预约成功
Text B
PRE-READING TASK
Exercise 1
Before reading the passage, try to answer the questions to see how much you know about the stock market(股票市场).
1. How many stock markets have been opened so far in China?
2. Do you know how the stock market works?
Now read the passage and compare your answers with those of the author's.
Stocks and Shares
1. In order to start a business a man must have money to buy or rent a factory or shop, to buy machinery and goods and to pay his workpeople. A man may sometimes be able himself to supply all the money he needs for this; but often he cannot do so, and then he may ask others to help him by making contributions. Money supplied in this way is called capital, and the people who supply it to him become members of this company.
2. Of course they hope, when they lend their money in this way, that the man's business will make a profit; and when the company does begin to make a profit they all share in its profits -- and the share each one gets is in proportion to the amount of capital he has supplied. Thus if Smith has supplied ￡1000 and Jones ￡2000, Jones's share of the profits will be twice as big as Smith's share.
3. Another way of saying that Smith and Jones supplied money to found the company is to say that they bought so many shares in its profits. Shares are usually divided into units of 25p, 50p and ￡1. Let us suppose that in this company they are in units of ￡1. As the company was just being founded it probably happened that with ￡1000 Smith was able to buy 1000 shares. However, when a company has grown and prospered and people start to sell their shares to others who want to buy them, a ￡1 share often costs more than ￡1. This is because people have great faith in the company and they think that, because the profits of the company are likely to increase, it will be worthwhile to pay more than ￡1 for a ￡1 share. On the other hand, if a company is not doing very well its shares may sell for their stated value -- or very near it -- and if it is doing badly its shares will sell for less than the stated value.
4. It is obvious that people supply money to a company because they think it will make profits. These are paid out to shareholders at least once a year and are called dividends. If the company is doing well it may pay a dividend of, say, 10p for every ￡1 share. This is often expressed not in pence per pound but as a percentage -- in this case it would be 10%.
5. The government -- which also wants to borrow money from the public -- almost always does so. Government stocks are called "gilt-edged", originally because the certificate on which the loan was recorded had a gold edge like those found on the pages of old books. Later the term "gilt-edged" came to have a wider meaning, standing for safety and security, the government being the one institution that would never fail to pay its debts. Normally the government promises to repay the money borrowed within or at a certain specified time. This often applies to other kinds of stock, but hardly ever to shares.
New Words
stock
n. the money owned by a company, divided into shares 股票，公债，证券
rent
v. to pay money for the use of 租用
machinery
n. machines in general (总称)机器
contribution
n. 贡献，捐款，捐献(物)
company
n. a firm 公司
profit
n. 1. money gained by trade or business 利润，收益
2. advantage gained from some actions 益处，好处
proportion
n. 比例，比率
amount
n. 数量，数额
found
v. to start the building or development of 创立，创建
prosper
v. 繁荣，昌盛
likely
a. 很可能的
worthwhile
a. worth doing; worth the trouble taken 值得的，值得做的
obvious
a. easy to understand; clear 明显的，显面易见的
shareholder
n. an owner of one or more shares in a business 股东，股票持有人
dividend
n. 红利，股息
per
prep. for each; during each 每，每一
percentage
n. 百分比
gilt-edged
a. (证券、股票等)金边的(意指高度可靠的)
originally
ad. in the beginning 最早，起初
original
a. 原来的，原先的
certificate
n. 1. 证券，单据
2. 证明书
loan
n. 贷款
later
ad. 以后
security
n. the state of being safe 安全
debt
n. 债务
institution
n. 机构
normally
ad. 在正常情况下
normal
a. usual or average 正常的
specify
v. 指定
apply
v. 1. to be directly related 适用
2. to bring or put into use 应用
Phrases and Expressions
in order to
为了，以便
in this way
用这种方法
of course
当然，很自然
make a profit
获利
share in
分享
in proportion to
与...成正比，与...相称
be divided into
分成
have (great) faith in
相信，对...抱有(极大的)信心
be likely to
很有可能，很有希望
on the other hand
另一方面
pay out
付(款)
stand for
代表
apply to
适用于
Proper Names
Smith
史密斯(人名)
Jones
琼斯(人名)
