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VOA慢速英语2011--Inside the World of Pawn Shops

时间:2011-04-19 06:14:37

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(单词翻译)

THIS IS AMERICA - Inside the World of Pawn1 Shops

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I’m Shirley Griffith.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: And I'm Christopher Cruise. This week on our program we tell you about pawn shops in the United States.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Pawn shops are businesses where people bring their possessions to get a small, short-term loan or to sell. The United States has about twelve thousand of them. Pawn shops may be large or small, clean or dirty, but they are all full of stories about people's lives.
This may explain the popularity of reality programs like "Pawn Stars" on the History Channel.
(SOUND)
It features a family of pawnbrokers3 in Las Vegas, Nevada. "Hard Core Pawn" on TruTV features a pawnbroker2 and his grown son and daughter in a large pawn shop in Detroit, Michigan.
(SOUND)
These shows are among the most-watched programs on the two cable channels. But some pawnbrokers consider them misleading.
A pawn shop window in Northern Virginia
Most of the time the programs show people who want to sell their items. Pawnbrokers say very few customers want to do that. They just need a small loan for a short time.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: People who want "fast cash" can get a loan based on the resale value of their item. This is what it means to pawn something. The pawnbroker will sell the item if the loan is not repaid on time.
But sometimes people do want to sell an item. The pawnbroker might buy it and then try to resell it for a higher price. Pawnbrokers say twenty-five to thirty-five percent of their money comes from selling items.
Some pawn shops specialize in jewelry4, but most of them accept a wide variety of items.
(MUSIC)
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Pawnbrokers in the United States have a trade group. The National Pawnbrokers Association began in nineteen ninety-eight. It seeks to improve the image of an industry that has a long history but not a very high place in public opinion.
Kevin Prochaska is one of the leaders of the association. He has more than thirty years of experience as a pawnbroker and owns thirteen pawn shops in Texas.
KEVIN PROCHASKA: "What we do is, somebody comes to us with a piece of personal property and they own that piece of property. They can either sell the item to us, but the other transaction that we do is we will advance money on that personal item.
"We've 'liquified' their asset. They’re not really in any debt, because they’ve just exchanged an item that they own for cash. All the customer has done is, he’s taken his property and turned it into cash.”
Kevin Prochaska says many of his customers keep coming back to his pawn shops.
KEVIN PROCHASKA: "I think our average customer is probably between twenty-five and forty-five years old, and in my experience your turnover5 of customers is about twenty-five percent. So you expect that about one out of four customers walking in the door is probably a new customer. And out of the four customers walking out the door, one of them won't be back.”
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: There are pawn shops in some of the wealthiest areas in the United States. But most pawn shops are in poorer neighborhoods. Most people who get a loan from a pawn shop do not earn much money and have not saved much money. Their access to other forms of credit is limited.
In a pawn transaction, the customer gets a short-term loan of about fifty to seventy-five percent of the value of an item. The item itself acts as the security or collateral6 for the loan. The term of the loan is usually one to six months.
Customers can get the item back at any time by repaying the loan plus the interest they owe. Or they can just pay the interest and keep the item at the pawn shop. In some cases, if the item is worth a lot, it might be safer in the store than in the person's home.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Pawnbrokers say between seventy and eighty percent of pawned7 items are reclaimed8 by their owner. They say the higher the value of the item, the more likely that the customer will pay back the loan.
The amount of a loan depends on the location of the pawn shop and the kinds of items it accepts. The typical loan for a pawned item is fifty to one hundred dollars. Pawnbrokers say customers most often need money for gasoline, medicine, electricity, car repairs and rent.
(MUSIC)
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Pawnbrokers say computerized records and cooperation with the police have reduced the number of stolen items brought to pawn shops. Some shops make video recordings9 of their transactions. And most states require people to show identification if they want to pawn something.
Rules for pawn shops differ from state to state. Some states, for example, limit the interest rate that pawn shops can charge on loans to three and a half percent a month. Other states allow rates as high as twenty-five percent. Not surprisingly, states with stronger regulations have fewer pawn shops.
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: You might think the recession was good for business at pawn shops. But pawnbrokers say their sales of items dropped just like at other stores, while more people came to them seeking loans.
In the nineteen thirties, many banks failed during the Great Depression. Pawn shops were often among the only places where people could get money.
People do not need a job or a good credit history to get a loan from a pawnbroker. The most commonly pawned items are electronics, musical instruments, tools and expensive pieces of clothing. But people can get a loan on almost anything of value.
Kathy Pierce is one of the owners of Monster Pawn in Bloomington, Illinois. She is a member of the board of directors of the National Pawnbrokers Association.
KATHY PIERCE: "I take in lawn mowers and bicycles and canoes and concrete saws and drills and DVD players. I know a little bit about a lot of stuff."
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Kathy Pierce says the average loan she makes is sixty dollars. She also says she has seen an increase in the number of middle class customers.
KATHY PIERCE: "Now I see everybody. I see teachers. I'm in a small community with a lot of very large companies. A lot of people have jobs in my community -- that's not our problem. But bills are expensive and the electricity still goes up and people don’t get raises. Gas prices at four dollars this summer, I will be busy."
Ms. Pierce says no one is forced to use her services, and is happy being a pawnbroker.
KATHY PIERCE: "I love what I do. I found out I was good at it. And every day is different, and I love my customers. These people are really endearing and they become part of your family. They're a part of your lives just as much as you’re a part of them.”
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: But not everyone feels the same way about pawnbrokers. Critics have accused them of abusing the poor by charging high interest rates. Pawnbrokers say high rates are the result of high business costs including security and storage.
Another criticism involves "low-balling." This is telling an uninformed customer that an item is worth less than it really is. But the opposite also happens. Customers sometimes invent stories about items and claim they are worth more than they are.
This is why pawnbrokers must know a lot about many different things -- antiques, jewelry, furniture. Items that may have been in families for generations. They have to decide the age of an item, whether it is real or fake, valuable or worthless.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Sometimes pawnbrokers speak with an expert or do research through books and the Internet. But most of the time they depend on their own years of experience.
Most pawnshops in the United States are owned by an individual or a family. Some companies, however, have been buying pawn shops and building national chains.
These companies have tried to change the image of a pawn shop by having clean, well-lit and well-operated stores. Many other pawn shops are making these changes as well, as the industry tries to convince more Americans to use its services.
(MUSIC)
SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: I'm Shirley Griffith with Christopher Cruise, who wrote our program. Brianna Blake was our producer.
What do you think of pawn shops? Post your comments at voaspecialenglish.com, where you can find transcripts10 and MP3s of all of our programs.
CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: You can also write to us on Twitter and Facebook at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.


