听力讲评
FAST-SAVE LIMITED
The company history:
Now we move on to a new series where we look at companies in trouble and how they intend to turn themselves around.
Everybody’s familiar with the budget supermarket chain, Fast-Save. They began business in 1959. It’s Value Food Limited, but to give themselves a more modern image, adopted the name ‘Fast-Save’ in 1965. The chain went public in 1970, and with this new injection of capital began to buy up rival stores and conversed them into Fast-Save’s outlets. There was a major innovation in 1992 when they launched a range of over 200 special bargain products. Because they produce these themselves, costs were substantially reduced. They launched the range through a huge advertising campaign with the catchphrase ‘Why Pay More’. This was enormously successful, and quickly forced Fast-Save’s competitors to responding kind by introducing their own versions of similar shopping deals.
budget adj. very low in price - often used in advertisements
synonym cheap
budget flights
buy up to quickly buy as much of something as possible, for example land, tickets, or goods
Much of the land was bought up by property developers.
bargain n. something you buy cheaply or for less than its usual price
There are no bargains in the clothes shops at the moment.
That second-hand table was a real bargain.
Good knives don’t come at bargain prices.
catchphrase noun [countable]
a short well-known phrase made popular by an entertainer or politician, so that people think of that person when they hear it 琅琅上口的口号语
1. Value Food Ltd.
2. rival stores
3. special bargain
4. Why pay morePresent situation:
And it is precisely because rivals have imitated it that Fast-Save is in a certain amount of trouble. With others competing successfully in the same market, Fast-Save’s share price has dropped sharply. As a direct result of this, it’s just announced that it is closing a hundred in seven of its 979 stores. Despite the inevitable job losses this was caused, the company still has considerable assets, which will enable it to survive. Its stock market value will remain at a healthy ￡497m. It has a reasonably stable workforce whose wages keep pace with the rest of the industry. It still attracts the best executives due to its competitive salaries, and it offers good prospects for advancement with its training courses which are attended by more than 1000 potential managers a year.
5. imitated
6. share price
7. assets
8. best executives
The company’s future:
So in spite of a bad year, Fast-Save is now looking to the future and has had a major change in corporate culture. It is closing some of its older stores because it wants to create a new image. Basically it is planning to take itself upmarket as it has recognized that the modern supermarket customer seeks high-quality products rather than cheap food. These changes will mean redesigning many of the stores, changing much of its stock and massive investment in marketing and advertising. Fast-Save has a distinctive advantage over some of its competitors in it has solid financial backing. It is partially owned by the Finance House Garden Matthews, which is based in Australia, but deals with Fast-Save through its branch in Singapore.
All in all, it seems that the company is looking at a rosier future. But we have to wait and see. We’ll keep you informed of their progress.
9. new image
10. cheap food
11. stock
12. financial backing
upmarket adjective especially British English
designed for or used by people who have a lot of money高档的;适合高消费阶层的
an upmarket restaurant 高档餐厅
move/go upmarket 走向高档次
a brand that’s moved upmarket (=it is trying to attract richer people) 一个吸引有钱人的品牌
downmarket adjective British English
downmarket goods or services are cheap and not of very good quality 低档的
American Equivalent: downscale
downmarket tabloid newspapers 低劣的小报
The company wanted to break away from its traditional, downmarket image. 该公司想远离自己原来树立的传统低端的企业形象。
high-end adjective [usually before noun] American English
relating to products or services that are more expensive and of better quality than other products of the same type 高端的
high-end computer memory chips
----low-end rosy adjective
comparative rosier superlative rosiest
1 seeming to offer hope of success or happiness 有成功希望的，很幸福的
a company that sees a rosy future for itself
Letters to relatives in Europe painted a rosy picture of life in the United States.
PART TWO
Speaker one (female)
Well, in a sense, I’ve got no choice in the matter, not for anyone who actually told me to get the qualification. It’s just that, from my own point of view, my own sense of confidence, if you like, I feel that if I’m going to be responsible for instructing other people in the company, then I should do something to improve my own level of knowledge. On the other hand, I don’t know what I feel about the course itself. One thing for sure, I’m not looking forward to the journey there and back everyday. It’s going to be very tiring. Mind you, and how should I complain? It’s only for a month after all.
H. is going to train others J. isn’t keen on the travelling involved
spoken mind you
also mind
British English used when saying something that is almost the opposite of what you have just said, or that explains or emphasizes it 与前面的话相反、解释或强调
He looks very young in this photo. Mind you, it was taken years ago.
I love hot weather, but not too hot, mind.
Speaker two (male)
It’s certainly a challenge, isn’t it? Of course, I’m nervous in some ways, who wouldn’t be? But then it can, there’s a lot to look forward to as well. For starters, it’s going to be something like twenty people doing it. So I’m sure that’s going to include some interesting types, you know, people that you can enjoy spending time with, on the course itself, and also afterwards, could be some useful contacts too. Well, OK, I need the course. If I don’t do it, I won’t be able to cope with all the latest equipment. I mean, these days you have to swim fast to stay afloat, don’t you? But still I don’t see why I can be enjoyable at the same time.
C. wants to learn how to use new technology
N. is looking forward to meeting new people
afloat adj. [not before noun] having enough money to operate or stay out of debt
keep (somebody/something) afloat/stay afloat
The Treasury borrowed ￡40 billion, just to stay afloat.
Speaker three (female)
What I mainly feel really is nervous. You know, like I’m being sent back to school or something. I’m feeling very lack in confidence which of course is not the best starting position. It’s just after all these years doing the job and doing it well, I’m proud to say, and picking it up when I’ve gone along. It seems embarrassing to be told to go to get a piece of paper, to have to have a certificate, especially when you feel you know what you’re doing. Yes, of course, I do realize I’ll be learning the things on the course that I haven’t dealt with before, and that concerns me too, because I don’t know how well I’ll retain it all, if I’ll be able to recall it afterwards. Oh, perhaps it’ll be OK in the end. I certainly hope so.
B. is being made to get a qualification
I. is worried about forgetting new information
Speaker four (male) Yes, the course content does look good in the brochure. I know in a sense I shouldn’t complain. After all, it is a chance to enhance my skills and knowledge and that’s welcomed at the rest of the times. But it’s still a bit of gamble, isn’t it? I’ve just had the whole period which does really improve my chance of hanging on to my job here. It will be frightening to tell the truth, with so many people having to go and after twenty years in a company, you don’t want to think of being out of work, do you? But I really wish the brochure told you more. It looks good as I said but there’s no detail nothing on the time or on the teachers, so I feel a bit in the dark really.
G. hopes to avoid losing his/her job
L. complains about a lack of information
hang on to something phrasal verb to keep something
I think I’ll hang on to the documents for a bit longer.
in the dark informal knowing nothing about something important, because you have not been told about it
We’re in the dark just as much as you are.
College officials were kept in the dark about the investigation.
