(2008-6-16144815)鞍鋼國貿公司聽力翻譯輔導講義

1、Unit 1. First Trans-Atlantic Stock Market Aims for Early '07 LaunchThe planned NYSE-Euronext merger is a good example of how financial markets have grown increasingly international and competitive.The NYSE Group and Euronext hope to create the world's largest financial exchange group by the

2、end of March. Their shareholders voted last month to approve a plan to combine the two exchange operators.The proposed fourteen billion dollar deal will create the first trans-Atlantic stock exchange. American and European government officials must still approve the merger plan. The new group, to be

3、 called NYSE Euronext, will have a combined market value of about twenty-seven billion dollars. The deal has been developing since June.The New York Stock Exchange is the world's biggest stock market. Euronext is Europe's leading international exchange. It operates the stock markets in Amste

4、rdam, Brussels, Lisbon and Paris.Notes:trans-:merger:NYSE-Euronext:shareholder: exchange operator:market value: Amsterdam, Brussels, Lisbon and Paris: Unit 2. Backdated Stock Options: How Deal for Apple Chief Turned SourAn explanation of a payment practice that has brought attention to the company f

5、ormerly known as Apple Computer and many others.Apple Computer had a big week. Steve Jobs, the chief executive officer, announced the company would now just be called Apple. And, at its MacWorld conference, he also presented the iPhone. It combines a wireless phone, music and video player, and Inter

6、net communications device in one handheld product.The next day, Cisco Systems brought a civil case. That company owns trademark rights to the name iPhone. Apple was negotiating for permission to use it. Apple called the legal action "silly." It said there were already several companies usi

7、ng that name.Recently, Apple has had to deal with another issue: backdated stock options. A stock option is an agreement to trade a stock by a set date. Companies use options as a form of pay, often for their top people.Notes:Backdated Stock Options: Apple Computer:Steve Jobs, the chief executive of

8、ficer: MacWorld conference:iPhone:Cisco Systems:trademark rights: negotiate:legal action:a set date:Unit 3. Big and Bigger: Mergers and Acquisitions Stay Strong Into'07Last year brought record levels of activity worldwide, but the biggest deal was the combining of AT&T and BellSouth.Companie

9、s combined or bought other businesses at record levels last year. Almost four trillion dollars in deals worldwide represented an increase of nearly forty percent from the year before. So far in January, merger and acquisition activity has remained strong.In the airline industry, US Airways this mont

10、h raised its recent offer to buy Delta to ten billion dollars. If that goes through, there could be other airline deals coming.General Electric has recently added some new manufacturers to its mix of businesses.But in the biggest deal of last year, AT&T merged with the telecommunications company

11、 BellSouth. That deal in the United States was valued at seventy-three billion dollars, not including debt.Notes:Mergers and Acquisitions:AT&T:BellSouth:US Airways:Delta:General Electric:Trillion: Unit 4. Moving Beyond Talk on Climate ChangeHow companies are feeling the heat to cut greenhouse ga

12、ses.One of the top issues this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, was climate change. But the business and political leaders gathered for the yearly event in the Swiss Alps were not the only ones talking about the subject. President Bush, in his State of the Union message Tuesda

13、y, proposed rules to increase production of renewable fuels, like ethanol from corn. He also said new technologies are needed to deal with what he called" the serious challenge of climate change." California recently passed rules to require industries to release less carbon dioxide and oth

14、er gases blamed for trapping heat. Some companies believe it is just a question of time before the federal government could do the same. So they are positioning themselves to have a voice in the policy-making.Notes:greenhouse gases:Davos, Switzerland:Swiss Alps:State of the Union message:renewable f

15、uels:ethanol from corn: carbon dioxide:to trap:Unit 5. Computers: A New Windows, and a New Way to Make ProcessorsMicrosoft releases Vista, its first new operating system since 2001. Intel and IBM each announce, on the same day, the biggest change in transistor design in 40 years.This week, with danc

16、ers and other events, Microsoft launched the general release of its new operating system for personal computers. Windows Vista became available in more than seventy countries.This is the first new version since Windows XP in two thousand one. But the long-delayed release did not create nearly as muc

17、h excitement as there was twelve years ago for Windows 95.Vista is designed to make it easier to search for files on a computer. The appearance has also been improved. And Microsoft says the new system offers better security. Just how much better remains to be proven.Most PCs use Windows. But people

18、 who may want to buy the new version for an existing computer first have to make sure that the machine can support it. This is true especially if a computer is older than a year or two.Notes:Windows Vista:Windows XP:Transistor:Unit 6. Congress Gets Bush's'08 Budget PlanPresident's $3 tri

19、llion spending proposal includes, for the first time, detailed estimates of war costs. It also aims for a balanced budget in 2012.This week, President Bush sent Congress his spending plan for two thousand eight. His budget proposes almost three trillion dollars in government spending, a four percent

