The British Financial System
　　英国金融制度
　　Situation 8
　　情景 8
　　Tatsuo Horita ,a banker from Japan ,is visiting with an officer ofthe Bank of England .
　　来自日本的银行家堀田达夫正在与英格兰银行的一位高级职员闲谈，
　　They are talking about the British monetary and financial system .
　　他们正谈论着英国的货币和金融制度。
　　Horita:I understand that Bank of England notes have been legal tender in Britain since the earlypart of the 19th century .
　　堀 田：据我所知，从19世纪初叶，英格兰银行发行的纸币就已经成为英国的法币了。
　　Officer:Yes,actually from 1883,long before the Bank of England was the official central bank forBritain.
　　职 员：是的，实际上从1833年开始，英格兰银行早已成为英国的官方中央银行了，
　　And special restrictions put on note issurance by other banks in 1844 caused most banks todiscontinue issuing notes.
　　而且在1844年，还对其他银行的货币发行实行期一些特别的限制，这就使得大多数的银行不再继续发行纸币。
　　H:Weren’t Bank of England notes backed by specie?
　　堀 田：英格兰银行发行的纸币不是以金银铸币作为依据吗？
　　O:Specie or government bonds until 1931.Since then ,of course,the Bank of England like othercentral banks has not held specie reserves equal to our note issue.
　　职 员：直到1931年，还是以铸币或政府的债券为依据的。当然，从那以后，象其它的中央银行一样，英格兰银行并不持有与我们发行的纸币等量的金银铸币储备。
　　H:When did the Bank of England become the official central bank of the United Kingdom?
　　堀 田：英格兰银行什么时候成为联合王国的官方中央银行的呢？
　　O:That’s difficult to say .Actually ,the bank was nationalized by the government in 1946.
　　职员：这很难说，实际上，在1946年政府已将其收归国有。
　　Before that ,however ,the bank had been the central banking instituion for over a century .
　　然而，在这之前，英格兰银行就已经成为中央银行有100多年了。
　　While we were privately owned ,successive governments felt that we operated in the public interestand gradually enacted laws,
　　当时，虽然我们是私立银行，但历届政府都认为我们的业务经营活动有利于公众利益，并逐步地有所立法，
　　which gave us various supervisory functions over other banks .
　　这一切赋予了我们对其他银行的各种监督职能。
　　H:So the bank now makes fiscal and monetary policies for the country ?
　　堀田：因此，目前该银行就是为国家制定财政和金融政策的。
　　O:In coperation with the Cabinet we do .Our functions are not as independent as those of theFederal Reserve in the United States.
　　职员：我们在与内阁合作中行使我们的职能，但我们的职能不象美国联邦储备那样具有独立性。