为什么黄金变得如此昂贵？

这个BBC播客在英国以外的地区由广告支持。

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

欢迎来到《闹鬼图书馆》。

Welcome to The Haunted Library.

你是来寻找故事的吗？

Have you come in search of a tale?

这个播客邀请你在书架间浏览，找到那些在你离开后仍会久久萦绕心头的故事。

This podcast invites you to browse the shelves and find stories that will linger long after you've left this place.

从哥特式杰作到通俗的恐怖小报，我是科林·摩根，每周两次新集数，和我一起探索吧。

From gothic masterpieces to pulpy penny dreadfuls, join me, Colin Morgan, with new episodes twice a week.

无论你在哪里收听播客，都能找到《闹鬼图书馆》。

Find The Haunted Library wherever you get your podcasts.

你好。

Hello.

欢迎收听BBC英语学习的《六分钟英语》。

Welcome to 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English.

我是菲尔。

I'm Phil.

我是乔治。

And I'm Georgie.

你知道吗，现在可以观看这个播客的视频版本，还带字幕。

Did you know that you can now watch a video version of this podcast with subtitles?

你可以在bbclearningenglish.com上找到它。

You can find it at bbclearningenglish.com.

嗨，乔治。

Hi, Georgie.

我有个问题想问你。

I've got a question for you.

你有没有什么纯金的东西？

Do you own anything made of gold?

嗯，我现在戴了很多金色的首饰，但我不确定里面到底有多少是纯金的。

Well, at the moment I'm wearing a lot of gold-colored jewelry, but I'm not sure exactly how much of it is made of gold.

好的。

Okay.

我觉得我没有任何纯金的东西。

I don't think I own anything made of gold.

除了首饰和个人物品，黄金也被投资者和银行买卖。

Beyond jewelry and other personal items, gold is bought and sold by investors and banks.

黄金的价格一直有涨有跌，但在2026年，它达到了历史最高价。

The price of gold has always gone up and down, but in 2026 it reached its highest ever price.

在本期《六分钟英语》中，我们将讨论黄金如何成为一种有价值的投资，并探讨一个问题：人们为什么买黄金？

In this episode of 6 Minute English, we'll be talking about how gold became a valuable investment and asking the question, why do people buy gold?

我们先从今天的测验问题开始吧，乔治。

Let's start with our quiz question, Georgie.

黄金是一种从地下矿井中开采出来的金属，但人类从地球中开采了多少黄金呢？

Gold is a metal that's extracted or dug up from under the ground in mines, but how much gold has been extracted from the earth?

是A，超过5万吨，B，超过10万吨，还是C，超过20万吨？

Is it A, over 50,000 tons, B, over 100,000 tons, or C, over 200,000 tons?

菲尔，我完全不知道，但我选C，20万吨。

Phil, I have absolutely no idea, but I'm going to go with C, 200,000 tons.

好的。

Okay.

好的，我们会在节目最后告诉你答案。

Well, we'll give you the answer at the end of the program.

好的，菲尔。

Okay, Phil.

我们已经使用黄金几千年了，但为什么，又是怎么开始的呢？

So we've been using gold for thousands of years, but why, and how did it start?

在钱变成纸、塑料或者只是银行账户里的数字之前，很多钱其实就是黄金。专家发现，有些硬币被认为是在公元前6世纪制造的，里面就含有黄金。

Well, before money was paper or plastic or just numbers in your bank account, a lot of it was actually gold, and experts have discovered gold in coins that are thought to have been made in the 6th century BC.

所以金币被制造出来，用来交易，因为这种金属比牛或木材更容易携带和交换。

So gold coins were made, and they were used because the metal was much easier to carry and trade than things like cattle or timber.

好的，但现在我们的钱不是真的用黄金做的，那黄金为什么还有价值呢？

Okay, but now our money isn't literally made of gold, so why is gold valuable?