20、 increase over this year. The new budget year begins October first. Mister Bush says his plan will finance the war on terrorism and still lead to a balanced budget in two thousand twelve without raising taxes. His budget includes, for the first time, detailed cost estimates for the war in Iraq. Unti

21、l now, war costs have been considered largely as emergency spending measures, when needed.Mister Bush is asking Congress for one hundred forty-five billion dollars for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for two thousand eight. He also wants an additional one hundred billion dollars for this year.Not

22、es:a balanced budget: government spending: budget year: emergency spending measures: operation:Unit 7. US Presses Japan on Farm Imports and India on World Trade TalksJapan is warned that American companies could take their business elsewhere; India is urged to do more to help restart WTO negotiation

23、s.The United States has put new pressure on Japan to import more farm goods from American companies. The American ambassador to Japan said if Japan does not open its markets, then "we will just put our resources in other places."Ambassador Thomas Schieffer gave that warning in a speech Wed

24、nesday to business leaders in Tokyo. He also urged the Japanese to permit more foreign investment. Among the most developed countries, Japan still has the lowest level of foreign direct investment in relation to the size of its economy.Food prices in Japan are among the highest in the world as a res

25、ult of efforts to protect Japanese farmers. Japan imports more than half of its food. But it places high customs and other restrictions on many products, especially rice, fruit and beef.Notes:foreign direct investment: customs: Unit 8. Maker of Cervical Cancer Vaccine Stops Pushing to Require It for

26、 GirlsMerck says criticism of its lobbying campaign was interfering with its efforts to gain widespread use of Gardasil.This week, the drug company Merck announced that it would end a lobbying campaign for Gardasil, its new vaccine for girls and women. The vaccine is designed to protect against four

27、 kinds of human papillomavirus, or HPV. These cause about seventy percent of cervical cancers and ninety percent of genital warts.The development of the vaccine has been widely praised. But Merck faced growing criticism for its push for states to require schoolgirls to be vaccinated with Gardasil. T

28、he company says the criticism was interfering with its goal of widespread use of the vaccine.The United States Food and Drug Administration approved Gardasil last June for females age nine to twenty-six. At least twenty of the fifty state legislatures have begun to consider some form of Gardasil req

29、uirement.Notes:Merck:Cervical Cancer Vaccine:vaccinate:lobby:Gardasil:papillomavirus, or HPV: genital warts:US Food and Drug Administration: state legislature: Unit 9. Meeting the Demand for EthanolWhat will fuel demand do to the food supply as animal farmers and refiners compete for corn?What happe

30、ns when a food crop becomes a fuel crop? This is a question many people are trying to answer as demand for ethanol increases. The issue is important not just to farmers and the energy industry.President Bush began a Latin American trip in Brazil Thursday for talks with President Luiz Inacio Lula da

31、Silva on subjects including biofuels. One goal is to increase production of ethanol from sugar cane in Central American and Caribbean nations.Together, the United States and Brazil produce more than seventy percent of the world's ethanol. In the United States, ethanol is produced mostly from cor

32、n, or maize, and is also imported-with a tariff that critics call protectionist. Brazilian ethanol production is mainly from sugar cane.Notes:animal farmer:fuel crop: biofuels:refiner:ethanol:sugar cane:President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva: Central American and Caribbean nations:tariff:protectionist:

33、 Unit 10. Worry Over Subprime Home LoansBuyers who were given loans even though they have weak credit are missing their payments. Now investors and lawmakers are taking notice.Financial markets had a rough week again as investors grew more concerned about the United States housing market. Much of th

34、e concern is about home loans to people with poor credit or little history of borrowing money.Most homebuyers are considered "prime," or a high-quality credit risk. Yet lenders have taken the risk of subprime loans because those buyers pay higher interest rates.The number and complexity of

35、 nontraditional home loans grew along with the housing market. Now, that market has cooled. At the same time, many buyers, and not just in the subprime market, are seeing their monthly payments go up. Nontraditional loans often start with low payments for the first year or two.The Mortgage Bankers A

36、ssociation reported this week on the condition of eighty percent of home loans nationally.Notes:Subprime:Prime:Home loan:Nontraditional loans:Financial market:Mortgage Bankers Association:Unit 11. Socially Responsible Investing Grows$2 trillion is invested using what are considered socially responsi

37、ble methods.More and more people are considering the social and environmental results of their investments. Socially responsible investing has become a fast-growing part of the investment industry. Over two trillion dollars are invested using socially responsible methods. This is about nine percent

38、of all money invested under professional management.One way to invest is through mutual funds. A mutual fund gathers money from many investors to buy different securities. Mutual fund supervisors can use socially responsible methods to choose which investments they will buy. The funds' superviso

39、rs may buy only stocks of companies that meet the requirements set out by the fund. This process is called screening.Notes:Socially responsible investing:mutual funds supervisors:securities:screening:Unit 12. Credit Cards Are Easy to Get, But Harder to Pay OffInterest rates are not the only measure

