商務英語閱讀下2

1、pptdesign.blogbus.com,Business English Reading CoursewareBook 2,Chapter TwelveAbstracts from Articles onConsignment & Auction寄售與拍賣分析文摘,Step One,First, read Material One under teacher’s instructions.Then teach

2、er gives hints or tips for reading.Finally, teacher checks the answers and gives explanations.,When Conscience and Closet CollideREVIEWING her wardrobe earlier this season, Elizabeth Marvin had a moment of reckoning. “

3、How did this closet become so massively overstuffed?” she mused, disconcerted by the sight of so many Marni jackets, Chloé bags and Jimmy Choo shoes jostling for space on the racks. “From my green perspective, part

4、of me feels guilty about being such a major consumer.”,But Ms. Marvin, the New York sales director for the National Audubon Society and a self-described “major environmentalist,” felt neither so guilty nor so strapped th

5、at she planned to stop shopping cold turkey. “Instead of buying that Chloé jacket that I want right now,” she said, “I’m much happier purchasing something at a consignment store that is much less.”,In recent months,

6、 high-end designer resale shops have been the beneficiaries of a subtle shift in consumer thinking, as fashion lovers, even those who can afford to splurge, reassess their priorities. Unsettled by continuing recession fe

7、ars and the soaring prices of designer clothes, and assailed by queasy consciences as well, many find these shops a way to update their wardrobes without seriously denting their bank accounts — or their sense of social p

8、ropriety.,“Everyone is feeling the pinch these days or knows people who are feeling the pinch,” said Linda Kenney Baden, a prominent lawyer in New York. “It’s good to buy a used car again, and it’s chic to buy used cloth

9、es.”,Shoppers like Mrs. Baden, some with formidable retail habits, are turning to consignment stores to offload designer clothing and accessories and to accumulate spare cash, as often as not plowing the profits back int

10、o the very same store. Cash-strapped bargain seekers and affluent trophy hunters alike are paring their closets, earning 40 to 50 percent of the resale shop’s asking price. Resale shoppers pay roughly a quarter to a thir

11、d of the original market value of still-coveted Saint Laurent Muse bags, Stella McCartney jumpsuits and Louboutin pumps.,Merchants report that the number of shoppers and consignors is climbing and that business has rarel

12、y been so robust. “The rise of the euro, sky-high retail prices and the idea of recycling — those are some of the things that drive customers right to our door,” said Laura Fluhr, an owner of Michael’s, the 54-year-old g

13、rande dame of fancy resale stores on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.,“In an otherwise bleak retail scene, consignment is a thriving area,” Ms. Fluhr said, noting that her business is 30 percent ahead for the first four

14、 months of 2008. She added that the extravagant prices of new designer fashions and the influx of European visitors scouring New York for bargains have contributed to the growth.,“People are really resenting designer pri

15、ces at conventional stores,” said Ina Bernstein, the owner of Ina, the designer resale chain in Manhattan. “In a way, that’s why our business is up.” She said that sales are ahead by 15 percent from January through April

16、 at each of her five boutiques.,Vicki Haberman, who sells privately and through a Web site, ascribes a heightened interest in consignment shopping partly to consumers’ apparently unquenchable appetite for luxury labels,

17、even those that are gently worn. “Every time you open a magazine, you see somebody wearing a quote-unquote vintage designer gown,” she said. “Shopping vintage and consignment has lost much of its stigma and become mainst

18、ream.”,April was a record month for Ricky’s Exceptional Treasures, a luxury resale store on eBay. Ricky Serbin, the owner, reported that his site had about 150,000 hits and some 4,000 visits a day. “These people do not n

19、eed to be shopping on eBay,” Mr. Serbin said of his well-heeled customers. “They tell themselves, ‘I’m getting a $13,000 gown for $2,000 or $3,000,’ which is nothing to them.”If a customer parts with $1,000 for a jewele

20、d Lanvin necklace at the site, it’s a bargain compared with the original $8,000 tag. “They may see that as a tightening of the belt,” Mr. Serbin noted tartly.,Certainly the rewards of buying and selling through resale sh

21、ops can be more emotional than practical. As Judy Yun, a customer and consignor at Ina, acknowledged, there are no savings in getting back $350 for a Balenciaga bag that cost $1,600, then spending the money on a $400 pai

22、r of Manolo Blahnik sandals. She buys and consigns nonetheless because, she said: “I like seeing that little bit of extra cash. Actually, it’s not so little when you’re talking about a Balenciaga handbag.”,Among the cove

23、table pieces at Ina last week were a Prada pink mock-crocodile evening bag, which was selling for $825, compared with the original price of about $2,200; a D & G evening dress in bronze-colored lace for $475, $1,800

