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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Judging from the chatter1 on the streets of Gangnam, it is a bad time to buy property in the South Korean capital.
从江南街道上的嘈杂声可以判断出，现在不是在韩国首都置办房产的好时机。
"It's been a nightmare looking for an apartment," says Lee, a 30-year-old who lives in a rented studio in the glitzy district in southern Seoul.
“找公寓简直是一场噩梦”，30岁的Lee说到，Lee住在首尔南部繁华地区一间租来的单间里。
"I think about what to buy and where and a month later the price has gone up by 20%."
“我在考虑买什么，去哪里买，一个月后房价就上涨了20%。”
Although he has a good job at a big company and is planning to buy with his girlfriend, he worries they'll have to keep renting for now.
虽然他在一家大公司有一份不错的工作，并计划和女朋友一起买房，但他担心，现在他们不得不继续租房。
"The government says they want to fight the rich, but actually they're hitting the middle class."
”政府表示他们想要打击富人，但其实他们正在打击中产阶级。”
In recent months such complaints have become more common.
近几个月，这样的抱怨越来越普遍。
Greater Seoul is home to half of South Korea's population and to the vast majority of attractive jobs, schools and entertainment options.
韩国一半人口居住在首尔，绝大多数有吸引力的工作、好学校和娱乐场所也都在这里。
Few people with any ambition can afford not to move there. But affording the move is hard.
有野心的人都想搬去那里，但承担这一行动是困难的。
Residential2 property prices in the capital have risen by around 40% over the past three years, according to official statistics;
根据官方数据，在过去三年，首都房屋价格上涨约40%，
in that time, the prices of flats have gone up by 52%, suggests analysis by KB Kookmin, a bank.
韩国国民银行分析显示，那时，公寓价格上涨了52%。
The rises have been fuelled in large part by demand for scarce high-quality flats in popular districts such as Gangnam.
房价上涨在很大程度上是由对江南等热门地区稀缺优质公寓的需求推动的。
The government, spying a speculative3 bubble, has introduced around two dozen measures to cool the market over the past three years.
监控投机泡沫的政府在过去三年里，推出了大约24项措施给该市场降温。
In December it banned mortgages on properties worth more than 1.5bn won (around $1.3m), roughly the price of a mid-size flat in Gangnam.
在12月，韩国政府禁止对价值超过15亿韩元（约合130万美元）的房产发放抵押贷款，这个价格相当于江南区一套中型公寓的价格。
It has also lowered the maximum loan-to-value ratio for flats worth more than 900m won from 40% to 20%.
其还将价值超过9亿韩元的公寓的最高贷款率从40%降低到20%。
Last month it announced plans to increase property taxes for expensive homes and owners of multiple properties,
上个月，其宣布计划提高对昂贵住宅和多套房产拥有者的房产税，
as well as capital-gains levies4 on short-term sales. The overall effect, though, has been muddled5 and counterproductive.
以及针对短期出售的资本利得税。虽然整体效果混乱且适得其反。
Young people such as Mr Lee, who are keen to get on the property ladder,
像Lee先生这样热衷登上房产阶梯的年轻人
are particularly disgruntled by politicians' failure to make good on their promises to make housing affordable6.
对政客没能兑现‘人人能够买得起房’的承诺尤为不满。
In part the problem is that the government's efforts to cool the market have been offset7 by monetary8 easing by the central bank.
部分问题在于，政府为市场降温的努力被央行的货币宽松政策所抵消。
In order to cushion the economic fallout from covid-19, the Bank of Korea has cut interest rates,
为了缓解新冠疫情对经济的影响，韩国银行下调了利率，
encouraging some South Koreans to pile into property. Meanwhile, the tax proposals have angered existing investors9, and are likely to restrict supply.
鼓励了一些韩国人蜂拥进入房地产行业。与此同时，税收提议惹怒了现存投资者，且可能会限制供应。
Parallel efforts to alleviate10 the shortage of high-quality housing by building more of it have been slow to get off the ground.
同时，通过建造更多住房缓解高质量住房短缺，双管齐下但进展缓慢。
Prices, therefore, have continued to rise.
因此，价格继续走高。
收听单词发音 |
1
chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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2
residential
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| adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的 | |
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3
speculative
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| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
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4
levies
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| （部队）征兵( levy的名词复数 )； 募捐； 被征募的军队 | |
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5
muddled
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| adj.混乱的；糊涂的；头脑昏昏然的v.弄乱，弄糟( muddle的过去式)；使糊涂；对付，混日子 | |
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6
affordable
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| adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的 | |
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7
offset
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| n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿 | |
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8
monetary
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| adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的 | |
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9
investors
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| n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 ) | |
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10
alleviate
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| v.减轻，缓和，缓解(痛苦等) | |
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