这是个好问题，虽然黄金不再是货币，但它仍然是一种金融资产，而资产就是有价值、可以换成钱的东西。

It's a good question, but even though it isn't money, gold is still a financial asset, and an asset is something valuable that can be sold for money.

人们在危机时期购买黄金，因为它被视为一种安全的投资。

And people buy gold in times of crisis because it's thought of as a safe investment.

我们来听听专家苏基·库珀在BBC世界服务节目中的详细解释。

Let's listen to expert Suki Cooper explaining more to the BBC World Service.

黄金是避风港，因为它不依附于某个特定的政府、经济或市场。

Gold is a safe haven because it's not connected to one particular government or one particular economy or one particular market.

所以，它的中立性意味着它是一种被认为能长期保值的资产。

So the fact that it's neutral means that it's an asset that's perceived to be a store of value over a longer term.

苏基把黄金描述为避风港，避风港指的是免受伤害或危险的地方或事物，在金融领域，就是免受价值下跌的影响。

Suki describes gold as a safe haven, and a safe haven means something or somewhere that's protected from harm or danger, or in financial terms, from a fall in value.

对。

Yes.

苏基解释说，与美元或英镑不同，黄金不依附于某个特定的国家。

Suki explains that unlike dollars or pounds, for example, gold is not connected to a particular country.

它是中立的。

It's neutral.

乔治，因为黄金是从矿里开采出来的，所以它的总量基本上是固定的。

And Georgie, because we get gold from mines, there's more or less a fixed amount.

不像纸币，你不能随便印更多，凯瑟琳·申克，经济和社会历史学教授，是这样解释的。

Unlike paper money, you can't just print more, as Catherine Schenk, professor of economic and social history, explains.

它不能通过炼金术凭空创造出来，所以这在一定程度上控制了供应，并支撑了黄金需求背后的基础价值。

It can't be created and fabricated out of thin air through alchemy, and so this sort of controls the supply and sustains an underlying value behind the demand for gold.

凯瑟琳解释说，黄金不能凭空创造，这个表达的意思是“无中生有”。

Catherine explains that gold can't be created out of thin air, an expression meaning making something from nothing.

正如凯瑟琳所说，我们不会通过炼金术来制造黄金。

As Catherine says, we don't make gold through alchemy.

炼金术是一种古老的化学，试图做不可能的事情，比如把普通金属变成黄金。

Alchemy is an ancient kind of chemistry that attempted to do impossible things, like turn ordinary metals into gold.

而且因为我们不能神奇地制造更多黄金，所以当很多人想买黄金时，价格就会上涨。

And because we can't just magically make more gold, when lots of people want to buy gold, the price increases.

好的，明白了。

Okay, understood.

菲尔，节目一开始你说过，2026年初金价创了历史新高。

Now Phil, at the start of this program, you said that gold prices hit an all-time high in early 2026.

那这是怎么回事呢？

So what's going on?

嗯，我们提到过，危机时期金价会上涨，因为各国央行想买更多黄金，而最近发生了一系列国际事件，让央行们都想增持黄金。

Well, we mentioned that the price of gold increases in times of crisis because government banks want to buy more of it, and there has been a series of world events that have made government banks want to buy more gold.

比如乌克兰和中东的战争，还有政治方面，比如美国对国际商品加征关税。

For example, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and in politics too, for example, the US imposing tariffs on international products.

但自从一月份达到峰值后，价格已经回落了一些。

But since that peak in January, the price has dropped a bit.

好的。

Okay.

那金价下跌是不是意味着人们以后就不想投资黄金了？

And does the fall in the price of gold mean that people won't want to invest in it in the future?

不会的。价格很可能会再次上涨。

No. It's likely that the price will go up again.

专家认为，在不确定时期，黄金始终是一个有吸引力的投资选择。

Experts believe that gold will always be an attractive investment during uncertain times.

我们来听听市场策略师约翰·里德怎么说。

Let's hear from market strategist John Reed.

