[E387]A ripple of fear|经济学人
本文音频及原文摘自杂志The Economist《经济学人》2016年第13期，Finance and economics版块。
Peer-to-peer lending
A fashionable form of credit encounters its first crunch
Mar 26th 2016 | NEW YORK
IN A financial landscape that ranges from the dreary to the disliked, peer-to-peer lending stands out. P2P firms, also called marketplace lenders, channel loans directly from institutional investors and individuals to borrowers, for a fee. In the process, they have lowered interest rates for many and expanded access to credit. They have been growing pell-mell[1] (see chart), in part because their structure allows them to escape much of the regulation being heaped on banks. But recent months have shown that they are not immune to[2] the burdens that weigh down[3] their conventional rivals.
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注释与生词
[1]pell-mell 混乱的(地);乱七八糟的(地);杂七杂八的(地);不加区别的(地);无选择的(地)
[2]be immune to 不受...感染/影响;免疫
[3]weigh down 使颓丧;压低;重于
▷dreary ['drɪərɪ]
and making you
沉闷的，单调乏味的，令人沮丧的a dreary little 沉闷的小城She had another dreary in the .她在办公室里又度过了枯燥的一天。
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On the face of things[1], it is business as usual[2]. Lending Club, the biggest P2P firm, doubled its loan book last year. This year it expects it to grow by 72%, to over $14 billion. Yet its share price[3] has fallen below $9, from a peak last year of $25. That is chiefly due to America’s slowing economy and rising interest rates (although the pace of increases is likely to be slow). Under such circumstances, delinquent loans[4] tend to increase. Prosper, the second-biggest P2P lender, has said that delinquencies are indeed rising on its riskier loans[5], although it emphasised that only a tiny subset of its portfolio had been affected and that the deterioration was trivial[6]. Nevertheless, it has raised rates for all borrowers, especially the riskier ones, who now pay 31%. Lending Club has also raised its interest rates.
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注释
[1]on the face of it 从表面判断；乍看起来;显然，显而易见
[2](it's) business as usual
(said when things are continuing as they always do, despite a difficult situation)
照常营业;一切正常;一如往常;公事公办
[3]share price 股价
[4]delinquent loans 拖欠贷款;过失贷款
[5]riskier loans 高风险贷款
[6]恶化/衰退的情况是微不足道的
生词
▷delinquent [dɪ'lɪŋkw(ə)nt]
being or in that are or not
不良的；违法的delinquent 不良青少年They are out on the of delinquent among .他们正在研究青少年违法行为的产生原因。
US formal late (in )迟付欠款的，未按时还款的，拖欠的She has been delinquent in her .她一直没有按时纳税。▷portfolio [pɔːt'fəʊlɪəʊ]
a of and other that are by a or
（个人或机构的）投资组合
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The primary motivation for these increases may have been to reflect the risk of credit losses, but it is also possible that raising funds[1] has become tougher. Borrowing costs[2] in other risky markets have risen sharply recently. The volume of loans that P2P firms have sold in securitised packages has halved[3] since the end of last year.
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注释
[1]raise funds 筹资
[2]borrowing costs 借贷成本；借款费用
[3]对半开;减半
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Meanwhile, a case working its way through the courts may subject P2P loans to state usury laws[1], from which banks with a national charter[2] are exempt*. That would prevent the P2P firms from lending to the riskiest borrowers in much of America. In addition, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau[3], a federal agency, announced this month that it would begin accepting complaints about P2P consumer lending.
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注释与生词
[1]国家反高利贷法
[2]charter
vt. 特许；包租；发给特许执照
n. 宪章；执照；特许状
[译]一项正在法院裁决过程中的案件，可能会提出将P2P贷款纳入国家反高利贷相关法律的监管范围内，而拥有国家特许执照的银行则可以豁免。
[注]全文翻译见 http://t.cn/Rqwsc4R
[3]美国消费者金融保护局
▷exempt [ɪg'zem(p)t; eg-]
to someone or something from a , ,
免除，豁免（责任、付款等）Small have been exempted from the .小公司可免于增税。
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Nonetheless, the problems of P2P lending may be overstated[1], says Ram Ahluwalia of PeerIQ, a firm that crunches data[2] for the industry. Securitisations[3] may have slowed but they have not stopped. Defaults remain manageable[4]. There may be ways around an adverse ruling on usury laws[5]. And the market that P2P lending is catering to clearly has not been saturated[6]. As long as that remains the case, growth may slow, but it is unlikely to stop.
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注释
[1]夸大;夸张;过分强调
[2]处理数据
[3]证券化
[4]defaults 违约;[计]默认;预设值
[译]违约情况仍然可控。/在可控范围内
[5]adverse ruling 不利的裁决/影响
[译]对于反高利贷法所产生的不利影响，总还会有办法避免。
[注]全文翻译见 http://t.cn/Rqwsc4R
[6]饱和
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全文翻译参考：http://t.cn/Rqwsc4R
以上言论不代表本人立场。
原文摘自《经济学人》，仅外语学习之用。
其中生词解释来源于Cambridge Dictionaries
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