WHEN YOU suck(吮吸) on a TastySounds lollipop, something funny happens in your head. As well as the flavour on your tongue, you hear music in your ear. Vibrations travel up your jawbone, creating the sensation of sound only you can hear. The result is disorientating(令人迷惑的). The primary sense is of sweetness. The secondary sense is a burst(一阵，爆发) of inner music.
当你吮吸TastySounds棒棒糖时，脑子里会发生一件有趣的事。除了舌尖上的味道，你还能在耳边听到音乐。振动沿着颚骨向上传播，产生只有你能听到的声音感觉。结果是令人迷惑的。主要感觉是甜味，次要感觉是一阵内在的音乐。
Something similar is going on in Hong Kong’s stock market, where Amos Food, the maker of TastySounds lollipops and other sweets, plans one day to list(上市). The “primary” market for initial public offerings(首次公开募股) (IPOs) is performing sweetly. But in the secondary market, where existing shares are traded, the music has fallen flat. The Hang Seng index of the Chinese territory’s big firms has dropped by about 1% this year, the fifth-worst performance of all major exchanges tracked by The Economist. Hong Kong’s predicament also serves as a warning sign for America, which is enjoying an IPO surge of its own.(香港的困境也为美国敲响了警钟，美国正经历着自己的IPO热潮。)
类似的情况正在香港股市上演，TastySounds棒棒糖及其他糖果的制造商Amos Food计划某日在此上市。首次公开募股（IPO）的“一级”市场表现甜蜜。但在现有股票交易的二级市场，音乐却走了调。涵盖中国香港地区大公司的恒生指数今年下跌约1%，在《经济学人》追踪的所有主要交易所中表现倒数第五。香港的困境也为美国敲响了警钟，美国正经历着自己的IPO热潮。
Amos is in a long queue(队列，长队) of companies waiting to list in Hong Kong. The exchange is encouraging them by extending the window(窗口期，时机) for firms to complete their paperwork and allowing them to file it in secret(秘密地). In the first seven months of 2026 it host(主办，承办)ed 104 IPOs, which together raised about $42bn. It offered a refuge(避难所，庇护) to Shein, a pedlar(小贩，商贩) of superfast-fashion which debut(首次亮相，上市)ed on August 31st, after geopolitical concerns deter(阻止，威慑)red the company from listing in New York or London. The sum is more than double(超过两倍) the haul(收获，筹集的总量) from the same months of 2025, itself a bumper(丰收的，极好的) year in which Hong Kong debuts raised more money than any other exchange.
Amos只是香港长长的上市排队队伍中的一员。港交所通过延长公司完成文书工作的窗口期，并允许秘密提交文件来鼓励它们。2026年前七个月，港交所共迎来104宗IPO，合计筹资约420亿美元。它为超快时尚零售商Shein提供了庇护所，该公司在8月31日上市，此前地缘政治担忧使其无法在纽约或伦敦上市。这一筹资额是2025年同期的两倍多，而2025年本身就是一个丰收年，香港的IPO筹资额超过了其他任何交易所。