24、new; and a $325 pair of Louboutin pumps, originally $775. At Act II, a designer resale store in Kansas City, Mo., pieces from St. John, Yves Saint Laurent, Prada and Dior are quick to vanish from the racks, said Gloria

25、Everhart, the owner. Chanel bouclé tweeds and Hermès handbags can fetch prices in the thousands wherever they turn up.,Other labels that once sizzled have lost their draw. “Escada has gone cold, and so has Arma

26、ni,” said Barbara Nell, the owner of the Daisy Shop on Oak Street in Chicago. But for the most part, clothes that have gathered dust in closets for months rarely molder on consignment racks. That is because high-end mer

27、chants turn their inventory frequently, buying pieces that are no more than a few seasons old and dropping prices every few weeks to ensure that the wares look fresh and will sell at a reasonable cost.,Both merchants and

28、 consumers say that purging the closet and buying castoffs can be cleansing for the soul. “The whole idea of recycling and going green motivates some of our customers,” said Ms. Fluhr of Michael’s. “People are aware that

29、 Jimmy Choos fill landfills, too.” Ms. Yun said she has grown increasingly sensitive to environmental issues. “Selling to resale shops becomes a platform to recycle,” she said. “Besides, I tell myself, ‘It’s obscene to

30、have so much.’ ”,Five years ago, Mrs. Baden, the lawyer, rarely gave much thought to paying full retail for an evening dress she was unlikely to wear again. But in the weeks approaching a recent gala, she bought a Chanel

31、 gown at Ricky’s on eBay for one third of its original $10,000 price. “I was going to wear it to just one function,” she recalled. “To spend that kind of money — I couldn’t justify it.”,Step Two,Students read Material Tw

32、o themselves firstly.Then teacher checks the answers without giving explanations.,vocabulary,reckon: vt. a. 猜想; 估計 b. 〈非正〉思忖; 設想c. 考慮; 認為 d. 〈正〉計算 vi. 料想；預計；指望disconcert: vt. a. 使不安,使為難b. 使慌張,使窘迫strap: vt. a.用皮帶捆扎, 用

33、帶子系（或捆、扎、扣）好b. 用皮帶抽打c. 包扎；給…打繃帶 n. 帶子d.. 挎帶, 肩帶; 背帶consignment n. a. 托付貨物;托賣貨物b. 寄售;托運;托付;交付c. 以寄售方splurge n. 亂花錢;糟蹋錢;揮霍 vt. & vi.亂花(錢);糟蹋(錢);揮霍queasy adj. a. 惡心的；欲吐的b. 易反胃的c. 稍感緊張的；略有不安的；心神不定的pinch vt. a. 盜竊, 偷

34、b. 逮捕, 拘留c. 夾痛, 扎痛d. 使入不敷出 vt. & vi. a. 捏, 掐, 夾, 擰n. a. 捏, 掐, 夾, 擰b. 一撮, 微量c. 困苦, 窮苦chic adj. 漂亮的, 時髦的, 瀟灑的 n. 高雅，雅致,formidable adj. a. 可怕的, 令人畏懼的b. 令人驚嘆[欽佩]的;令人敬畏的c. 難以克服[對付]的cash-strapped adj. a. 缺乏現(xiàn)金的，資金約束的b.

35、經(jīng)濟困難的jumpsuit n. 連衣褲，(尤指女式)連衣褲unquenchable adj. 難抑制的,不能消滅的vintage n. a. (優(yōu)良品牌的)葡萄酒b. 采摘葡萄釀酒的期間（或季節(jié)）；葡萄收獲期（或季節(jié)）c. 一個收獲季節(jié)采得的葡萄(所釀的酒) d. 特定年份（或地方）釀制的酒；釀造年份e. 某年代的產(chǎn)品;年代 adj. a. （指葡萄酒）優(yōu)質的，上等的，佳釀的b. （過去某個時期）典型的，優(yōu)質的；（某人的）最佳

36、作品的c. 古色古香的（指 1917–1930 年間制造，車型和品味受人青睞的）d. 成績卓著的一年；成功的一年stigma n. 恥辱的標記, 瑕疵well-heeled adj. 富有的,穿著考究的covetable adj. 可羨慕的,值得渴望的,tweed n. a. (用于縫制大衣和成套服裝的)粗花呢b. 花呢套裝sizzle vi. a. 發(fā)咝咝聲 b.表現(xiàn)良好; 進行順利vt. a. 把...燒得哧哧響, 燒

37、焦b. 惡言相罵n. a. 咝咝聲b. 咝咝發(fā)燙的東西;熱得要命的一天purge vt. a. 清除(政敵等); 清洗b. 滌除(罪惡等) c. 〈律〉消除(錯事等)的不良影響; 以認錯贖(罪) d. 〈醫(yī)〉使通便e. 凈化（心靈、風氣等）；滌蕩（污穢）n. a. 清除異己, 整肅(行動), 清洗b. 〈醫(yī)〉瀉藥slump: v. (價格等)暴跌, (買賣)清淡; 衰落; 蕭條 shed: v. 去除，除去（不想要或不需要的東西）

