英语听力：澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2014-01-29

 And Apple shares have fallen sharply on the back of flat profit results. Shares in the tech-giant plunged¹ close to nine percent overnight. The company has reported a profit of just over 13 billion dollars in the four months to January.

 

Apple says it has  sold a record 51 I-phones and 26 million I-pads, but the company has lowered its sales outlook for 2014, which does have investors² worried.

 

Ford³ says it has one of its best years ever in 2013. The US car marker maker⁴ rather says its net income for the year was just over 7 billion dollars. That's a rise of almost one and a half billion dollars on the previous year. 

 

The result was driven by a strong performance in the US and Asia which helped offset⁵ losses in Europe and South America. 

 

Now to the markets.

 

A short time ago, the Dow reversed yesterday's losses, ended up rising 0.6 percent and the Nasdaq was up slightly,too. S&P 500 put on two thirds of a percent. In London overnight, the FTSE gained a third of a percent.

 

Looking at commodity prices.

 

West Texas Crude is trading at 97 US dollars a barrel. And Tapis is at 115. Gold is worth 1254 US dollars an ounce.

1 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

2 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

3 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

4 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。

5 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。