WORDS AND THEIR STORIES

商界有很多专业术语，让我们一起来看一看，学学如何“做生意”吧！

There are many special terms in the world of business.

The following story is about a sweetheart deal which I made last week. I made the deal with a friend, and we both made a profit.

I had started a small company several years ago. I worked hard to make it successful. It was a sign-making business. It was a small company, not a blue chip company. It was not known nationally for the quality of its signs. It did not make millions of dollars in profits. And it was private. It was not a public company with shares traded on the stock market.

Still, I worked hard building up my business. I did not work only a few hours each day -- no banker’s hoursfor me. Instead I spent many hours each day, seven days a week, trying to grow the company. I never cut corners or tried to save on expenses. I made many cold calls. I called on possible buyers from a list of people I had never seen. Such calls were often hard sells. I had to be very firm.

Sometimes I sold my signs at a loss. I did not make money on my product. When this happened, there were cut backs. I had to use fewer supplies and reduce the number of workers. But after several years, the company broke even. Profits were equal to expenses. And soon after, I began to gain ground. My signs were selling very quickly. They were selling like hotcakes. I was happy. The company was moving forward and making real progress. It was in the black, not in the red. The company was making money, not losing it.

My friend knew about my business. He is a leader in the sign-making industry – a real big gun, if you know what I mean. He offered to buy my company. My friend wanted to take it public. He wanted to sell shares in the company to the general public.

My friend believed it was best to strike while the iron is hot. He wanted to take action at the best time possible and not wait. He offered me a ball park estimate of the amount he would pay to buy my company. But I knew his uneducated guess was low. My company was worth much more. He asked his bean-counter to crunch the numbers. That is, he asked his accountant to take a close look at the finances of my company and decide how much it was worth. Then my friend increased his offer.

My friend’s official offer was finally given to me in black and white. It was written on paper and more than I ever dreamed. I was finally able to get a break. I made a huge profit on my company, and my friend also got a bang for the buck. He got a successful business for the money he spent.

(MUSIC)

This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss. I’m Faith Lapidus.

美国之音慢速英语“词汇典故”栏目。

商业界有许多专门术语。

我上周与朋友进行了一笔私下交易，接下来的故事有关于此。我和他因此共赢。

几年前我开了一家小公司。我努力经营想把公司做大。这是一家制作广告牌的公司。它是一家小公司而并非什么蓝筹大企业。也没有因为标牌质量好而全国闻名。也没有达到年利润百万美元。只是一家私营企业，而非上市公司。

但我仍然努力支撑我的生意。我每天并非只工作几个小时，安逸舒适的工作对我来说遥不可及。相反，一周7天我都花很多时间发展公司业务。我从未刻意节省经费支出。我打很多推销电话。都是打给那些我从未见过的潜在买家。这些电话都很难打，但我必须坚持不懈。

有时我亏本销售广告牌。做生意赚不到钱。这时我不得不削减成本。使用更少的原料，裁减工人。但数年后情况好转了。公司收支平衡了。不久之后，我就开始发展壮大。我的广告牌销售的非常快。成了热销品。

我非常高兴。公司正稳步推进，取得切实的进展。账面出现盈余。我的公司开始赢利而非亏损。

我的朋友听说了我的公司。他是广告牌制作行业的领军人物——他可是个大人物，你知道我的意思。他出价想收购我的公司。我的朋友想将公司上市。他想向公众销售公司的股票。

我的朋友认为最好趁热打铁。他想尽快采取行动。他就我的公司提出了一个大致报价。但我知道他的估算太低了。我的公司价值比他报的价高多了。他便要求他的会计师核算价值。就是说，他让他的会计师仔细查看了我的公司的财务状况并估价。随后我的朋友提高了报价。

我朋友的最终报价终于黑纸白字的交到我手里。上面的数字比我想象的还要多。我最终时来运转。终于从我的公司获得了巨额的利润，而我的朋友也同样物有所值。他投资的这笔交易是成功的。

这里是美国之音慢速英语“词汇典故”栏目，Jill Moss撰写，我是Faith Lapidus。