38、pesky: adj. 討厭的，麻煩的auction: n. 拍賣patron: n. 顧客；主顧,salesroom: n. 拍賣場mum: adj. 沉默的；無言的；不說話的derivative: n. 衍生物hybrid: n. 混合物converge: v. 達成一致，趨于或達成聯(lián)合、共同結論 equilibrium: n. 平衡forebear: n. 祖先，祖宗cliffhang: v. 扣人心弦,懸疑,

39、open-outcry: n. 公開叫價quaint: [kweint] adj. 古怪有趣的sleek: [sli:k] adj. 時髦的pit: [pit] n. 期貨交易場Brent crude futures：北海布倫特原油期貨benchmark: n. 基準點；可依照做出衡量和判斷的參照點liquidity: n. 流動資金；資產(chǎn)折現(xiàn)力West Texas Intermediate: 西德州輕質原油,hed

40、ge fund: 對沖基金prop up: 支撐, 支持glitch: n. 小故障，小毛病lot: n. 一批（在一起）拍賣的物品viable: adj. 可行的；可實施的unsustainable: adj. 無法維持的treasury-bond: 國庫券headway: n. 前進；進展dabble: v. (作為興趣或愛好)隨便搞搞, 涉獵,單元注釋,Consignment is th

41、e act of consigning, which is placing any material in the hand of another, but retaining ownership until the goods are sold or person is transferred. This may be done for shipping, transfer of prisoners to auction, or fo

42、r sale in a store (i.e. a consignment shop). 寄售是一種委托代售的貿(mào)易方式。它是指委托人(貨主)先將貨物運往寄售地，委托國外一個代銷人(受托人)，按照寄售協(xié)議規(guī)定的條件，由代銷人代替貨主進行銷售，在貨物出售后，由代銷人向貨主結算貨款的一種貿(mào)易方式。,An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offeri

43、ng them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder. In economic theory, an auction may refer to any mechanism or set of trading rules for exchange. 拍賣也稱競買，商業(yè)中的一種買賣方式，賣方把商品賣給出價最高的人。拍賣品并不都是處

44、理商品，現(xiàn)在外面很多拆房子、換季拍賣等，實質上是一種大甩賣、賤賣，我們所說的拍賣是一種高檔次的行為，不是削價處理，價格是不固定的，必須要有二個以上的買主，要有競爭，價高者得，沒有這三個條件的不能稱為拍賣。,MARNI于1994年由Castiglioni家族創(chuàng)建，如今已是意大利的一線時尚女裝。出色、獨到的設計以及嚴謹、高品質的風格，為MARNI這個品牌贏得了專屬的標志性風格：折衷主義。對于MARNI來說：折衷主義就是早期的嘻皮風與現(xiàn)代感的

45、完美融合。長期以來，MARNI的主設計師Consuelo一直堅持自己的理念，不標新立異也不因循守舊或盲目跟風，從而使MARNI在眾多設計師品牌中樹立了自己鮮明的個性。,4. CHLOE誕生于20世紀50年代，那正是生活化的成衣品牌向貴族式的巴黎高級女裝傳統(tǒng)挑戰(zhàn)之時，CHLOE品牌創(chuàng)造出了簡潔美觀、可穿性強的現(xiàn)代成衣理念. CHLOE品牌是巴黎高級成衣界的變色龍，它雖相當頻繁地聘用各國名師，但品牌的風格框架并未因設計師的更迭而改變，一直

46、保持著法蘭西風格的色彩特征和優(yōu)雅情調。其所聘設計師的個性投入，加上CHLOE生產(chǎn)經(jīng)營體系的保證使CHLOE品牌風格保持與時代潮流同步。,Jimmy Choo 國際著名鞋子設計師 Jimmy Choo（周仰杰）以設計昂貴的鞋子聞名，也是唯一一位在國際上以自己英文姓名為著名鞋子品牌的華裔人士。,練習答案,【材料一】I. Because she could purchase the something at a consignment

47、store that is much less.Shoppers could offload designer clothing and accessories and to accumulate spare cash, as often as not plowing the profits back into the very same store and resale shoppers pay roughly a quarter

48、to a third of the original market value of designer stuff.People are really resenting designer prices at conventional stores and consignment stores could offer the similar designer fashions at lower prices.Selling to r

49、esale shops becomes a platform to recycle and it is good for the environment.,練習答案,【材料一】II. 1. A 2. B 3. C 4. B. 5.CIII. 1. A 2. A 3. C 4. B 5. B,【材料二】,A1. B 2. D 3. C 4. A 5. A,【材料三】,1.A 2.D 3.D 4.D 5.B,【材料四