2015年经济学人 日经指数大涨 沃尔沃换首席执行官

The world this week-Business

Tesco reported a worse-than-expected pre-tax loss of 6.4 billion ($9.6 billion) for the year to February 28th,

one of the biggest losses in British corporate¹ history. The world's third-biggest supermarket retailer², which is being squeezed by discount rivals such as Aldi,

booked several charges and took a hefty write-down in the value of its stores. Dave Lewis, the chief executive, said it had been “a very difficult year”,

an understatement given the catalogue of profit warnings.

Meanwhile, Which? lodged³ a complaint with Britain's competition authority against what it described assupermarkets' “misleading”

pricing practices from “ dodgy multi-buys to baffling sales offers”. The consumer lobby said that convoluted⁴ pricing has left customers bewildered.

Petrobras, Brazil's state-controlled oil giant, released its much-delayed quarterly results,

its first audited⁵ accounts since a corruption⁶ scandal involving former executives shook the government of President Dilma Rousseff.

The company wrote off 6.2 billion reais (2.1 billion) because of the alleged⁷ graft⁸ and a further 44.6 billion reais for overvalued assets, mainly on a petrochemical plant and a refinery⁹.

Executives from Comcast met regulators at the Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission to argue the case for their proposed $45 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable.

Comcast did not comment about the talks, but the FCC might hold an administrative¹⁰ hearing on the deal, which would be a sign that it is not warming to the idea.

In an attempt to increase lending to business, the People's Bank of China lowered the level of cash that banks must set aside as reserves,

reducing the reserve-requirement ratio by one percentage point, the biggest cut since the global financial crisis in 2008.

This came after data showed that China's economy grew in the first quarter at its weakest pace since early 2009 and that industrial production had slowed considerably¹¹ in March.

The Nikkei 225 stockmarket index closed above 20,000 for the first time in 15 years. Japanese shares have been boosted in part by a government-backed drive for companies to return more of their 231 trillion yen¹² ($1.9 trillion) cash pile to shareholders¹³.

Markets were also buoyed¹⁴ by Japan's first monthly trade surplus in three years.

Wonga, Britain's biggest payday lender, reported an annual loss, following a crackdown on the industry that led to a 36% drop in its lending volumes.

A 36-year-old day trader operating out of a suburban¹⁵ house in London that sits under Heathrow's flight path was charged by American authorities with involvement in the “flash crash” on May 6th 2010 that saw stockmarkets dive by 10% within just a few minutes.

Navinder Singh Sarao appeared in court to fight his extradition¹⁶ to America, where he is accused, among other things, of “spoofing” the futures¹⁷ market by placing phoney orders.

The febrile dealmaking in the drug industry continued as Teva, based in Israel and the world's biggest maker¹⁸ of generic¹⁹ drugs, launched an unsolicited $40 billion takeover of Mylan, an American rival.

Mylan had itself recently offered $29 billion for Perrigo, which has its headquarters in Ireland (that deal has been scotched).

If it succeeds, Teva's acquisition would be the biggest foreign takeover yet made by an Israeli firm.

After years of declining profit margins²⁰ Volvo dismissed Olof Persson as chief executive. The Swedish lorry-maker named Martin Lundstedt as its new boss,

who currently heads Scania, a rival that is owned by Volkswagen. The German carmaker has had its own management problems of late, with its supervisory board issuing support for Martin Winterkorn as chief executive despite his spat²¹ with Ferdinand Pi?ch, the chairman.

Google launched a wireless²² service that charges $20 a month for phone and text services and $10 per gigabyte of data, but which refunds²³ customers if they don't use all their data allowance.

It also overhauled²⁴ its mobile-search algorithm to prefer sites that are mobile-friendly. The consequences for the search rankings of some organisations have caused the change to be dubbed²⁵ “mobilegeddon”.

Cirque du Soleil was bought by a consortium that includes Fosun, a Chinese conglomerate²⁶ that hopes to develop the acrobatic troupe's shows in China,

where they have not gone down so well with audiences used to large-scale circuses.

Fosun has been boosting its entertainment portfolio²⁷ to tap into leisure spending by China's middle classes, buying Club Med this year and investing in Thomas Cook.

1 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

2 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

3 lodged   

v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属

参考例句：

• The certificate will have to be lodged at the registry. 证书必须存放在登记处。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Our neighbours lodged a complaint against us with the police. 我们的邻居向警方控告我们。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 convoluted   

adj.旋绕的；复杂的

参考例句：

• The snake slithered through a convoluted path.蛇在羊肠小道上爬行。
• The policy is so convoluted even college presidents are confused.这项政策太令人费解，甚至连大学校长们也是一头雾水。

5 audited   

v.审计，查账( audit的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The accounts have to be audited by a firm of external auditors. 这些账目必须由一家外聘审计员的公司来稽查。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• E. g. few if any charities collection publishes audited accounts. 例如很少义款收集有公布经过查核的帐目。 来自互联网

6 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

7 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

8 graft   

n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接

参考例句：

• I am having a skin graft on my arm soon.我马上就要接受手臂的皮肤移植手术。
• The minister became rich through graft.这位部长透过贪污受贿致富。

9 refinery   

n.精炼厂，提炼厂

参考例句：

• They built a sugar refinery.他们建起了一座榨糖厂。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

10 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

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 yen   

n. 日元；热望

参考例句：

• He wanted to convert his dollars into Japanese yen.他想将美元换成日币。
• He has a yen to be alone in a boat.他渴望独自呆在一条船上。

13 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

14 buoyed   

v.使浮起( buoy的过去式和过去分词 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• Buoyed by their win yesterday the team feel confident of further success. 在昨天胜利的鼓舞下，该队有信心再次获胜。
• His encouragement buoyed her up during that difficult period. 他的鼓励使她在那段困难时期恢复了乐观的情绪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

16 extradition   

n.引渡（逃犯）

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight,awaiting extradition to Britain.这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• He began to trouble concerning the extradition laws.他开始费尽心思地去想关于引渡法的问题。

17 futures   

n.期货，期货交易

参考例句：

• He continued his operations in cotton futures.他继续进行棉花期货交易。
• Cotton futures are selling at high prices.棉花期货交易的卖价是很高的。

18 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

19 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

20 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

21 spat   

n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声

参考例句：

• Her parents always have spats.她的父母经常有些小的口角。
• There is only a spat between the brother and sister.那只是兄妹间的小吵小闹。

22 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

23 refunds   

n.归还，偿还额，退款( refund的名词复数 )v.归还，退还( refund的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Tomorrow he would return them to the store and claim refunds. 明天他要把它们退还给商店并要求退款。 来自辞典例句
• The new method means that taxpayers get refunds much faster. 这种新办法意味着纳税人可以较快地领到退还款。 来自辞典例句

24 overhauled   

v.彻底检查( overhaul的过去式和过去分词 )；大修；赶上；超越

参考例句：

• Within a year the party had drastically overhauled its structure. 一年内这个政党已大刀阔斧地整顿了结构。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A mechanic overhauled the car's motor with some new parts. 一个修理工对那辆汽车的发动机进行了彻底的检修，换了一些新部件。 来自《简明英汉词典》

25 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

26 conglomerate   

n.综合商社，多元化集团公司

参考例句：

• The firm has been taken over by an American conglomerate.该公司已被美国一企业集团接管。
• An American conglomerate holds a major share in the company.一家美国的大联合企业持有该公司的大部分股份。

27 portfolio   

n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位

参考例句：

• He remembered her because she was carrying a large portfolio.他因为她带着一个大公文包而记住了她。
• He resigned his portfolio.他辞去了大臣职务。