The bull was a sacred creature in the religion and folklore of the ancient world. It is not surprising, therefore, that the financial markets of western Europe should be moved by those ancient legends about the creative power of the bull. The stock market speculators translated that power into money and made it part of the speech of financial investors. The bull’s back was strong enough to carry the gambler’s greed for money. There were some who bought stock because they expected it would rise in price and give them a good profit. This kind of speculator was soon called a "bull".
On the other side of the coin was the "bear". Instead of buying a stock, then selling it, the bear did the opposite. He sold a stock first, then bought it back at what he hoped would be a lower price. There is hard evidence that "bull" was stock market slang in Europe in the middle 1700’s. Such evidence can be found in the works of several 18th century British dramatists. The famous Colley Cibber, for example, describes a man who boasts of the money he has been on the Lon don Exchange. "Every shilling," he says, "out of stocks, bulls, bears and bubbles!"
Samuel Foote calls one of his characters a "mere bull and bear booby: the patron of lame ducks, brokers and fraudulent (欺骗性的) foot bankrupts!" Still, it is generally believed that "bear" became part of stock market slang long before "bull" did so. The use of "bear" , we are told, comes from a very old and well-known fable. This is the story of a man who sold the skin of a bear even before he caught the animal, just as some speculators sold stocks that they had not yet bought. English financiers of the 17th century made fun of such traders and called them "break skin jobbers". As an English dictionary of the time explained: "To sell a bear is to sell what one has not."
The financial history of the past 200 years, both in America and Europe, tells some wild stories about the bears and bulls and their efforts to influence the stock market. Some of their dishonest deals, trades and speculations have given writers and dramatists much material for their plays, novels and satires.
Happily, in recent times, the bears and the bulls have been brought under control. Laws have been passed to keep dishonest traders from the exchanges. The bears and the bulls in their time have had their fun and their profits. They certainly were a wild breed in their more dramatic and destructive days, bringing ruin to the exchanges and economies of nations.
They make colorful, exciting reading, but they are part of the past. Today, thank God, the bears and bulls have been tamed. They now act like house pets--as seen in the words of a modem American poet, "I play with the bulls and the bears.\
According to the passage, we know that "bulls, bears, and bubbles" has a history of about ______.