新视野大学英语视听说教程 4 Unit 9-14

Task3:  Cars sell well in China.
Script
Although automobile² prices in China are among the highest in the world, cars are still selling like hotcakes, the Beijing-based reported.
Statistics show that China has been the top consumer of limousine³ brands such as Rolls-Royce and Bentley, and their sales volume accounts for almost 20 percent of the total in the whole Asian continent.
According to German figures, China has been the biggest market for BMW and Mercedes-Benz in the world, combined with a sales volume between 6,000 to 7,000 units every year.
The newspaper said various famous international car makers⁴ are competing with one another now for more market share in China. Mercedes-Benz is cooperating with Chinese institutions on car research and plans to establish a design center here. Meanwhile, Volkswagen, also from Germany, has set up a new lab center in Beijing. The founding of these research and design centers indicates that the competition among multinational⁵ car producers in China now includes research in addition to sales.
As a price gap exists between China’s and the international auto¹ market, the returns on luxury cars from the domestic market are much higher than the five-percent profit margin⁶ in the international market. Over 30 percent of the manufacturers’gains resulted from spare part sales.
Considering the steadying market demand experts estimated that the prices of luxury cars would not decrease by large margins⁷ this year.
The newspaper noted⁸ that major consumers of luxury cars in China are entrepreneurs, professional managers of foreign companies, professionals with high incomes,and young white-collar workers.

1 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

2 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

3 limousine   

n.豪华轿车

参考例句：

• A chauffeur opened the door of the limousine for the grand lady.司机为这个高贵的女士打开了豪华轿车的车门。
• We arrived in fine style in a hired limousine.我们很气派地乘坐出租的豪华汽车到达那里。

4 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。

6 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

7 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。