英闻天下——299 Shanghai Group to Build Their Own Homes

 　　According to media reports, the homebuyers-turned-developers purchased 8,000 square meters of land near Dishui Lake at auction¹ last month. They plan to sell the apartments for between 6,500 yuan and 8,500 yuan per square meter to the development's shareholders².

 

　　"The basic cost of our project is 3,555 yuan per square meter, plus 3,000 to 5,000 yuan in construction and installation costs. The prices of these houses will be between 6,550 and 8,000 yuan."

 

　　The initiator of the project, Qian Shenghui, adds that at these prices, the apartments will be priced at a steep discount compared with other units in the area, which have sold for about 11,000 yuan per square meter. And the location of their homes will be much better than that of other real estate.

 

　　Qian says the 30 people, who are also shareholders of the real estate company set up to oversee³ the development, have invested at least 500,000 yuan a piece in the project, for which they get first dibs on purchasing an apartment.

 

　　Ms. Pan is one of the shareholders. She tells us why she got involved in the project.

 

　　"We didn't want to buy a home given the skyrocketing housing prices. That's why we turned to the project. The prices, which are much lower than those of other real estate, are the main attraction for us."

 

　　Qian Shenghui stresses that the earlier a homebuyer joins their group, the greater a chance he or she will have to buy an apartment. The group is currently still accepting applications from people interested in becoming shareholders.

 

　　Shareholders can choose to buy an apartment in the development or just make a profit from the project by reselling their apartment to another buyer. Those who join later or do not invest as much money might lose out on a chance to buy one of the apartments at a discount.

 

　　For CRI, I am Zhang Wan⁴.

1 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

2 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

3 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

4 wan   

(wide area network)广域网

参考例句：

• The shared connection can be an Ethernet,wireless LAN,or wireless WAN connection.提供共享的网络连接可以是以太网、无线局域网或无线广域网。