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| Car sales in China are booming |
媒體英語會帶大家一起學習BBC撰稿人在報道世界大事時常用到的單詞和短語。
Background: 上月中國汽車銷售量一舉躍居世界第一。據中國官方媒體報道說中國已經超越美國成為世界汽車銷量第一國。
Questions: 請在聽下面錄音的時候試著回答這些問題。這是一個用來幫助你提高聽力技能的練習。
1. True or false? Sales of cars in China were poor last year.
2. How many new cars were sold in China this year?
3. When are car sales highest in China?
4. According to Kevin Wale, when will China become the biggest car market?
Bumper Chinese Car Sales 中國汽車銷售量躍居世界第一
China's auto market 汽車市場 was the second largest in the world last year, behind the United States.
The new data 數據 suggests though that in the first few weeks of this year a lot more cars were sold here than in America.
The Chinese bought 735,000 new vehicles - about 78,000 more than were sold in the United States. Analysts 分析者 caution though that we shouldn't conclude that this is now the world's largest car market.
Sales are always higher in China ahead of the Lunar New Year celebrations, which this year came at the end of the January. In America they usually fall after Christmas.
Of course the economic crisis 金融危機 made the situation in the US even worse than normal.
But it's unlikely that China will maintain the number one position in world auto sales throughout the year.
The president of General Motors China Division, Kevin Wale points out that even if more cars are sold here than in the US, that doesn't necessarily mean more profit 利潤 is generated in China:
"You need to recognise that the value of those sales are on average 平均 significantly lower than the sale of a vehicle in the US, so the revenue 收入 that's generated in the market will be significantly larger than the China market for quite some time to come."
As far as volume 量 of sales though, the direction of travel is clear. Mr Wale expects China to become the world's largest auto market within five to ten years.
Outside of big cities like Shanghai few Chinese people own a car and the big auto makers hope that, as standards of living 生活水平 continue to improve here, more will want to buy one.
GLOSSARY 詞匯表 (收聽發音, 請單擊英語單詞)
Answers
1. True or false? Sales of cars in China were poor last year.
False. China's car market was the second largest in the world last year.
2. How many new cars were sold in China this year?
735,000
3. When are car sales highest in China?
Sales are higher in China before the Lunar New Year celebrations.
4. According to Kevin Wale, when will China become the biggest car market?
In the next five to ten years.
