Tatsuo Horita ,a banker from Japan ,is visiting with an officer ofthe Bank of England .
( z, a( T3 a& ]9 p' D 来自日本的银行家堀田达夫正在与英格兰银行的一位高级职员闲谈, # ?6 a Z* H# z J2 G. r. w
They are talking about the British monetary and financial system .
2 C O& X3 m% V% p 他们正谈论着英国的货币和金融制度。 ! ]9 K8 `6 M) R7 \ ?$ w/ a
Horita:I understand that Bank of England notes have been legal tender in Britain since the earlypart of the 19th century .
1 o7 T* `- @# i( {$ J }; ?' i 堀 田:据我所知,从19世纪初叶,英格兰银行发行的纸币就已经成为英国的法币了。
9 _( ^: J& h8 o3 s o Officer:Yes,actually from 1883,long before the Bank of England was the official central bank forBritain. ' I% W8 w8 ~2 z
职 员:是的,实际上从1833年开始,英格兰银行早已成为英国的官方中央银行了, ) M7 T9 j9 F" y; V( F. x) A
And special restrictions put on note issurance by other banks in 1844 caused most banks todiscontinue issuing notes.
7 d4 v o# W# e& P5 F3 a( \0 F 而且在1844年,还对其他银行的货币发行实行期一些特别的限制,这就使得大多数的银行不再继续发行纸币。 9 ~2 I" w) F' J+ Q' \6 B: o! _
H:Weren’t Bank of England notes backed by specie? 9 q# X7 g: A& z) x
堀 田:英格兰银行发行的纸币不是以金银铸币作为依据吗?
1 ~" k6 V$ e, ?1 l, t0 M) { O:Specie or government bonds until 1931.Since then ,of course,the Bank of England like othercentral banks has not held specie reserves equal to our note issue. # e) G% y. S2 f+ D& j
职 员:直到1931年,还是以铸币或政府的债券为依据的。当然,从那以后,象其它的中央银行一样,英格兰银行并不持有与我们发行的纸币等量的金银铸币储备。 $ g, u+ a6 @) W" Y$ J
H:When did the Bank of England become the official central bank of the United Kingdom?
4 C: g3 ?) |7 x 堀 田:英格兰银行什么时候成为联合王国的官方中央银行的呢? / }9 _% [/ D- D, e: z, h6 l' d
O:That’s difficult to say .Actually ,the bank was nationalized by the government in 1946.
% Y( _& D, J8 p 职员:这很难说,实际上,在1946年政府已将其收归国有。 8 T y# _0 u/ ?! }: R. a) Y
Before that ,however ,the bank had been the central banking instituion for over a century . 5 e* P9 C: \8 R5 `- A
然而,在这之前,英格兰银行就已经成为中央银行有100多年了。
9 p7 v1 i' u# n- l% e While we were privately owned ,successive governments felt that we operated in the public interestand gradually enacted laws, ) R8 F6 c: x' O+ }$ l) |7 ?1 P
当时,虽然我们是私立银行,但历届政府都认为我们的业务经营活动有利于公众利益,并逐步地有所立法, & q! m/ @) G1 }% R, D+ M* G
which gave us various supervisory functions over other banks .
* W. F! }. E) o% A8 ] 这一切赋予了我们对其他银行的各种监督职能。 - n q9 L* N$ ~ _6 ]8 Q" D9 `
H:So the bank now makes fiscal and monetary policies for the country ?
! X# ]3 M5 O4 N1 `2 G 堀田:因此,目前该银行就是为国家制定财政和金融政策的。
3 l& n' Z' U& V) j p3 C O:In coperation with the Cabinet we do .Our functions are not as independent as those of theFederal Reserve in the United States.
/ L8 w" X- b- c. V4 W( |7 ? 职员:我们在与内阁合作中行使我们的职能,但我们的职能不象美国联邦储备那样具有独立性。 |