商业报道:思科增速放缓

Cisco slows down

The company known as a bellwether¹ for the technology sector² beats analysts³' expectations but warns of tough times ahead.

Everyone looks to Cisco to get a gage⁴ how the technology sector is doing. But even mighty⁵ Cisco can’t predict the future.

On the company’s recent earnings⁶ call, CEO John Chambers⁷ told investors⁸ that he doesn’t know how long this economic downturn will last, through 2009 or into 2010. He also said that while he is pretty confident the company is going to be able to avoid major layoffs⁹. Should the economy continue to deteriorate¹⁰, they may have to cut as much as 10 percent of the workforce¹¹. So he kind of left the door open to layoffs should that be necessary.

A lot of other companies have avoided giving any guidance in light of the shaky economy and a lot of unknown conditions, but Cisco at least tried to give some indication of what’s to come. It’s not looking so pretty though, they did say that in their current quarter they expect revenue to be down as much as 20 percent. It wasn’t quite as bad as investors expected in this most recent quarter though.

Cisco managed to beat analysts’ estimates on both revenue and earnings. But at the same time, Chambers told investors that he’s going to have to cut about a billion dollars from the company’s expenses by limiting travel budgets, putting a hiring-freeze in place and cutting back on other special projects.

One thing is totally clear here, while last year when Chambers was describing market demand for the company’s products, he used words like “soft and lumpy”, this year he is using much stronger language. He told investors on this earnings call that it is now clear that we are in a global economic downturn.

GLOSSARY¹²

1. gage vt.以...为担保, 以...为赌注n.(=gauge) 标准度量, 计量器

2. Earnings Calls： ~are a teleconference in which a public company discusses the financial results of a reporting period. These companies will announce earnings quarterly and generally hold an earnings call quarterly.

3. in light of adv.按照, 根据 考虑到

4. beat sb’s estimate/expectation 超出某人预期

5. hiring-freeze 招聘中止/冻结

6. lumpy adj.多块状物的, 粗笨的 不容乐观的

1 bellwether   

n.系铃的公羊，前导，领导者，群众的首领

参考例句：

• University campuses are often the bellwether of change.大学校园往往引领变革的新潮。
• For decades the company was the bellwether of the British economy.几十年来，这家公司一直是英国经济的晴雨表。

2 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

3 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

4 gage   

n.标准尺寸，规格；量规，量表 [=gauge]

参考例句：

• Can you gage what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gage one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

5 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

6 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

7 chambers   

n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅

参考例句：

• The body will be removed into one of the cold storage chambers. 尸体将被移到一个冷冻间里。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mr Chambers's readable book concentrates on the middle passage: the time Ransome spent in Russia. Chambers先生的这本值得一看的书重点在中间：Ransome在俄国的那几年。 来自互联网

8 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

9 layoffs   

临时解雇( layoff的名词复数 )； 停工，停止活动

参考例句：

• Textile companies announced 2000 fresh layoffs last week. 各纺织公司上周宣布再次裁员两千人。
• Stock prices broke when the firm suddenly announced layoffs. 当公司突然宣布裁员时，股票价格便大跌

10 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。

11 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

12 glossary   

n.注释词表；术语汇编

参考例句：

• The text is supplemented by an adequate glossary.正文附有一个详细的词汇表。
• For convenience,we have also provided a glossary in an appendix.为了方便，我们在附录中也提供了术语表。