Business Channel 2006-09-25&28

Today, the former CEO of WorldCom begins his 25-year sentence. Ebbers, as you were saying, was convicted last year in a federal court for his role in an 11-billion-dollar accounting¹ fraud that toppled the phone giant. But before that scandal, Ebbers was practically a commercial for upward mobi, bility. A former milkman and high school basketball coach, Ebbers pieced together the WorldCom empire through a chain of complex acquisitions. At its peak in the late 1990s WorldCom was the second-largest long-distance company after AT&T. By all accounts, however, Ebbers re, reports to prison virtually broke. He lost hundreds of millions of dollars when his WorldCom stock became more worthless and he had to liquidate² almost all of his other assets to settle claims. Richard.

Er, doesn't sound good for Bernie then. (No) And Gerri, yeah, it doesn't, certainly, er, what about the company he led, WorldCom, what's up with that?

Richard, the accounting scandal exposed titanic³ holes in WorldCom's balance sheet, so in 2002 the company was forced into bankruptcy⁴. Along the way thousands of workers lost their jobs as well as savings⁵ that were tied up in the WorldCom stock. But the firm emerged from bankruptcy in 2004 under its original name MCI, then in 2005 it was bought by Verizon.

Elsewhere, a major homebuilder says it doesn't know where the floor is. Lennor, Lennar Corp warns that the tumbling housing market has not hit bottom. This comes as the firm reported its third quarter earnings⁶ plunged⁷ by more than 33%. The company also said it was reducing its fourth quarter earning projections⁸, and would miss Wall Street forecasts. That is a second time in a month Lennar has warned that it would not meet fourth quarter estimates. Richard.

I don't know, a lot of people don't wanna hear from Lennar at this moment. Dah, any word, then, er, in terms of why they believe that it's gonna keep on sliding?

Well, they're not saying anything explicitly⁹, but like others in the industry, Lennar notes that the economy is strong and unemployment and interest rates are relatively¹⁰ low. Those factors traditionally translate into a strong housing market, but there are more than three million unsold homes across the country, and that glut¹¹, oversupply¹² is pushing prices down.

Finally the nation's largest concert promoter and the biggest seller of concert tickets are reportedly not in harmony. According to the Los Angeles Times, promotions¹³ giant Live Nation says the concert business's been badly damaged by high ticket prices. And that puts the firm at odds¹⁴ with Ticketmaster, which earned more than one billion dollars last year in fees from ticket sales and it's the unquestioned leader in that arena¹⁵. Ticketmaster has the exclusive right to sell tickets for Live Nation events until 2008. The companies are trying to reach a compromise on fees which can add as much as 50% to the price of a ticket. The cost of a ticket, the most popular concerts last year, averaged 57 dollars, but Richard, I gotta tell you they go far higher than that.

Yeah, they do. (Back to you.)

Yeah they certainly do, and you know, it's typical, I guess, Ticketmaster is trying to defend what is almost, I, I wanna say the quasi monopoly, if you will, I mean they're so strong.

Very close, very close to a monopoly and obviously it's a subject to debate, not just by the companies, (Yeah) but also by the fans.

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Vocabulary

1. upward mobility¹⁶, also see vertical¹⁷ mobility--movement from one social level to a higher one (upward mobility) or a lower one (downward mobility), as by changing jobs or marrying.

2. floor--noun. the bottom, the base

3. glut--an excessive supply or amount; surfeit¹⁸.

4. at odds with-- at variance¹⁹ with; in disagreement with

5. quasi--adj. resembling; seeming; virtual: a quasi member.

1 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

2 liquidate   

v.偿付，清算，扫除；整理，破产

参考例句：

• A unanimous vote was taken to liquidate the company.全体投票一致通过停业清理公司。
• They have not hesitated in the past to liquidate their rivals.过去他们曾毫不犹豫地铲除对手。

3 titanic   

adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的

参考例句：

• We have been making titanic effort to achieve our purpose.我们一直在作极大的努力，以达到我们的目的。
• The island was created by titanic powers and they are still at work today.台湾岛是由一个至今仍然在运作的巨大力量塑造出来的。

4 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

5 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

6 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

7 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

8 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

9 explicitly   

ad.明确地，显然地

参考例句：

• The plan does not explicitly endorse the private ownership of land. 该计划没有明确地支持土地私有制。
• SARA amended section 113 to provide explicitly for a right to contribution. 《最高基金修正与再授权法案》修正了第123条，清楚地规定了分配权。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

10 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

11 glut   

n.存货过多，供过于求；v.狼吞虎咽

参考例句：

• The glut of coffee led to a sharp drop in prices.咖啡供过于求道致价格急剧下跌。
• There's a glut of agricultural products in Western Europe.西欧的农产品供过于求。

12 oversupply   

n.供应过量；v.过度供给

参考例句：

• The market softened because of oversupply.市场因供过于求而疲软。
• Overexpansion of tea fields has led to oversupply.茶园过度扩张，使得市场上逐渐供过于求。

13 promotions   

促进( promotion的名词复数 )； 提升； 推广； 宣传

参考例句：

• All services or promotions must have an appeal and wide application. 所有服务或促销工作都必须具有吸引力和广泛的适用性。
• He promptly directed the highest promotions and decorations for General MacArthur. 他授予麦克阿瑟将军以最高的官阶和勋奖。

14 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

15 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

16 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

17 vertical   

adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The northern side of the mountain is almost vertical.这座山的北坡几乎是垂直的。
• Vertical air motions are not measured by this system.垂直气流的运动不用这种系统来测量。

18 surfeit   

v.使饮食过度；n.(食物)过量，过度

参考例句：

• The voters are pretty sick of such a surfeit of primary sloganeering.选民们对于初选时没完没了地空喊口号的现象感到发腻了。
• A surfeit of food makes one sick.饮食过量使人生病。

19 variance   

n.矛盾，不同

参考例句：

• The question of woman suffrage sets them at variance. 妇女参政的问题使他们发生争执。
• It is unnatural for brothers to be at variance. 兄弟之间不睦是不近人情的。