Business Channel 2007-10-22&10-24, 油价与经济危机

Scripts:

Let's talk about oil prices first, if we may. How much of it a worry is the current oil price above 88 dollars a barrel?

Well it certainly is unprecedented¹ and we've not seen oil prices at this level before. And will the economy and will business in general be able to absorb those ever escalating² oil prices those are simply questions for all of us to ask and I don't have the answer.

Well you've been in the game, if you don't mind me saying this for..for many years. The credit crunch³ we are witnessing( Yes I have.)The economic downturn ,the volatility⁴ in the stock markets. Is this a unique event in your experience or is it just the, the merry pattern , the merry merry-go-round?

Well, what I often say when I speak for our partners is the only constant in business is going to be change. But what I do think is new about the environment you just described is the pace of change both the magnitude and the pace of change . It's unprecedented. And this requires our clients to be much more agile⁵ much more adaptable⁶ to be able to both see challenge and then also capture opportunity. And the same is true for our business in professional services as we work to help our clients absorb and deal with these changes and adapt in a very dynamic environment.

And given the tightened⁷ lending environment, the expected slowdown in some major economies, do you see that the outlook for the next year, 2 years is pretty gloomy?

Well, I certainly wouldn't use the word gloomy, but I would acknowledge that part of the strength of the underlying⁸ economy is certainly true in the US and I think it's also true globally, has been the availability of liquidity⁹ to the consumer. And that liquidity in part has been fueled by a very strong housing market. So as we see that housing market tempered, slowed down and even started to decline. Some of that liquidity is coming out of the market place and as we watch our financial institutions reprice risk associated with those credit instruments. There's a lot of change to absorb. What will the impact be? I don't know, But for sure, growth will be slower than it would have been otherwise.

Now I've got some details of your results here, you are boasting of your fifth consecutive¹⁰ year of double-digit revenue growth with all these worries that we've been talking about, is that why you are doing so well. So many companies are going to you and say---help us.

Well there is no question that part of the professional services market that we are driving is helping¹¹ our clients deal with change. For us to have enjoyed double-digit growth in our assurance business, double-digit growth in our tax business , double-digit growth in our financial advisory¹² business and double-digit growth in our consulting business. It certainly just illustrates¹³ one more time, that there is a professional services market that is created by change. And that's in fact the essence of our business, helping our clients absorb change helping our clients deal with change...

Notes:

Merry-go-round: Merry-Go-Round is a 20 person capacity 1 1/2 minute ride complete with exotic zoo animals, as well as, standard carousel horses(旋转木马）

1 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

2 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

3 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

4 volatility   

n.挥发性，挥发度，轻快，（性格）反复无常

参考例句：

• That was one reason why volatility was so low last year.这也是去年波动性如此低的原因之一。
• Yet because volatility remained low for so long,disaster myopia prevailed.然而，由于相当长的时间里波动性小，灾难短视就获胜了。

5 agile   

adj.敏捷的，灵活的

参考例句：

• She is such an agile dancer!她跳起舞来是那么灵巧！
• An acrobat has to be agile.杂技演员必须身手敏捷。

6 adaptable   

adj.能适应的，适应性强的，可改编的

参考例句：

• He is an adaptable man and will soon learn the new work.他是个适应性很强的人，很快就将学会这种工作。
• The soil is adaptable to the growth of peanuts.这土壤适宜于花生的生长。

7 tightened   

收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧

参考例句：

• The rope holding the boat suddenly tightened and broke. 系船的绳子突然绷断了。
• His index finger tightened on the trigger but then relaxed again. 他的食指扣住扳机，然后又松开了。

8 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

9 liquidity   

n.流动性，偿债能力，流动资产

参考例句：

• The bank has progressively increased its liquidity.银行逐渐地增加其流动资产。
• The demand for and the supply of credit is closely linked to changes in liquidity.信用的供求和流动资金的变化有密切关系。

10 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。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

13 illustrates   

给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明

参考例句：

• This historical novel illustrates the breaking up of feudal society in microcosm. 这部历史小说是走向崩溃的封建社会的缩影。
• Alfred Adler, a famous doctor, had an experience which illustrates this. 阿尔弗莱德 - 阿德勒是一位著名的医生，他有过可以说明这点的经历。 来自中级百科部分