我们现在生活的世界很多都是虚无缥缈的，是虚拟的，是在线的，会消失不见，而黄金是实实在在的、可靠的，可能还有点传统，也许人们渴望的是传统价值观，而不是那些超级现代、超级多变的东西。

So much of the world we live in now is ethereal, it's virtual, it's online, it disappears, whereas gold is something solid, something dependable, and maybe something a little bit old-fashioned, and maybe it's a hankering for traditional values rather than what is super modern and super changeable.

约翰说，现代世界的很多东西都是虚无缥缈的，意思是它们看起来不真实。

John says that much of the modern world is ethereal, meaning it doesn't seem real.

在这个虚无缥缈的世界里，人们渴望一些实实在在、真实存在的东西，比如黄金。

And in this ethereal world, people have a hankering for something that's solid and real, like gold.

而“a hankering for”这个表达的意思是“对某物的强烈渴望”。

And the expression a hankering for means a strong desire for something.

好的，菲尔，我想是时候揭晓你测验问题的答案了。

Okay, Phil, I think it's time for the answer to your quiz question.

好的。

Okay.

那么，我问的是到目前为止，人类从地下开采了多少黄金。

Well, I asked how much gold has been mined from the ground to date.

我说的是20万吨。

I said 200,000 tons.

这个答案是正确的。

And that is the correct answer.

好的，让我们回顾一下本期节目中学到的词汇，先从“资产”开始。

Okay, let's recap the vocabulary we learnt in this program, starting with asset.

资产是指具有经济价值、可以出售换钱的东西。

And an asset is something of financial value that can be sold for money.

“避风港”是指受到保护、免受伤害或损失的地方或事物。

A safe haven is something or somewhere protected from harm or loss.

“凭空创造”这个表达的意思是，从无到有地制造出某样东西。

To make something out of thin air is an expression meaning to make something from nothing.

炼金术是一种古老的化学，试图做一些不可能的事情，比如从普通金属中提炼出黄金。

Alchemy is a kind of ancient chemistry that attempted to do impossible things, like making gold from ordinary metals.

如果某物是空灵的，那它看起来就不真实。

If something is ethereal, it doesn't seem real.

如果你对某物有渴望，那就是对它有着强烈的欲望。

And if you have a hankering for something, you have a strong desire for it.

我们的六分钟时间又到了，如果你渴望更多练习，可以在我们网站上的练习册中测试你所学的内容。

Once again, our six minutes are up, and if you have a hankering for more practice, test what you've learnt with the worksheet on our website.

那就是bbclearningenglish.com。

That's bbclearningenglish.com.

感谢你的收听。

Thank you for joining us.

再见。

Goodbye.

再见。

Goodbye.

你知道吗？我们每个工作日都有新的播客和视频来帮你提升英语。

Did you know we have new podcasts and videos to improve your English every weekday?

而且我们每周还会发一封邮件简报，给你一些本周学习的小贴士和建议。

And we send a weekly email newsletter with tips and suggestions for what to do this week.

千万别错过BBC英语学习的任何更新。

Never miss an update from BBC Learning English.

在bbclearningenglish.com免费订阅我们的简报吧。

Subscribe to the newsletter for free at bbclearningenglish.com.

欢迎来到《闹鬼的图书馆》。

Welcome to "The Haunted Library."

你是来寻找故事的吗？

Have you come in search of a tale?

这个播客邀请你在书架间漫步，找到那些离开后仍会久久萦绕心头的故事。

This podcast invites you to browse the shelves and find stories that will linger long after you've left this place.

从哥特式杰作到廉价的惊悚小说，我是科林·摩根，每周两期新节目，和我一起探索吧。

From gothic masterpieces to pulpy penny dreadfuls, join me, Colin Morgan, with new episodes twice a week.

在您收听播客的任何平台，搜索《闹鬼图书馆》即可找到。

Find "The Haunted Library" wherever you get your podcasts.