听力练习

Business Bulletin

The latest in business news with the CNN.com business bulletin

Today's closing bell marked the end of the first quarter on Wall Street.

And as Stephanie Elam reports from our Business desk in New York. It wasn't a good one, was it Steph?

No, no, it wasn't, Reggie. And I hate to say that 'cause I feel like I always start over the negative news but it's the case on this one, it just was not a good first quarter. During the 3 months of 2008, the market was driven lower by the housing crisis then there was that credit crunch and growing fears of a recession. So for the quarter, the DOW Industrials fell more than 7%, NASDAQ lost about twice as much and the broader S&P 500 lost nearly 10%. Now also impressuring the markets this quarter were rising oil prices. However, today, erase, oil actually erased much of those gains, tumbling 4 dollars to settle at $101.58.

So, to take a look at the stock markets from today, look at those numbers, here we go. The DOW, on the upside, by 46 points at 12262, gain of little more than a third of a percent. NASDAQ, up 17 points at 2279 and that is a gain of about 3 quarters and the S&P 500 up a little more than 0.5%, Reggie.

This next story is interesting to me. Because it goes to the heart of the matter, where these companies now see the money, because people are kind of maxing out their credit cards, then they have to obviously find a new market, and that new market, it's the young, right?

Oh yeah, I don't know if this, this. Maybe this didn’t happen when you were in college. But when I was there, there were definitely tables and (Oh please, free T-shirt) get a free T shirt, sign up for a credit card. Why was that so exciting?

And it, kids got... Why was that exciting? I have no idea. But it was exciting. People love getting it.

Maybe I'm old now, because a T-shirt doesn't excite me. But I remember back in the day, people were pretty excited about the T-shirt. But this is in fact the new trend here. Not new, but a bigging, a growing trend here, it's a bigger trend. Some credit companies might see college kids as their golden goose. A study released by US Public Interests Research Group shows that 76% of students say credit cards have been marketed to them on their college campuses.

The companies often set up tables on or near campus and lure students with free gifts like those T-shirts and frisbees and candy and pizza. All things you don't need probably at that age. And in some cases, even iPods. And all you have to do is fill out an application. There are about a dozen states that have restrictions on credit card marketing on campuses. But the report shows that the companies have become more aggressive, often calling or even emailing students, but it's not just the credit card companies that are to be blame here. Many colleges' webs, actually partner with the banks to issue code-branded credit cards or ID cards that double as debit cards .Some schools defend these partnerships as a way to offset cuts in state funding, Reggie. But obviously, I remember at my school they were just off campus but still everyone walked by themselves. So there was easy access.

Oh really? They weren't off campus at mine. They were right in the student center!

Like Hello!

Yeah, come spend money. I mean, you know that, obviously kids don't really have a lot of money when they are in college. Or most kids don't. So why are the credit cards companies going after with such gusto, these college students.

Well yeah they may not have a lot of money but they do have a lot of wants, and probably need at that age too. So there’s money to be made. And you know, a lot of these college students usually don't have financial ties, meaning that once they set out signing up for a credit cards through a certain bank, it's more likely they will go back to the same provider when they need a car loan or savings loan. So it kind of engenders some sort of loyalty, Reggie.

I, well, I think that's, in my case, that was true actually .They got me right in the beginning

And you probably still have that frisbee up the other wall.

And that T-shirt somewhere!

Yeah!

Well , let's talk about there was a major deal that was announced today in the music world that gives a company that actually have not really had its hands in that much, prior to this, it really gives them a lot of power.

Oh yeah, Irish rock band U2 has agreed to a twelve-year contract with concert promoter Live Nation. The move gives Live Nation control of U2's concerts, their merchandise and U2 website and fan-club. Live Nation which operates more than 100 concert venues around the country is ending its relationship with Ticket Master at the end of the year in order to compete with the ticket giant. Over the past few years, Live Nation has actually acquired several companies which run websites and create merchandise for artists. And last year, it signed a 10-year, 120 million-dollar deal with the Material Girl. That’s right Madonna was the one they got on there.

Yeah so I mean everyone's jumping on the Live Nation bandwagon. I'm so glad that you wanna talk about Madonna.

Ha, I always find a way to throw in some pop for you, Reggie.

Thank you so much, yeah, I am listening to the new single

I heard it's good, I haven't heard it yet.

You gotta get it.

But there's probably a different discussion that we will have to have somewhere else.

Ok, could you work it into some business report this week? We'll get to that.

OK I'll work on it.

Alright, thanks Stephanie, see you later.

Bye! Reggie!

