精讀金融時報：樂高亞洲首家工廠將落戶中國嘉興
滬江小編：對于商界精英們來說，閱讀《金融時報》（Financial Times）幾乎成了每天的必修課。FT文章以分析為主，邏輯嚴密，經(jīng)常被各類考試用作考題。非常適合學(xué)習(xí)BEC、TOEIC、GRE、GMAT的考生來閱讀、練習(xí)。滬江小編精選FT上的雙語文章，配上獨家的學(xué)習(xí)指南，從詞匯、短語、句式、文化、翻譯等多方面來解讀，長期堅持，相信會對英語學(xué)習(xí)有所幫助。
原文閱讀：樂高亞洲首家工廠將落戶中國嘉興
Lego is to build its first factory in Asia as the toymaker taps into surging demand in the region and continues its push to add production in low-cost countries.
The Danish maker of toy bricks will start building a factory in Jiaxing, China, next year. When the factory opens in 2017 it will only supply parts to Asia, which is set to become the world’s biggest market for toys. The plant is expected to meet 70-80 per cent of total regional demand for Lego.
Lego’s sales have almost tripled since 2007, making it the world’s second-largest toymaker by revenues behind Mattel. Asia has played a big part in its success, as its annual sales increase by more than 50 per cent in recent years. It is also highly profitable, with net profits last year of about $1bn and a gross profit margin of 71 per cent.
Jiaxing is located around 100km from Shanghai, where Lego is planning to build a regional distribution centre for Asia. Its Chinese factory will follow plants in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Mexico as the group diversifies away from its roots in central Denmark in the countryside town of Billund.
The plant will employ about 2,000 workers once it is fully operational in 2017 and Lego will invest more than €100m to build it.
“It is our strategy to have production close to our core markets in order to secure short lead-time and world class service to our customers and consumers, and it has proven a successful strategy. Asia – including China – is a future core market for the Lego Group,” said Bali Padda, Lego’s chief operating officer.
He added that the new factory would be more environmentally friendly by reducing the need to transport Lego pieces between Europe and Asia.
The privately owned Danish toymaker has enjoyed a renaissance after it expanded too quickly at the end of the last century and started to run up losses. An outside chief executive, J?rgen Vig Knudstorp who came from McKinsey, cut jobs and product lines and boosted production outside Denmark.
Recent success has come from building sets linked to films such as Stars Wars and The Hobbit as well as Lego Friends, a new line aimed at girls.?
學(xué)習(xí)指南：
1.Word of the day
plant?: A plant is a factory or a place where power is produced?工廠；發(fā)電廠。
ex:Ford's British car assembly plants.
例句：福特公司在英國的汽車裝配廠。
小編注：這個單詞從小就學(xué)，再熟悉不過了。我們都知道plant有“植物”的意思，但同時，這個詞也有“工廠”的意思。正如植物的成長需要適宜的環(huán)境，制造一樣產(chǎn)品也需要合適的環(huán)境才行哦。值得注意的是，plant解釋為工廠時更傾向于重工廠，factory的含義則更為普通。
2.Phrase of the day
net profit:?gross profit minus all operating costs not included in the calculation of gross profit, esp wages, overheads, and depreciation ?凈利潤; 總利潤減去所有不包括在計算總利潤中的營運花費，特別是工資、企業(yè)經(jīng)費和資產(chǎn)折舊
3.Sentence of the day
The privately owned Danish toymaker has enjoyed a renaissance after it expanded too quickly at the end of the last century and started to run up losses.
樂高是一家丹麥私營玩具制造企業(yè)。上世紀末，樂高曾由于過快擴張而出現(xiàn)虧損，但近年又重返增長。
小編注：renaissance這個詞來自意大利語rinascimento，是由ri（重新）和nascere（出生）兩個詞合并構(gòu)成。我們都知道文藝復(fù)興就叫做Renaissance，這里用了這個詞的原意——“重生”。形象地描述了樂高在上世紀經(jīng)歷的銷售起伏。
4.Cultural point of the day
Lego小背景：不知道你是否也像小編一樣，每次去反斗城都會去玩一玩樂高積木，然后感嘆是哪位天才想出了這種簡單而又復(fù)雜的小玩意兒。樂高積木正如其所宣傳的，并不只是孩子的玩具，成年人也會對它愛不釋手。Lego最初發(fā)源于二戰(zhàn)前的歐洲小國丹麥，Lego這個名稱來自丹麥語“l(fā)eg godt”，意思是“play well”。樂高為什么成功？我想樂高的成功正在于其豐富多彩的變化性，你可以用那些簡單的小方塊搭出房屋、城市、火車、飛船等種種事物，正所謂“沒有做不到，只有想不到”。這里給家長們一個忠告，其實與其給孩子買ipad當玩具，不如給他買一套樂高吧，既沒輻射又開發(fā)智力還能增加家庭互動，何樂不為呢？
5.Translation of the day
An outside chief executive, J?rgen Vig Knudstorp who came from McKinsey, cut jobs and product lines and boosted production outside Denmark.
曾在麥肯錫(McKinsey)工作的首席執(zhí)行官J?rgen Vig Knudstorp，先后裁員并削減了生產(chǎn)線，還推動公司在丹麥以外的地方建廠。
小編注：很多中國學(xué)生在翻譯新聞的時候“想太多”，總是希望用高級的詞匯來造句子。但是，這在native speaker的眼中會顯得有些造作。比如這里，原文中用了非常簡單的兩個詞：削減——cut；推動——boost。如果經(jīng)常閱讀英文報刊，會發(fā)現(xiàn)英語新聞中經(jīng)常使用的正是那些在我們看來極其簡單的詞。記住，好的英語往往不是把一堆GRE單詞堆起來就能堆得出來的，好的英語在于simple and beautiful，這是需要很長時間的積累和學(xué)習(xí)才能達到的。
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