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1 pawn 8ixyq     
n.典当,抵押,小人物,走卒;v.典当,抵押
参考例句:
  • He is contemplating pawning his watch.他正在考虑抵押他的手表。
  • It looks as though he is being used as a political pawn by the President.看起来他似乎被总统当作了政治卒子。
2 pawnbroker SiAys     
n.典当商,当铺老板
参考例句:
  • He redeemed his watch from the pawnbroker's.他从当铺赎回手表。
  • She could get fifty dollars for those if she went to the pawnbroker's.要是她去当铺当了这些东西,她是可以筹出50块钱的。
3 pawnbrokers 7eb1277eb8b88607176ca8eae6bbba61     
n.当铺老板( pawnbroker的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • To exploit this demand, pawnbrokers are shedding their dingy, Dickensian image. 为了开拓市场,典当商人正在试图摆脱他们过去阴暗的狄更斯时代的形象。 来自互联网
  • Each state and territory has legislation that requires pawnbrokers to be licensed. 各个州和地区的法律都规定当铺老板必须取得特许执照。 来自互联网
4 jewelry 0auz1     
n.(jewllery)(总称)珠宝
参考例句:
  • The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
  • Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。
5 turnover nfkzmg     
n.人员流动率,人事变动率;营业额,成交量
参考例句:
  • The store greatly reduced the prices to make a quick turnover.这家商店实行大减价以迅速周转资金。
  • Our turnover actually increased last year.去年我们的营业额竟然增加了。
6 collateral wqhzH     
adj.平行的;旁系的;n.担保品
参考例句:
  • Many people use personal assets as collateral for small business loans.很多人把个人财产用作小额商业贷款的抵押品。
  • Most people here cannot borrow from banks because they lack collateral.由于拿不出东西作为抵押,这里大部分人无法从银行贷款。
7 pawned 4a07cbcf19a45badd623a582bf8ca213     
v.典当,抵押( pawn的过去式和过去分词 );以(某事物)担保
参考例句:
  • He pawned his gold watch to pay the rent. 他抵当了金表用以交租。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • She has redeemed her pawned jewellery. 她赎回了当掉的珠宝。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 reclaimed d131e8b354aef51857c9c380c825a4c9     
adj.再生的;翻造的;收复的;回收的v.开拓( reclaim的过去式和过去分词 );要求收回;从废料中回收(有用的材料);挽救
参考例句:
  • Many sufferers have been reclaimed from a dependence on alcohol. 许多嗜酒成癖的受害者已经被挽救过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • They reclaimed him from his evil ways. 他们把他从邪恶中挽救出来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
9 recordings 22f9946cd05973582e73e4e3c0239bb7     
n.记录( recording的名词复数 );录音;录像;唱片
参考例句:
  • a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
  • old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐
10 transcripts 525c0b10bb61e5ddfdd47d7faa92db26     
n.抄本( transcript的名词复数 );转写本;文字本;副本
参考例句:
  • Like mRNA, both tRNA and rRNA are transcripts of chromosomal DNA. tRNA及rRNA同mRNA一样,都是染色体DNA的转录产物。 来自辞典例句
  • You can't take the transfer students'exam without your transcripts. 没有成绩证明书,你就不能参加转学考试。 来自辞典例句

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