2014年经济学人 本周经济要闻

Business this week

HewlettPackard decided¹ to hive off its PCandprinter business and create a new company, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, to focus on servers, cloud computing² and big data. It will be run by Meg Whitman, HP's boss. When she became chief executive three years ago Ms Whitman jettisoned³ the idea of spinning off the PC business. But with the rise of tablets HP's computer sales have suffered, falling 7% last year, according to Gartner, a consulting firm.

Samsung's announcement that profit in the third quarter had halved⁴ from the same period last year, its fourth consecutive⁵ quarterly drop, got some wondering how it would respond to the challenge of an increasingly saturated⁶ smartphone market. Squeezed between lowcost competitors and Apple, the South Korean company's share of that market has fallen further this year.

Back down to earth

Rocket Internet's stock continued to slide. The German company, which backs ecommerce startups, made a disappointing stockmarket debut⁷ on October 2nd, with its share price closing 13% down on the day after being priced at the top of the IPO's range. Still, Rocket raised 1.4 billion and said investors⁸ would be more interested in its long-term prospects⁹.

Facebook completed its takeover of WhatsApp. The deal is now valued at $21.8 billion, almost $3 billion more than when it was announced in February, as the price of Facebook's shares, which are being paid out to WhatsApp's investors, has risen since then. So has the number of people using WhatsApp, to 600m monthly active users.

The slow-growth movement

The IMF's latest assessment¹⁰ of the world economy weighed heavily on stockmarkets. Although the downward revision to overall world output for this year was small, estimates for Germany, Japan and Brazil were reduced considerably¹¹. The debt hangover and recession “still cast a shadow”, the IMF said, and investment after the recovery has been weaker than expected. Underscoring this, new figures for August recorded the biggest drop in German exports and industrial production since January 2009.

The Bank of England gave British banks less than three months to submit plans on how they will ringfence their retail¹² operations from riskier¹³ parts of their business, which the Vickers commission recommended in 2011. But the banks will have to present their proposals without knowing how much capital they will be expected to hold, details that the central bank will provide later next year.

Responding to speculation¹⁴ in the markets Rio Tinto confirmed that it had been approached by Glencore during the summer about a takeover, but had turned it down. A merger¹⁵ would create the world's biggest mining group. Ivan Glasenberg, Glencore's chief executive, submitted the proposal personally to Rio Tinto; he is not known to be one for giving up so easily.

No magic kingdom

The operator of Disneyland Paris was thrown a 1 billion lifeline by Walt Disney Company, its biggest shareholder¹⁶. The theme park, which opened in 1992, is burdened by debt and has not made a profit for years, as attendance and hoteloccupancy rates have tumbled after the financial crisis.

The Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan was sold to a Chinese insurance company for $1.95 billion, or nearly $1.4m a room. The hotel, which opened its doors to visitors in 1931, is to undergo a big renovation¹⁷ to restore it to its former glory. Some of its 1,413 rooms could possibly be turned into apartments.

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

3 jettisoned   

v.抛弃，丢弃( jettison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was jettisoned as team coach after the defeat. 他因这次失败被撤销了运动队教练职务。
• They jettisoned big boxes to make the bus lighter. 他们抛弃公共汽车上的货物，使车减轻重量。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 halved   

v.把…分成两半( halve的过去式和过去分词 )；把…减半；对分；平摊

参考例句：

• The shares have halved in value . 股价已经跌了一半。
• Overall operating profits halved to $24 million. 总的营业利润减少了一半，降至2，400 万元。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

6 saturated   

a.饱和的，充满的

参考例句：

• The continuous rain had saturated the soil. 连绵不断的雨把土地淋了个透。
• a saturated solution of sodium chloride 氯化钠饱和溶液

7 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。

8 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

9 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

10 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

11 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

12 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

13 riskier   

冒险的，危险的( risky的比较级 )

参考例句：

• Now they are starting to demand higher returns on riskier assets. 而今他们开始在风险更高的资产上要求更高的回报。
• The problem with that: RIM's business is getting riskier every quarter. 不过问题也随之而来：RIM面临的业务风险正逐季增大。

14 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

15 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。

16 shareholder   

n.股东，股票持有人

参考例句：

• The account department have prepare a financial statement for the shareholder.财务部为股东准备了一份财务报表。
• A shareholder may transfer his shares in accordance with the law.股东持有的股份可以依法转让。

17 renovation   

n.革新，整修

参考例句：

• The cinema will reopen next week after the renovation.电影院修缮后，将于下星期开业。
• The building has undergone major renovation.这座大楼已进行大整修。