美国有线新闻 CNN 英国百年旅游公司托马斯库克破产 60万游客滞留海外

 

Repatriation¹ is a word you don't hear too often. It's when someone is returned or brought back to his or her home country after being abroad. And the government of the United Kingdom has launched the largest peace time repatriation in British history. The reason — a British travel company suddenly went out of business Sunday night. And at that time it had about 600,000 customers on vacation, including 150,000 people from Britain who were stranded² in other nations. The travel company is Thomas Cook. It was named for an English businessman credited with inventing modern tourism in the mid-1800s. Until this weekend, the company that bore his name was one of the largest travel businesses on the planet.

It said it had tens of millions of customers. But it was in financial trouble. An analyst³ said there were a list of reasons why. Thomas Cook had run out of cash. It was r?acking up a lot of debt. It had more online competitors whose costs were cheaper than a company with more than 500 retail⁴ stores. Some experts say it wasn't managed well. Some say it had been slow to change with the changing market and some believe that uncertainty⁵ over Brexit, the British exit from the European Union, had made some Britains less willing to spend as much on travel.

Thomas Cook was trying to make a rescue deal with banks and its largest investor⁶. But when that deal fell through over the weekend, the 178 year old company was finished. It's CEO apologized to customers, employees and partners, calling this a deeply sad day. And the British government launched Operation Matterhorn, the repatriation effort to bring home travelers who’d booked their vacations through Thomas Cook and became stuck when the company collapsed⁷.

1 repatriation   

n.遣送回国，归国

参考例句：

• The Volrep programme is the preferred means of repatriation. 政府认为自愿遣返计划的遣返方法较为可取。 来自互联网
• Arrange the cargo claiming and maritime affairs,crews repatriation,medical treatment,traveling so on. （六）洽办货物理赔，船舶海事处理，办理船员遣返，就医，旅游等。 来自互联网

2 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

3 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

4 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。

5 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

6 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

7 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。