VOA慢速英语:Chinese Insurance Company Buys New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel

Hilton Worldwide is selling the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City to a Chinese company for $1.95 billion. The buyer -- Anbang Insurance Group -- will pay one of highest prices ever for a U.S. hotel. Hilton Worldwide says it will use the money from the sale to buy other hotels in the United States. As part of the deal, Hilton will continue to operate the Waldorf Astoria for the next 100 years.
希尔顿全球酒店集团把纽约市的华尔道夫酒店以19.5亿美元卖给了一家中国公司。作为买方的安邦保险集团将以有史以来最高价格收购一家美国酒店。希尔顿全球酒店集团表示，将用出售酒店的这笔钱收购美国其它酒店。作为交易的一部分，接下来一百年希尔顿将会继续经营华尔道夫酒店。

The Chinese buyer has said it will invest in remodeling the famous property on Park Avenue to bring it back to its "historical grandeur."
中国买家称，它将投资改造这家公园大道的著名建筑，将它带回“曾经的富丽堂皇。”

Reports say the deal is the largest for a Chinese company buying a U.S. building. Chinese investors increasingly have become interested in U.S. properties. Homes -- especially costly ones -- are considered a good investment. The National Association of Realtors says China's spending on homes in the U.S. has increased sharply. The trade group estimates that Chinese buyers spent $22 billion on real estate properties in the twelve-month period ending in March 2014. That is an increase of 72 percent over the 12-month period before.
报道称，这是中国公司收购美国建筑的最大一笔交易。中国投资者对美国资产越来越感兴趣。住宅，尤其是昂贵的住宅被认为是一笔很好的投资。美国全国房地产经纪人协会表示，中国在美国住宅上的支出大幅增加。该交易组织估计，中国买家在截至2014年3月的12个月周期内，在房地产上花费了220亿美元。这比此前的12个月周期增长了72%。

Chinese companies also increasingly are seeking businesses outside of the energy and raw materials industries. Last year, a Chinese company bought Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the U.S., for nearly $5 billion.
中国企业也越来越多地寻求能源和原材料行业以外寻找生意。去年，一家中国公司以近50亿美元的价格收购了美国最大的猪肉生产商史密斯菲尔德食品公司。

China holds about $1.2 trillion dollars in United States treasury securities. While these investments are safe, they do not give high returns, or yields. China has increasingly looked for other ways to invest its huge trade surplus with the U.S.
中国持有大约1.2万亿美元的美国国债。虽然这些投资是安全的，但是回报不高。中国已经越来越多地寻找其它途径投资其同美国的巨额贸易顺差。

For many years, Japan has had a large trade surplus with the U.S. In the 1980s, Japanese companies bought important U.S. properties. These included a controlling share of Rockefeller Center, also in New York, in 1989. However, not all of these investments made a profit.
多年以来，日本同美国都有着庞大的贸易顺差。20世纪80年代，日本企业收购了美国重要资产，其中包括于1989年控股同样在纽约市的洛克菲勒中心。然而，并非所有这些投资都有获利。

The Waldorf Astoria hotel opened in 1931. It has been a symbol of the wealth and culture of New York City since that time. World leaders and other very famous people have stayed at the hotel. Recently, many delegates to the United Nations General Assembly stayed at the hotel.
华尔道夫酒店于1931年开业。从那时起它一直是纽约市财富和文化的象征。世界各国的领导人和其它名人都住在这家酒店。最近，许多参加联合国大会的代表就住在该酒店。

The Waldorf Astoria was named a New York City landmark in 1993. Other landmarks are the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge.
1993年，华尔道夫酒店被认定为纽约市标志性建筑。其它标志性建筑是帝国大厦和布鲁克林大桥。