Newspaper item 11: Renewed Fund Buying Pushes Gold Higher

1. Translate the newspaper item from English into Russian. Use the wordlist and a dictionary.

Gold was $312.20 a troy ounce at London bench-mark afternoon fixing, its strongest since My 24 and $6.45 above Tuesday's afternoon fix.

Gold has been languishing in recent weeks. The market built up a long position in the metal – the highest since 1999 – but in June profit-taking set in.

Yesterday, the funds seemed to be showing more interest in gold again.

There was good fund buying, and the price moved through $311.20, which is its 100-day moving average. In doing so we think it triggered short covering. That could be what took it as high as $314 at one point,' said Ross Norman, metals analyst.

He added that better rainfall in India might improve the outlook for the harvest and therefore increase income available to buy gold. India is the largest gold consumer.

Wordlist

fund		запас, резерв, фонд
funds		фонды, средства, капитал
troy ounce		тройская унция (31,1 г)
ounce		унция (28,3 г)
bench-mark / benchmark		база (в статистике)
fixing		установление, фиксация
to languish long position		слабеть, уменьшаться (бирж.) обязательства / позиция по срочным сделкам при игре на повышение
ant. short position		обязательства / позиция по срочным сделкам при игре на понижение
average		индекс, курс; среднее число
to trigger		начинать, вызывать
covering		(бирж.) покупка для покрытия обязательств по срочным сделкам
analyst		экономист-аналитик
harvest		урожай

Newspaper item 12: uk May Move to Save British Energy

1. Translate the newspaper item from English into Russian. Use the wordlist and a dictionary.

The British government admitted for the first time yesterday that it is contemplating an overhaul of the UK's wholesale electricity trading market in order to save nuclear power giant British Energy from a deepening financial crisis.

In comments that attracted immediate criticism from Ofgem, the electricity watchdog, Brian Wilson, the energy minister, said the Department of Trade and Industry was prepared to consider reforming wholesale electricity trading arrangements in the UK in a forthcoming policy paper.

British Energy, which was fully privatised six years ago, is the dominant generator of electricity in the UK from nuclear sources. But the company faces numerous financial problems.

It is losing around £4 for every megawatt hour of electricity it sells and faces having to come up with Ј450m next year to pay off debts and cover losses.

One reason for British Energy's problems is that the cost of generating electricity from nuclear power stations has remained high, while the price of electricity in the wholesale market has plunged by more than 30 per cent in the last two years.

Mr. Wilson yesterday put some blame for the company's woes on the introduction 14 months ago of reforms aimed at opening up competition between generators, thereby cutting domestic bills.

However, a spokesman for Ofgem defended the power trading system and said generators should be allowed to go bust. 'This is a commercial market and, as in all markets, companies will fail – it's as simple as that,' he said.

Wordlist

to move		1) двигать(ся); 2) вносить предложение
move		предложение
to admit		1) допускать; 2) впускать
to contemplate		рассматривать, обдумывать
overhaul		пересмотр, тщательный осмотр
trading market		1) вялый, неактивный рынок; 2) коммерческий рынок
nuclear		ядерный
arrangements		меры, мероприятия
trading arrangements to pay off debts to cover losses		меры по улучшению состояния рынка выплачивать, погашать долги покрывать убытки
to plunge to put the blame on smb		погружать(ся) обвинять кого-либо в чем-либо
woe		поэт. горе, скорбь, несчастье
domestic bill		вексель, оплачиваемый в местной валюте зд. счет за электричество для внутренних потребителей
to defend		защищать
to fail		потерпеть неудачу, провалиться