I'm very happy to see such a large audience. But this lecture on the stock market is meant for beginners. A stock is an ownership share in a business. Companies sell stock as a way to raise money without borrowing. People buy stock as an investment, in the hope of making a profit on an increase in the stock's price.

The stock market in the United States began in New York City in 1792. The New York Stock Exchange is the oldest financial market in the United States, and the largest stock market in the world.

The stocks of more than 3,000 American and international companies are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Together the stock represents about 80% of the value of all publicly owned companies in America.

我很高兴能见到这么多的听众。不过这只是一个普及性的讲座。股票是指对某个公司的一种份额拥有。公司出售股票是一种不需借款的筹资方式。人们购买股票是一种投资行为，希望通过股价上涨而获利。

美国的股票交易所于1792年诞生于纽约。组约股票交易所是美国最古老的金融市场，也是世界上最大的股票市场。

3 000多家美国公司和跨国公司的股票在纽约股票交易所交易，总股价约占全美上市公司总市值的80%。

Stockbrokers and dealers have been an important part of the traditional stock trading system. These financial experts are paid for their knowledge of financial markets and business. But, the Internet has made it easy for the general public to get information about companies and stocks. Many people now choose to control how their money is invested.

About 60 years ago, only 5% of Americans owned stock. They were usually very rich people trading shares with each other. Today, more than 50% of Americans have stock holdings. And, more than 80% of all stock trades take place over the Internet.

The expression used to describe such a period when the prices of most stocks are increasing is a "bull market". A "bear market" is when most stock prices are falling as investors sell stocks.

股票经纪人和交易商是传统的股票交易系统的一个重要组成部分。这些金融专家凭借其金融市场知识和商务专业知识的应用而取得报酬。但是，因特网的出现使普通老百姓也能获得有关公司的信息和公司股票的信息。现在很多人愿意自己控制投资。

大约60年前，只有5%的美国人拥有股票，他们通常是一些很富有的人，相互之间进行股票交易。时至今日，50%以上的美国人已持有股票，80%以上的股票是在因特网上交易的。

股市术语“牛市”用以表明大多数股票的价格处于上涨期,而“熊市”则表明投资者纷纷抛售股票致使大多数股票的价格进人下跌期。