新聞聚光燈

香港——慈善紀(jì)念鈔

Standard Chartered Bank is celebrating 150 years in Hong Kong. To mark the occasion， the bank has issued the world’s first $150 charity banknote. And those buying the bill can even chose their own serial number to be 1)inscribed on the 2)commemorative note.

The note comes in Standard Chartered Bank’s trademark blue and green colours. On the back of the note is a 3)sketch of Hong Kong people from different 4)eras admiring the view of Victoria Harbour from the Peak. The unique feature of the banknote is the fact that people can choose their own serial number. The first two letters of the serial number will be SC for Standard Chartered. But you can choose what the remaining six digits will be. So for example， if you choose today’s date of September 8th， 2009， your serial number would be SC090908. If more than one person chooses the same number， all the names will be placed in a hat and the winner will be drawn from there. If you choose your own serial number， a single banknote will set you back $888. If you’d like buy one banknote， but don’t need to select your own serial number， then it will only cost you $280. These non-serial notes will go on sale from October 1st and are sold on a first-come-first-served basis. A total of 730，000 banknotes will be on offer.

渣打銀行正在慶祝它于香港成立150周年。為紀(jì)念這一盛事，渣打銀行將發(fā)行世界首創(chuàng)的慈善紀(jì)念鈔，面值為150港元。慈善鈔的買家甚至可以自行選擇印在鈔票上的序列號。

慈善鈔將沿用渣打銀行標(biāo)志性的藍(lán)綠兩色。鈔票背面有來自不同時期的香港民眾在山頂俯瞰欣賞維多利亞港的畫面。慈善鈔最與眾不同之處在于其序列號的可選擇性。序列號前兩個字母SC固定不變，是渣打銀行英文名字開頭字母的縮寫，但民眾可以選擇剩下的六個數(shù)字。例如，如果你選擇今天的日期2009年9月8日，那么你的序列號就是SC090908。如果有多人選擇了同一個序列號，那么這些買家就要進(jìn)行幸運抽簽。如果你要自己選擇序列號，那么每張150元的慈善鈔就要花掉你888港元。如果你不需要選擇序列號，那么你只需為每張鈔票支付280港元。單張慈善紀(jì)念鈔將從10月1日起依據(jù)“先到先得”的原則開始發(fā)售。公開銷售的慈善紀(jì)念鈔共有73萬張。

英國——出生率

It’s official—the economy may be 5)bust but the birth rate is booming. The latest count of Britain’s population shows that they’re the reason the country’s fuller than it’s ever been.

Roma Chappell (Statistician): 6)Fertility rates have increased in the UK since 2001， when they were at a low of 1.63. They’ve risen to 1.96 in 2008， and you have to go all the way back to 1973 to find another year when fertility rates were higher in the UK.

There were 791，000 babies born between 2007 and 2008. That means one in five of the population is under 16. But we’re also living longer; 1.3 million are now over 85.

Until now， immigration， particularly from Eastern Europe， was thought to 7)account for this baby boom. That no longer seems to be the only cause. These figures show that， largely due to more babies being born， the population is increasing， despite the fact that the number of new immigrants is falling. Record numbers from Eastern Europe left last year， and yet the number of people living here in the UK is still rising. This 8)bulging population 9)stretches services; the elderly need more care both at home and in hospital while local authorities are being forced to find more school and nursery places.

But there are warnings that this 10)surge in the 11)indigenous birth rate combined with immigration will push the population over 70 million by 2030.

這是鐵板釘釘?shù)氖聦嵙恕?jīng)濟萎靡不振，但人口出生率則持續(xù)飚升。最新一次英國人口統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)顯示，這就是目前這個國家比以往任何時期都要擁擠的原因。

羅馬·夏普爾(統(tǒng)計學(xué)家):自2001年起，英國的出生率就一直上升，從當(dāng)年的1.63上升到2008年的1.96。要在英國歷史上找到出生率高于這個數(shù)字的，你得回溯到1973年。

79.1萬嬰兒在2007年至2008年期間降生。這意味著五分之一的英國人口年齡低于16歲。但人們的壽命也比以前更長了，全國如今共有130萬人年齡超過85歲。……