周四A股市场早盘两次熔断提前收市，请看本报周五的报道：

    China halted stock trading Thursday, its second daylong trading suspension this week, after prices plunged in the latest spasm of investor panic on its volatile markets.

    On Thursday, trading was suspended for the rest of the day after a market index, the CSI 300, nose-dived 7 percent half an hour after markets opened, triggering a “circuit breaker” that took effect Jan. 1.

    报道中的circuit breaker就是“熔断”，本意指电路跳闸，引申为交易所为防止投资者恐慌性抛售而制定的规则，即当某证券或指数跌幅达到既定值时暂停交易的做法。例如：

    “Circuit breakers” were put in place after Black Monday in order to reduce market volatility and massive panic sell-offs, giving traders time to reconsider their transactions.

    “黑色星期一”之后引入了熔断机制，为减少市场波动防止恐慌性抛售，让投资者有时间重新考虑他们的交易。