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听下面的一段音频，试着掌握其大意

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【参考文本】
US industrial conglomerate Honeywell and General Electric kept pressure on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, as hopes fade for European approval of their merger deal. The European Commission is expected to give its final decision early next month. The weakness of the stock market this year is hitting profits at US brokerages. Goldman Sachs, one of Wall Street’s leading investment banks, reported a 24 percent drop in earnings. Besides the slumping market, Goldman blamed a sharp drop-off in merger and acquisition activity. Big deals tend to pick up when the stock market is strong. Analyst Jim Schmidt:

“It will certainly depend on the stock market. It’s not about to change imminently because, as we speak now, you know, the market is still kind of lackluster, and there isn’t a real big calendar of deals coming up. I think things are about as slow now as they possibly could be in underwriting and in the ‘M and A’ business (mergers and acquisitions).”

【核心词组注释】
industrial conglomerate 工业联合体
conglomerate --a large business organization consisting of several different companies that have joined together 企业集团
【例句】The firm has been taken over by an American conglomerate.
该公司已被美国一企业集团接管。

keep pressure on 对……施加压力

give its final decision 做出最后决定

hit profits 导致利润上的损失
hit --if something bad hits a place or a person, it suddenly happens and affects people badly
【例句】 The area was hit by the floods.
这一地区遭到洪水袭击。

investment bank 投资银行
【例句】He earned a fat salary with an investment bank.
他在一家投资银行挣有优厚的薪水。

slumping market 萧条的市场
slump --to suddenly go down in price, value, or number (物价等)下跌;(经济等)衰落;(健康等)下降
【例句】Sales have slumped badly.
销售量锐减。

drop-off 下降，减少
drop-off
【例句】A drop-off in attendance.
出席人数的明显减少.

merger and acquisition 合并与收购
merger -- the joining together of two or more companies or organizations to form one larger one (公司等的)合并
【例句】There are rumors of a merger involving several major railroad companies.
据说几家主要的铁路公司要合并了。

acquisition -- the act of getting land, power, money etc 置购，收购
【例句】the acquisition of new sites for development

pick up 增加，好转
pick up --if a situation picks up, it improves
【例句】Business is beginning to pick up.
生意正在好转。

a big calendar of deals 好多宗买卖

brokerage 经纪业务
brokerage --the business of being a broker

imminently 迫切地，紧急地
imminent --an event that is imminent, especially an unpleasant one, will happen very soon
【例句】The ship was in imminent peril of being wrecked.
那条船马上就有失事的危险。

lackluster 无生气的，死气沉沉的
lackluster -- not exciting, impressive etc
【例句】A lackluster performance that nevertheless had its moments.
平淡的表演仍具有其价值。

underwriting 此处指“股票承销业务”
underwrite -- to arrange to sell shares to investors, and to agree to buy any which are not bought by them
【例句】The issue is underwritten by three underwriting companies.
三家包销公司承购了发行的股票。

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