Business Channel 2007-03-08&10

The closing bell rang moments ago and it couldn't have come too soon for many investors² after this crazy week on Wall Street. It was another roller-coaster session for the market. Stocks actually edged into the plus column briefly³, but by the end it was another day of steep losses with energy and technology stocks leading the decline. And it kept the worst week for Wall Street in four years. Taking a look at the big board, the Dow Industrial slipped 120 points today. The NASDAQ dropped 1.5%, the S&P 500 fell 1%. And for the week, the Dow is down more than 600 points. The S&P 500 tumbled more than 4%. And the NASDAQ fared worst of all, plunging⁴ nearly 6%. Tuesday's 416-point tumble by the Dow was its biggest one-day point loss since the day the market reopened after the 9/11, 2001 attacks.

If you would like to work for the world's second richest man, there isn't an opening, but there are some very big shoes to fill. Legendary⁵ investor¹ Warren Buffett is looking for an understudy. He says he wants to train a younger person who could eventually succeed him as chief investment officer at his company Berkshire Hathaway. But don't expect the 76-year-old mega-billionaire to quit any time soon. In his annual report, Buffett says he's in excellent health, crediting his diet of cherry coke and hamburgers. On a more serious note, the report also shows Berkshire Hathaway, had more than a 29%-jump in net income last year. And for his outlook for this year, Buffett says the big unknown for mega-insurers is whether hurricanes like Katrina and Rita were aberrations⁶ or the first major warnings of major climate changes which could mean more heavy damage and more heavy insurance claims worldwide. By the way, Berkshire Hathaway stock is the most expensive in the world. It closed today up 3/10 of 1% at $107,000 a share.

And now here's a good story at the end of the tough week. Most of the time when you get a beer at a restaurant or a bar, it served in a V-shaped shaker glass. But according to Boston Beers' chairman and founder⁷ Jim Koch, that's not the best glass for your beer. Much like there are different shapes for different types of wine. Mr. Koch wanted to see if shape affected⁸ beer taste. And he says it does. After studying more than 100 glasses and getting the help of a German glassmaker, he claims to have found a perfect beer glass shape. The curvy glass has an angled lip and a narrow base. And it's designed to deliver beer to the front of the tongue. And at the same time, reduce the heat transfer from the drinker's hand. And perhaps the most interesting part of the glass design is a dime-shaped etching on the bottom of the glass which sends a constant stream of bubbles to the top of the glass.

I'm Valerie Morris and that is the latest from New York.

1 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。

2 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

3 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

4 plunging   

adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• War broke out again, plunging the people into misery and suffering. 战祸复发，生灵涂炭。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He is plunging into an abyss of despair. 他陷入了绝望的深渊。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

6 aberrations   

n.偏差( aberration的名词复数 )；差错；脱离常规；心理失常

参考例句：

• These events were aberrations from the norm. 这些事件不合常规。 来自辞典例句
• These chromosome aberrations are all stable, compatible with cell viability. 这些染色体畸变都是稳定的，不影响细胞生活力的。 来自辞典例句

7 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

8 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。