VOA标准英语2013--Twitter股票令人印象深刻的纽约证券交易所亮相

 

Twitter Stock Makes Impressive Debut¹ at NYSE Twitter股票令人印象深刻的纽约证券交易所亮相

The most hotly anticipated stock offering of the year did not disappoint.  Shares of Twitter jumped nearly 75 percent above the opening price of 26 dollars at the  opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange. The seven-year-old online micro-blogging service is now valued at more than $30 billion.  But despite a stellar opening,  many still have doubts about how profitable the company will be.

The little white bird soared at the start of the opening bell - raising nearly $2 billion on its first day as a publicly traded company.  Market analyst² Max Wolff  called it impressive.

“Well, we saw a very nicely staged, managed IPO of a very exciting company with obviously huge demand.  We had already heard that it was 30 times over-subscribed. We  saw some evidence of it. And we basically saw this company triple off the low end of its range from just one week ago," said Wolff.

But analysts³ say don’t buy into the hype.  Investment manager Hilary Kramer says Twitter is a valuable brand, but it has yet to prove it can be profitable.  

“Twitter unto itself is a name and is a brand that has billions of dollars of value, but is it worth $30 billion? No.  I want to see some real profitability on the  bottom line.  Twitter has to figure out how to make money," said Kramer.

Valuation experts say the immediate⁴ challenge is how to turn Twitter’s 230 million online users into willing consumers.  Economist Aswath Damodaran says boosting  advertising revenue will be key.  He spoke⁵ with VOA via Skype.

“So they need people clicking on those ads and going and buying products because if that doesn’t come through, I don’t care how many users you have.  If you can’t  make money off those users, nobody really cares," said Damodaran.

Twitter posted a $69-million loss this year, but Hilary Kramer says the smart investor⁶ needs to look beyond this.  She says what’s exciting is the company’s  potential.

“A lot of the money that Twitter has raised in this initial public offering is going towards buying other companies that can help them get to that next step," he  said.

Twitter shares closed at $44.90 on its first day. That's nearly 73 percent above its initial opening price -making it the second largest technology IPO on record.

1 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

2 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

3 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

4 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 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。