文本参考中文翻译

CNN.com商务快报来为大家报道最新商务新闻。

今天的结束意味着华尔街第一季度的结束。

Stephanie Elam正在纽约为我们报告最新商务状况。情况不好，是不是，Steph？

不，不，并不好，Reggie。我讨厌这样说，感觉好像我一直在报告负面消息，但是这里的情况确实是这样，第一季度的情况并不好。在2008年的前三个月里，由于房产危机，信贷危机，人们对经济衰退的担忧越来越深，市场持续走低。所以，本季度，道琼斯工业指数下跌超过7%，奈斯达克的损失则是他的两倍，标准普尔500指数下跌了接近10%。同时本季度市场最引人注目的就是油价上涨。然而，今天油价狂跌，抵消了之前的很多涨幅，下跌了4美元，达到101.58美元。

看一下今天的股市情况，看一下那些数字。道琼斯工业指数上涨了46点，达到12262，上涨了大约三分之一个百分点。奈斯达克上升了17个点，达到2279，大约0.75个百分点。标准普尔500指数上涨了大约0.5%，Reggie。

下一个问题我很感兴趣。因为是关系到事情的核心，这些公司的来钱处，因为人们现在几乎已经将信用卡应用程度达到最高了，很明显，他们必须去寻找新的市场，而这个新市场就是年轻人，对吗？

我不知道是否会这样。可能你在大学的时候没有发生这种事。但是当我读大学的时候，校园里经常有信用卡公司摆张桌子，并且免费赠送T恤衫，鼓动你开信用卡。为什么那时候觉得那么激动人心呢？

孩子们经常……为什么那么激动？我不知道。但是确实很激动。人们喜欢得到免费的T恤衫。

可能因为我现在老了，因为T恤衫已经不能让我如此激动了。但是回忆以前，人们为T恤衫非常钟情。但是实际上，现在已经是完全不同的趋势了。这里并不是一种新的趋势，而是发展壮大的，不断增长的趋势，更大的趋势。有些信用卡公司卡能将大学生看成他们的摇钱树。美国公共兴趣研究组做的一项调查显示，76%的学生表示信用卡已经进军校园，入主学生市场。

信用卡公司经常在校园内或者校园附近设点，通过赠送免费礼物，比如T恤，飞盘，糖果或者批萨来吸引学生。其实这个年龄段的孩子根本不需要那些东西。有时甚至免费赠送iPod。你需要做的只是填一张申请表。有很多州限制信用卡入主校园市场。但是有些公司采取进攻策略，经常致电甚至发电邮给学生。关于这一点要指责的不仅仅是信用卡公司。有些校园网站与银行合作发放有编码的信用卡或者ID卡，有借记卡的双重作用。有些学校为自己辩护说，这种合作关系可以使学校有一些进项，可以弥补财政预算的减少。但是，很明显，我记得我读大学的时候，信用卡公司即使不去校园，学生也会自己找上门。所以这是一个很简单的途径。

真的吗？在我的学校，他们就在学校，而且是在学生活动中心！

就好象在光明正大的跟你打招呼吸引你过去！

是的，就好像在说，过来花钱吧。我的意思是，你知道，很明显，孩子们在读书的时候不会有很多钱。或者说大部分孩子是这样。那么为什么那些信用卡公司如此偏爱大学生呢？

是的，可能他们没有很多钱，但是他们有很多想要的东西，可能在那个年龄也确实需要。所以他们需要赚钱。你知道，许多这样的大学生通常没有金融关系，也就是说一旦他们在某个特定的银行申请了信用卡，他需要汽车贷款或者住房贷款的时候很可能还会找同一家银行。所以这就好像建立忠诚度一样。

呃，按照我的情况来看，好像确实是这样。一开始他们就抓住我这个客户了。

而且你可能还在其他行用卡公司领取免费的飞盘。

还在有的地方领T恤衫。

是的。

让我们谈一下今天音乐界宣布的一项交易，这笔交易赋予这个公司非常大的势力，虽然该公司并没有参与多少。

是的，爱尔兰摇滚乐队U2与音乐会发起人Live Nation签订了为期12年的合同。此举使得Live Nation可以控制U2所有的演唱会，所有产品和网站以及歌迷俱乐部。为了与目标巨头竞争，在全国各地经营着100多个音乐会场地的Live Nation今年年底终止了与Ticket Master的关系。过去的几年，Live Nation获得了几家专门经营网站和为艺人出品唱片的公司。去年，与Material Girl签订了为期10年，价值1.2亿美元的合同。就是在那里他们将麦当娜收入旗下。

是的，我是说每个人都在追赶Live Nation的潮流。我很高兴你提到了麦当娜。

我总是能给你插入一些意外的消息，Reggie。

非常感谢，我正在听她的新单曲。

我听说很好，自己还没听呢。

你会的。

但是很可能我们要再找时间地址进行讨论了。

你本周会进行一些商业报道吗？我们希望能够听到。

好的，会的。

好，非常感谢Stephanie，再见。

再见！Reggie！