英语听力：澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2014-04-27

 The local share market made reasonable gains in the lead-up to the Anzac day long weekend. Both the All Ordinaries index and the ASX 200 added a quarter of a per cent. The big miners gained ground, but the energy and retail¹ sectors² finished in the red. Checking elsewhere in the region now, Japan's Nikkei is down 141 points, but the Hangseng is making modest gains. And the Australian dollar is currently buying 92.9 US cents.

 

A consortium led by Transurban, Australia’s biggest toll³ road(收费公路） owner，is buying Queensland motorways⁴. Transurban, Australian Super and a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Company have paid more than seven billion dollars for the toll road network. Transurban will own a 62.5 per cent stake and will run the company on behalf of the other minority owners.

 

And both Apple and facebook posted strong first quarter profit results. Facebook’s revenue jumped by 72 per cent to just over 2.5 billion dollars. The company credits strong growth in its mobile advertising⁵ business for the rise and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg says it’s been a great start to 2014. Meanwhile, Apple has seen its revenues jump by five per cent over the same period to 49.5 billion dollars. It sold close to 44 million I-phones in the first three months of the year and the company has also addressed calls to return more cash to investors⁶. It’s approved a 32-billion-dollar share buyback program over the next year.

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

4 motorways   

n.高速公路( motorway的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Most of Britain's motorways radiated from London. 英国的大多数公路从伦敦向四方延伸。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Cuba is well served by motorways. 古巴的高速公路四通八达。 来自辞典例句

5 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

6 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会