Julia: Would you tell me something about stock? Mike: Sure, what do you want me to start with? Julia: Uhh, you can start with the explanation of some terms like "a bull " and "a bear ". Mike: OK. A bull is a situation in which share prices are rising. Julia: What about a bear, then? Mike: A bear is a situation in which share prices keep falling. Julia: Oh, I see. But why the prices get rising or falling? Mike: If there are more buyers, the price will rise. Otherwise, the price will be lower and lower. Julia: How can we make money in the stock market? Mike: If you believe the market will go up, you can buy in or hang on. If it turns out to be true, you can make your profit. Julia: I heard that some people can earn money out of a bear market. How do they win in such a situation? Mike: If you believe the market will fall down, you can sell out your shares and then buy back at a lower price. The price difference is your profit. Julia: It sounds easy to make money from stock investment. Mike: Not at all. When you really invest in stock market, you'll get involved into the whole world. Julia: What do you mean by that? Mike: To decide which share you'll buy in is quite hard sometimes. You have to consider the market tendency; the growth of the company and you'd better know something about technical analysis. Julia: So boring it is. I'd better invest in some fixed interest fields. Mike: Certainly you can. You won't suffer from the risks. But your wallet will suffer. Julia: What should I do? Mike: If you really want to invest in stock, perhaps you should find a broker.

　　Notes：

　　1. 对话中，Mike给Julia讲了一些关于股票和股票市场的知识，我们来从头看一看。首先是“牛市”和“熊市”这两个概念，“牛市”就是“a bull market”，bull是“公牛”的意思。“牛市”就是指“股价上涨的股市”。 “熊市”，a bear market，就是指“股价不断下跌的股市”。

　　2. start with sth 这个词组表示“以某件事物作为开始”，比如说，You can start with your self-introduction，你可以从自我介绍开始。同时，to start with还可以表示“第一，首先”，比如说，To start with we haven't got enough money, and secondly we're too busy. 一来是我们的钱不够，二来我们没有时间。

　　3. 另外，to start with还有“起初，开始”的意思，比如说，The company had only 10,000 dollars to start with. 这家公司最初的投资只有1万美元。关于start 还有一个在口语中很常用的表达方式，就是start something，表示“惹事，热麻烦，闯祸”，比如说，You shouldn't have spoken to him like that - you've really started something now. 你真不应该和他那样说话，这下你可闯祸了。

　　4. 那么股价为什么会有涨有跌呢？股票价格上涨，share prices are rising. 那么股票价格下跌呢，share prices keep falling。Mike解释说，如果买的人多了，这支股票的价格就会上涨，否则，股价就会越来越低。Julia又问，怎么样能在股市上赚钱呢？这是所有在股市投资的人都关心的问题了。

　　5. Mike说If you believe the market will go up, you can buy in or hang on. If it turns out to be true, you can make your profit. 如果你相信股价会上涨，你可以买进或者持股不动，如果股价真的上涨了，这时候再把手里的股票卖掉，就可以赚钱了。Hang on这个词组可以表示“紧握着”， 比如说，We should hang on to the shares until their prices are higher. 在股票价格升高之前，我们应当尽力保住这些股票。再举一个例子，Hang on to the strap. The bus is starting. 抓住皮带，汽车要开动了。同时hang on也是一种电话用语，意思是“别挂断”， 比如说，Hang on a minute; I'm coming. 请稍等一下，我马上就来。make a profit on something表示“在……获利”，跟make a fortune on something这个词组差不多。

　　6. Julia还听说有些人在熊市也能获利，他们是怎么做的呢？Mike解释说，如果你认为股市会下跌，你卖出股票，然后再以较低的价格买回，其中的差价就是你的利润。Price difference就是指“差价”。这应该很好理解吧。所以Julia觉得在股市赚钱好像很容易。Make money from something这个词组就表示“从……赚钱”，比如说，He made some money from selling newspaper. 他卖报纸赚了一些钱。

　　7. Mike说在股市上赚钱绝没有听起来那么容易。因为如果你在股市投了资，你也就卷入了整个世界。为什么会这么说呢？What do you mean by that? 也就是What do you mean by saying that? 因为要决定买哪一只股票有时相当困难，你要考虑市场的走势，公司的发展，而且最好还要懂一些技术分析。不是光凭运气就可以的。

　　8. Julia听了这些就觉得很无聊了，因为她对这些一窍不通，所以她打算搞一些固定利率方面的投资吧，风险会小一点。不过这样的话，Julia钱包就要受苦了，因为这些固定利率方面的投资回报都很少，不像在股市上那样利润丰厚。所以，在赚更多的钱的同时，也要承受更大的风险。Mike建议Julia如果真的想在股市投资的话，就去找一个经纪人，帮助她投资。股票经纪人就是broker。