China's Ministry of Railways has had trouble keeping track of its trains and its money. In July, rail officials tragically failed to detect a stalled bullet train, allowing another to plow into it, killing 40 people. In February, the rail minister was sacked and placed under investigation for possible corruption. In March, auditors said embezzlers had made off with 187 million yuan ($29.2 million) from just the Beijing-Shanghai portion of China's ambitious high-speed rail network.

　　中國(guó)鐵道部過(guò)去在掌握列車(chē)和資金情況方面遇到了麻煩。今年7月，鐵路工作人員因未能察覺(jué)到一列停在半道的拋錨動(dòng)車(chē)，從而造成它與另一列動(dòng)車(chē)相撞，釀成40人死亡的悲劇。2月，中國(guó)鐵道部長(zhǎng)被革職，并因可能的腐敗問(wèn)題接受調(diào)查。3月，審計(jì)人員說(shuō)，京滬高鐵項(xiàng)目1.87億元人民幣資金被挪用，而該項(xiàng)目只是中國(guó)建設(shè)宏偉高速鐵路網(wǎng)的一部分。

　　It remains to be seen whether the ministry has overcome the safety problems, said to be linked to faulty signaling. But the ministry may have had some improvement in sorting out other signals, particularly when it comes to managing its money.

　　鐵道部是否解決了安全問(wèn)題還有待觀察。據(jù)說(shuō)這些事故與信號(hào)系統(tǒng)故障有關(guān)。不過(guò)，鐵道部在處理其他“信號(hào)”問(wèn)題、特別是資金管理方面，可能已經(jīng)有了些許長(zhǎng)進(jìn)。

　　The rail ministry has had a huge appetite for funds as it builds out the world's largest high-speed rail network -- now sprawling over 8,000 kilometers. To help pay for it, the ministry is a frequent issuer in the nation's bond market. It had some 2.09 trillion yuan in debt outstanding as of June, and it plans to offer 100 billion yuan of just one kind of debt this year.

　　隨著中國(guó)建設(shè)全球規(guī)模最大的高速鐵路網(wǎng)工程的推進(jìn)，中國(guó)鐵道部有著巨大的資金需求。中國(guó)高速鐵路的通車(chē)?yán)锍棠壳耙殉^(guò)8,000公里。為幫助償還自己的建設(shè)貸款，鐵道部頻繁在中國(guó)國(guó)內(nèi)債券市場(chǎng)上融資。截至今年6月，鐵道部的未償債務(wù)大約是2.09萬(wàn)億元。今年，鐵道部計(jì)劃只發(fā)行一種債券，融資總額為1,000億元。

　　But the fatal accident in July has shaken investor confidence in the ministry and its ability to repay on time. That has forced it to pay higher interest rates on new bond offers to convince investors to buy its debt.

　　然而，7月發(fā)生的災(zāi)難性動(dòng)車(chē)追尾事故動(dòng)搖了投資者對(duì)中國(guó)鐵道部及其按時(shí)償還貸款能力的信心。無(wú)奈之下，鐵道部只能增加新發(fā)債券的利率，目的就是勸說(shuō)投資者購(gòu)買(mǎi)其債券。

　　State banks have also restricted its access to lower-cost funds, forcing it to borrow at higher rates. It also needed some help from Beijing, which called on local governments to step up financing for rail projects in their districts.

　　中國(guó)國(guó)有銀行也對(duì)鐵道部獲取較低利率貸款的能力進(jìn)行了限制，這迫使鐵道部只能以更高利率籌資。另外，鐵道部還需要來(lái)自中國(guó)政府的一些幫助。中國(guó)政府曾呼吁地方政府提高對(duì)其轄區(qū)內(nèi)鐵路項(xiàng)目的融資力度。

　　Shortly before the National Day holiday, the rail ministry had been scheduled to issue 20 billion yuan in bonds. But at the last minute it put the brakes on those plans. There was no official explanation, but market analysts suggested the decision was an adept shift in the ministry's financial gears, avoiding a pre-holiday spike in interest rates as other borrowers rushed to raise funds.

　　就在國(guó)慶假期前夕，鐵道部曾計(jì)劃發(fā)行200億元債券，但在最后一刻卻推遲了發(fā)行計(jì)劃，并且沒(méi)有對(duì)此提供官方解釋。不過(guò)，市場(chǎng)分析人士表示，放棄之舉是鐵道部融資安排的一個(gè)巧妙安排，可避過(guò)節(jié)前因其他借款人紛紛舉債而出現(xiàn)的利率飆升現(xiàn)象。

　　But perhaps there was more to the unexplained move, with the ministry able to see a little bit further down the track than other market participants.

　　但或許鐵道部未作解釋的舉動(dòng)還有更多含義，因?yàn)樗心芰Ρ仁袌?chǎng)上的其他參與者看得更遠(yuǎn)一點(diǎn)。

　　On Monday, the Ministry of Finance helpfully announced a plan to cut in half the tax rate on interest on some types of bonds issued by the rail ministry through 2013. That made railway bonds suddenly more attractive to investors -- and no doubt less costly to the ministry. Today, the ministry has said it will offer 10 billion yuan of seven-year bonds and 10 billion yuan of 20-year paper on Wednesday.

　　中國(guó)財(cái)政部周一稱(chēng)，計(jì)劃對(duì)鐵道部今年至2013年發(fā)行的某些債券的利息收入減半征稅。突然之間，鐵道部債券對(duì)投資者的吸引力增強(qiáng)了，而鐵道部的成本無(wú)疑也就減少了。鐵道部周二說(shuō)，將于周三發(fā)行100億元的七年期債券和100億的20年期債券。

　　Coincidence? Perhaps, but maybe the ministry just sees some kinds of signals better than others.

　　這是巧合嗎？也許是，也許不是──可能只是鐵道部比別人更清楚地看到了某種信號(hào)也說(shuō)不定。