英语听力：澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2014-03-02

 Virgin¹ Australia's boss John Borghetti says he will continue to compete with Qantas despite it's hurting his company's bottom line. Virgin lost 84 million dollars in the first half of the year. The result underlines the price the carrier is paying to take market share from Qantas who still holds around 65 percent of market share. Chief executive² John Borghetti says he will continue to take the fight to Qantas. 

 

“Nobody and I mean nobody can talk to a certain percentage of the market. You need to work hard to earn that. You need to provide customer service, value and choice. And as I've often said, market share is a consequence of strategy and not our strategy.”

 

Shares in Virgin Australian ended the day flat and muted³ the market reaction to its half-year loss. Investors⁴ in Woolworths were expecting more than its 15 percent increase in its half-year profit. James Hardie posted a 64 percent rise in its third quarter profit. Harvey Norman shares added 2.5 percent after its profit increase.

 

The broader Australian share market ended slightly lower. The All Ords slipping a tenth of a percent. 

 

And the Australian dollar is ticking down against the greenback, but holding at 89.5 US cents.

1 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

2 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。

3 muted   

adj. 1.（声音）静静的；减轻的；2.（意见）含糊不清的；表达不明确的

参考例句：

• They spoke in muted voices. 他们轻声说着话。
• The strings are muted throughout the closing bars of the symphony. 该交响曲结束部分各节中的弦乐全为弱化音。

4 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