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VOA慢速英语 2007 0107a

时间:2007-07-05 01:34来源:互联网 提供网友:glorious   字体: [ ]
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I'm Phil Murray with Words and Their Stories, a program in Special English on the Voice of America. Today we tell about some American expressions that are commonly used in business.

(MUSIC)

Bells sound. Lighted messages appear. Men and women work at computers. They talk on the telephone. At times they shout and run around.

This noisy place is a stock1 exchange. Here expert salespeople2 called brokers3 buy and sell shares of companies. The shares are known4 as stocks5. People who own stock in a company, own part of that company.

People pay brokers to buy and sell stocks for them. If a company earns money, its stock increases in value. If the company does not earn money, the stock decreases in value.

Brokers and investors7 carefully watch for any changes on the Big Board. That is the name given to a list of stocks sold on the New York Stock Exchange.

The first written use of the word with that meaning was in a newspaper in Illinois in eighteen thirty-seven. It said: The sales on the board were one thousand seven hundred dollars in American gold.

Investors and brokers watch the Big Board to see if the stock market is a bull8 market or a bear market. In a bear market, prices go down. In a bull market, prices go up.

Investors in a bear market promise to sell a stock in the future at a set price. But the investor6 does not own the stock yet. He or she waits to buy it when the price drops.

The meaning of a bear market is thought to come from an old story about a man who sold the skin of a bear before he caught the bear. An English dictionary of the sixteen hundreds said, To sell a bear is to sell what one has not.

Word experts dispute9 the beginnings of the word bull in the stock market. But some say it came from the long connection of the two animals -- bulls10 and bears -- in sports that were popular years ago in England.

Investors are always concerned about the possibility of a company failing. In the modern world, a company that does not earn enough profit is said to go belly11 up. A company that goes belly up dies like a fish. Fish turn over on their backs when they die. So they are stomach, or belly, up.

Stock market investors do not want that to happen to a company. They want a company whose stock they own to earn more profit than expected. This would sharply12 increase the value of the stock. Investors are hoping for a windfall.

The word windfall comes from England of centuries ago. There, poor people were banned from cutting trees in forests owned by rich land owners. But, if the wind blew down a tree, a poor person could take the wood for fuel. So a windfall is something wonderful that happens unexpectedly13.

(MUSIC)

This Special English program, Words and Their Stories, was written by Jeri Watson. This is Phil Murray.

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1 stock luiwR     
n.存货,储备;树干;血统;股份;家畜;adj.存货的;平凡的,惯用的;股票的;畜牧的;vt.进货,采购;储存;供给;vi.出新芽;进货
参考例句:
  • The shop takes stock every week on Friday mornings.这家商店每星期五早晨盘点存货。
  • Experts have forecast an upturn in the stock market.专家已预测股票市场价格有上升趋势。
2 salespeople xjuz25     
n.售货员,店员;售货员( salesperson的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The shop usually employs additional salespeople for the Christmas toy trade. 这家商店通常雇一些临时售货员来做圣诞节玩具生意。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Under our new system, salespeople sit down with each of our dealers. 根据新的制度,销售人员应逐个地同承销商洽商。 来自辞典例句
3 brokers 75d889d756f7fbea24ad402e01a65b20     
n.(股票、外币等)经纪人( broker的名词复数 );中间人;代理商;(订合同的)中人v.做掮客(或中人等)( broker的第三人称单数 );作为权力经纪人进行谈判;以中间人等身份安排…
参考例句:
  • The firm in question was Alsbery & Co., whiskey brokers. 那家公司叫阿尔斯伯里公司,经销威士忌。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
  • From time to time a telephone would ring in the brokers' offices. 那两排经纪人房间里不时响着叮令的电话。 来自子夜部分
4 known hpKzdc     
adj.大家知道的;知名的,已知的
参考例句:
  • He is a known artist.他是一个知名的艺术家。
  • He is known both as a painter and as a statesman.他是知名的画家及政治家。
5 stocks 4cd2f69083364d323a3a238fe68e0332     
n.(树木等的)干( stock的名词复数 );公债;家系;家族
参考例句:
  • The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse. 经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • They want to unload the stocks on the market. 他们想把股票在市场上抛售掉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 investor aq4zNm     
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。
7 investors dffc64354445b947454450e472276b99     
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
8 bull jshzd     
n.公牛,买进证券投机图利者,看涨的人
参考例句:
  • It's only a hair off a bull's back to them.这对他们来说,不过九牛一毛。
  • Many dogs closed around the bull.很多狗渐渐地把那只牛围了起来。
9 dispute qt6xI     
n.争端,分歧;v.争论,争吵,辩论,辩驳
参考例句:
  • They are trying to find a way of settling the dispute.他们正设法寻找解决争端的办法。
  • The parties to the dispute should be more polite to each other.争执双方应相互礼貌些。
10 bulls 79c318bf85ee49ec7d43630eea149bfb     
n.公牛( bull的名词复数 );法令;力大如牛的人;(象、鲸等动物的)雄兽
参考例句:
  • Riding bulls is always an exciting event at a rodeo. 骑公牛总是放牧人竞技会上激动人心的表演。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Two white bulls were sacrificed and a feast was held. 献祭了两头白牛,并举行了盛宴。 来自辞典例句
11 belly QyKzLi     
n.肚子,腹部;(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分,膛
参考例句:
  • The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
  • His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。
12 sharply UiRziL     
adj.锐利地,急速;adv.严厉地,鲜明地
参考例句:
  • The plane dived sharply and rose again.飞机猛然俯冲而后又拉了起来。
  • Demand for personal computers has risen sharply.对个人电脑的需求急剧增长。
13 unexpectedly 3fEz5m     
adv.未料到地,意外地;竟;居然;骤然
参考例句:
  • The volcano unexpectedly blew up early in the morning. 火山一早突然爆发了。
  • I had just put the dinner on when Jim walked in unexpectedly. 我刚把晚饭摆上桌,吉姆突然走进来。
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TAG标签:   VOA慢速英语  VOA英语  VOA英语
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