CCTV9英语新闻：投资者开始兑现阿里巴巴的淘宝网

 As Alibaba officially files for what is going to be the biggest tech IPO ever, the race is on for retail 1 investors 2 to make money from its listing. But as Cathy Yang reports, some of Hong Kong’s more entrepreneurial retail investors have already begun cashing in: buying and selling goods on Alibaba’s Taobao.

 
Twenty-five year-old Katy Cheung blends in quite nicely into the Hong Kong lunch crowd just tinkering away on her smartphone. But it’s not Facebook nor Twitter she’s logging on to – but Alibaba’s online retail platform Taobao. She’s making extra money on top of her regular daytime job.
 
"I got started eight to nine months ago. I was just buying accessories, clothing and bags for myself, until I found out that a lot of stuff on Taobao are sold here in Hong Kong for a higher price. So I started re-selling some of them, posting them on Instagram or Facebook." Katy Cheung said.
 
Deliveries like these from Taobao have become a regular fixture 3 in offices: folks ordering stuff online and getting them quickly after. Say if I were to go to Taobao’s website and wanted to buy this little black dress, I would spend only five U-S dollars. Transactions like these on Taobao and its other online retail portal T-mall have amounted to 240 billion U-S dollars last year – more than those of e-Bay and Amazon-dot-com combined. And that has helped Alibaba corner what independent brokerage CLSA says now accounts for 80 per cent of the Mainland’s shopping market.
 
Some bullish forecasts even point to Alibaba’s market value reaching over a quarter of a trillion dollars – making it the fourth-biggest technology firm after Apple, Google and Microsoft. And monetizing e-commerce is exactly what analysts 4 makes Alibaba’s upcoming IPO – a strong buy.
 
"I think in the meantime we will still see selling pressure. Right now sentiment is very bad. Actually valuation is not really overstretched. Approaching the listing of Alibaba actually we may see a recovery because right now people are preparing for the IPO." Alex Wong, Director of Asset Management, Ample Financial Group said.
 
Reason why the tech sector 5 has seen recent weakness in the stock market. Rival Tencent shares in Hong Kong on Wednesday fell, hours after Alibaba officially filed its application for IPO listing in the US, in what will be the biggest tech offering ever.
 
But Katy is oblivious 6 to all that. She doesn’t even know about Alibaba, nor its listing. But she does know Alibaba’s Taobao by heart, and finds enough of a payback spending lunch break trawling through it – if only to quell 7 that occasional urge to splurge.
 




点击收听单词发音  






1
retail

  
 


v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格


参考例句：





In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。












2
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












3
fixture

  
 


n.固定设备；预定日期；比赛时间；定期存款


参考例句：





Lighting fixture must be installed at once.必须立即安装照明设备。
The cordless kettle may now be a fixture in most kitchens.无绳电热水壶现在可能是多数厨房的固定设备。












4
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。












5
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。












6
oblivious

  
 


adj.易忘的，遗忘的，忘却的，健忘的


参考例句：





Mother has become quite oblivious after the illness.这次病后，妈妈变得特别健忘。
He was quite oblivious of the danger.他完全没有察觉到危险。












7
quell

  
 


v.压制，平息，减轻


参考例句：





Soldiers were sent in to quell the riots.士兵们被派去平息骚乱。
The armed force had to be called out to quell violence.不得不出动军队来镇压暴力行动。