40、of a card's cost; high fees become an issue in US.Buy now, pay later. Credit cards give people that choice. Those billions of small pieces of plastic in use all over the world make it easy to buy things. But people who use credit cards irresponsibly can soon find themselves heavily in debt.Cardh

41、olders may not think about it, but they borrow money from a bank or other lender each time they charge something. They avoid interest charges if they pay their bill in full each month. But if they only make the minimum payment, the lowest required, it may take years to pay off a debt. Interest is co

42、ntinually charged on the unpaid balance. A credit card may have a number of costs. First, there is the interest charge on purchases, known as the annual percentage rate, or A.P.R.Notes:unpaid balance: interest charge:annual percentage rate, or A.P.R.:Unit 13. Economic Conditions: Trying to Read the

43、FutureThe Conference Board publishes leading economic indicators for the United States and several other countries.Economics and weather have a lot in common. Knowing what conditions will be like weeks or months in the future is not easy. One thing that helps economists predict the future is the ind

44、ex of leading economic indicators.An index is a way to measure changes in a group of numbers over time. In financial markets, for example, an index of stocks will rise or fall with changes in the wider market. The changes measured by an index can be represented with a single percentage.The index may

45、 start at a base period of time with a value of one hundred. Now say that a month later the value is recorded as one hundred one. That means it gained one percent. If the index lost one percent, however, the value would be ninety-nine.Notes:Indicators:index of stocks:Unit 14. Finding a Buyer for Chr

46、yslerInvestor Kirk Kerkorian makes a $4.5 billion offer for the US automaker, part of Germany's Daimler Chrysler, but faces competition.Who will succeed in buying Chrysler, the troubled carmaker in the United States? The competition is just getting started.Dieter Zetsche, chairman of Daimler Chr

47、ysler, confirmed last week that his company was in talks with possible buyers for its Chrysler Group. Chrysler has been part of the German company for less than ten years.Investor Kirk Kerkorian has offered four and one-half billion dollars for Chrysler through his investment company, Tracinda. He s

48、ays he would seek a "true partnership" with Chrysler workers and labor union members.He tried to buy Chrysler in nineteen ninety-five. Now Mister Kerkorian has even offered one hundred million dollars for the right to negotiate the sale with Daimler Chrysler.Notes:Make an offer:Daimler Chr

49、ysler:Dieter Zetsche:Kirk Kerkorian:Billion: .Tracinda: labor union:Unit 15. Teaching the Student Loan Industry a LessonConflicts of interest between lenders and colleges are investigated in US.Imagine this: An official in a position of trust helps you choose a company for a service important to you

50、r future. You expect that the advice will be in your best interest.What you do not know is that the person's office has a financial relationship with that company. The official may have received gifts likes trips or stock options, or money for professional advice. Would you wonder, then, just wh

51、ose interest was being served? This is what some American states are investigating in connection with the student loan industry. They are examining possible conflicts of interest when schools direct students to lists of so-called preferred lenders.New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says colleges

52、 and universities often fail to tell about their ties to banks and other finance companies.Notes:Student Loan Industry: Trust:be in ones best intereststock options:so-called:preferred lenders: Attorney General:Unit 16. US Brings Two Trade Cases Against ChinaAmerican officials say the Chinese are not

53、 protecting intellectual property. China expresses'' great regret'' at the actions.Last week, the United States asked the World Trade Organization to help settle two trade disputes with China.One of these involves the issue of intellectual property.Books, magazines, movies, computer

54、software-intellectual property is all around us. Any property that can be legally protected against copying without permission can be considered intellectual property.Copyright protects things like written materials and images and music. Forms of intellectual property like ideas, plans and designs c

55、an be protected by patents.American officials say China is not doing enough to punish those who illegally copy American movies, music and software. United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab said" piracy and counterfeiting levels remain unacceptably high." She says this costs American

56、 companies and workers billions of dollars.Notes:intellectual property:disputes:copyright: patents:piracy:counterfeiting:Unit 17. How Much Is Too Much? The Debate Over Executive PayCritics say company leaders are getting big raises even when they do not add value for their shareholders.For Robert Na

57、rdelli, two thousand seven might seem like a bad year. After all, he resigned in January as chief of the world's largest operator of home-improvement stores.Sales and profits grew during his six years at Home Depot. But the stock price of the company, based in Atlanta, fell eight percent. Many s

58、hareholders thought Bob Nardelli was paid too much and did not respect his investors enough. So he was forced out. But he had something to look forward to that would ease his fall. Company directors agreed to give him two hundred ten million dollars worth of payments and benefits.An agreement like this is known as a golden parachute. These are traditional when top executives lose their jobs because of a change of ownership or control of a company. This was not the case at Home Depot, and the money only added to shareholder anger.Notes:resign:home-improvement stores:Home Depot: Atlanta:Un