nigeria and Angola, two big oil exporters, will probably need bail-outs from the IMF within a year.

重點詞匯：

1 sentiment（基于情感的）觀點，看法；情緒
2 bungee-jumper 蹦極跳
3 bungee 蹦極索； 高空彈跳繩索
4 Victoria Falls 維多利亞瀑布
5 plunge（價格、數量的）暴跌，猛降，驟減
6 bail-outs （常指通過出資）幫助…脫離困境 保釋（某人）
7 terms of trade 進出口交換比率
8 IMF International Monetary Fund 國際貨幣基金組織

聽力原文:

Yet Afro-pessimists should remember two things about commodity busts. They don’t last for ever. And they don’t hurt everyone: 17 African countries with a quarter of the region’s population will show a net benefit from the current one, thanks to cheaper energy. More important, by focusing on the minerals markets it is easy to miss some big trends that are happening above ground—and these are mostly positive.

重點詞匯：

1 Afro-pessimist 非洲悲觀主義者
2 pessimist悲觀主義者；悲觀論者
3 commodity busts 大宗商品暴跌

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