Persistent fears of a deep
economic downturn and deteriorating corporate performance are keeping the
markets in Europe in a gloomy mode.
欧洲投资人持续担心经济严重衰退和公司业绩恶化，愁云惨雾笼罩股市。
Lead by disappointing November U.S. unemployment figures, the European
markets finished up the week on a downward note. Oil and banking shares on
Friday were among the biggest losers.
美国11月令人失望的失业数据使得欧洲股市以跌势结束了这个星期。星期五，石油和银行类股的跌幅最大。
The negative mood comes just a day after European central banks slashed
interest rates in the hope of stabilizing the markets.
就在这种负面情绪弥漫市场的前一天，欧洲各中央银行削减利率，希望稳定市场。
On Thursday, the Bank of England dropped interest rates a full point down
to the two percent level.
星期四，英格兰银行下调利率一个百分点至2%。
It is now up to the commercial banks to pass that on to their customers in
the form of lower loan and mortgage rates but not all are enthusiastically
willing to do that.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he is doing his best to encourage
the financial institutions to pass on the cuts.
英国首相布朗说，他正在竭尽全力鼓励金融机构把降息的效应体现出来。
"We are talking to banks. Remember the last time and interest rates came
down 1.5 percent, we had to talk to the banks before things moved
forward," he said. "But things did move forward and we will be talking to
the banks again."
Philip Booth from the Institute of Economic Affairs says banks in Britain
that have been recapitalized by the government are trying to strike a
balance between retaining some of those funds while also loosening up
lending to help the economy in general.
"The banks are desperate not to make the same mistakes again and at the
same time they want to try to rebuild their balance sheets so that the
banking market, the markets for savings and lending, can get back to
normal again," he said.
In the auto sector, carmaker BMW has announced that November sales were
down 26 percent compared to a year ago.
在汽车产业，汽车制造商宝马公司宣布，11月份的销售量比去年同期下降了26%。
Honda car sales in their key U.S. market meanwhile were down 30 percent
last month. And that steep downward trend for the manufacturer has forced
it to pull out of the glitzy world of Formula One racing.
Unless a buyer for the Honda team is found by the end of this month, its
racing operations in northern England will cease with the loss of over 700
jobs.
除非在这个月底找到买主接管本田车队，否则它将终止在北英格兰的赛事，结果将使700多人失业。
Honda's Formula One technical manager Ross Brawn concedes it is a
difficult time for his staff.
本田一级方程式比赛的技术经理罗斯.布朗承认，对于他的雇员来说，现在是一个艰难的时期。
"It is a great shame because this is a team that was coming together well
with a plan that we are on schedule with," he said. "We had three-year
plan. This year's results were poor but I would not say that was part of
the plan but that was understandable what we were trying to achieve next
year and the third year."
Brawn says his number one priority now is to work to keep the team alive
by finding a buyer that would secure as many jobs as he can at the
Northamptonshire base.
Racing enthusiasts fear that Honda might just be the first of a number of
teams that will be forced out of the sport due to the current tough
economic times.