周二央行和银监会下发通知，在不实施“限购”措施的城市，居民家庭首次购买普通住房的商业性个人住房贷款，原则上最低首付款比例为25%，各地可向下浮动5个百分点。请看本报昨日的报道：

    China announced Tuesday it would lower the minimum deposit for home purchases in most cities, to spur the real estate market.

    The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the central bank, said that in cities where there was no home purchase restrictions, down payments for first homes financed by loans from commercial banks will stay at a minimum of 25 percent “in principle,” but they can go down as much as 5 percentage points.

    报道中的down payment指的是分期付款中的首

    付，这个词还可以是“定金、预付款”。例如：

    Down payments are usually at least 20 percent, often 40 percent.

    首付款一般至少20%，通常是40%。