Business Channel 2006-10-14&16

Little old ladies competing at dumpling-making contests, butchers chopping large chunks¹ of meat basketballs by the dozen. Five million people a week shop at Wal-Mart stores in China. And if the American retailer³ has its way, there will soon be millions more. The company is said to be close to buying a retail² chain there that could make it the biggest food and department store network in the country. The Wall Street Journal quotes sources saying the world's largest retailer has agreed to buy the retail stores of Trust-Mart, a Taiwanese supermarket chain for 1 billion dollars. Ever since China opened the door to international competition, foreign and domestic retailers⁴ have been slugging it out to dominate the world's fastest growing economy. Wal-Mart says in 20 years it hopes to be as big in China as it is in the United States. One major difference: Wal-Mart allows labor⁵ unions into nearly all its Chinese stores, something it's loath⁶ to do in the US. But as in the US, Wal-Mart intends to make its presence and discounts known across the Chinese countryside. And in a country with a 500-billion-dollar retail market, that's a lot of dumplings.

Eunice Yoon, CNN , Hong Kong.

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slug it out-- to fight, esp. with fists, until a decisive victory has been achieved

1 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

2 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。

3 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

4 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 loath   

adj.不愿意的；勉强的

参考例句：

• The little girl was loath to leave her mother.那小女孩不愿离开她的母亲。
• They react on this one problem very slow and very loath.他们在这一问题上反应很慢，很不情愿。