访谈录 2008-10-19&10-21 迪拜疯了

Welcome to our property launch, Middle East style, no signs of foreclosures here, instead, alien singers, and celebrity¹ endorsements².

"Well, I'm looking forward to trying it.”

This is a party held by the developer Select Group. It’s launching its latest project, the 1.5-billion-dollar Aquitanian development on Dubai's man-made world islands. An ambitious project as the credit crunch³ threatens the property market in the rest of the world.

You know I would be bold enough to say I don’t think the credit crunch is gonna affect Dubai.

Even with all the glitz and glamour⁴ there's no disguising the facts. The region’s main stock markets have lost half their value this year. The central banks in the Gulf⁵ stepped in to assure investors⁶ that there's plenty of liquidity⁷ in the markets. And reports point to a 10 to 15% property price correction in the next year.

But that wasn’t the message conveyed at this year’s cityscape. The grand scale of the event was meant to scare off any market doubters.

For years there has been speculation⁸ that the property bubble in the Gulf is going to burst. If that’s the case, it’s certainly not evident here.

From the announcement of a 95-billion-dollar city development to Dubai’s plans to break its own record and build the world’s next tallest tower, each company is outdoing the other, dishing out millions on the displays alone.

Companies spend up to seven or eight million dollars just on the design and (of their) at the build of their booth, and which is pretty unheard of, in an attempt to try to attract globally. But I think it captures again the essence of what’s happening here and the lengths of people are willing to go to, to attract that kind of investment right now.

Saraya Holdings believes that while it is a time to cautious, there are also plenty of opportunities.

We have concern, people are always emotional. You know, if you look at the stocks that have gone down in value, their profitability has not gone down. It is just an emotional say as a result of what’s going on in the rest of the world. What we see here is an opportunity for people to buy as well, you know. I would see that there are certain projects, you know, in the US or in Europe. Well, it’s an opportunity to buy them on, at, you know, steep discounts.

Egypt Sodic⁹ is developing two major city centers outside Cairo. They say the financial structure of their deals means they are not under pressure from the lending crisis.

Mortgages only represent 2% of Egypt’s GDP, we are actually quite, a cash-rich company, we have very little debt. We are sitting on a lot of, actually cash receivables. So we are in a very healthy position to actually ride the storm if, if, you know, if it does expand to this region.

With job losses on Wall Street and Europe, hundreds are moving to the regions in search of work, but even with steady demand and prospects¹⁰ of strong growth, this cash-rich region isn’t completely immune to the global credit crunch.

1 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

2 endorsements   

n.背书( endorsement的名词复数 )；（驾驶执照上的）违章记录；（公开的）赞同；（通常为名人在广告中对某一产品的）宣传

参考例句：

• He must make much money on those tennis shoe endorsements he does. 他替那些网球鞋珍重广告，就赚了不少钱。 来自互联网
• But celebrity endorsements remain an important promotional tool for marketers. 尽管如此，邀明星助阵仍是营销人员重要的推广手段之一。 来自互联网

3 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

4 glamour   

n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住

参考例句：

• Foreign travel has lost its glamour for her.到国外旅行对她已失去吸引力了。
• The moonlight cast a glamour over the scene.月光给景色增添了魅力。

5 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

6 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

7 liquidity   

n.流动性，偿债能力，流动资产

参考例句：

• The bank has progressively increased its liquidity.银行逐渐地增加其流动资产。
• The demand for and the supply of credit is closely linked to changes in liquidity.信用的供求和流动资金的变化有密切关系。

8 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

9 sodic   

adj.钠的，含钠的

参考例句：

• Boron accumulation in sodic soil is the key factor for irrigation application of studied effluent water. 元素在碱性土壤中的累积是影响试验用污水长期灌溉应用的关键因素。 来自互联网

10 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。