Name: 破紀錄的石油利潤 - BBC新聞評論 (Record oil profits - BBC News Review)
Uploaded: 2022-09-03T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 6 min 3 s

Oil companies make record profit - while prices for customers rise.

石油公司獲得破紀錄的利潤，然而消費者的消費價格卻在上升。

This is News Review from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

這是 BBC 學英語的新聞評論節目。我是 Neil。

Stick with us to the end of the video and you'll learn vocabulary about making money.

跟著我們看到影片結束，你會學到關於賺錢的詞彙。

Yes, you will. And don't forget - subscribe to our channel, like this video, and try the quiz on our website.

是的，你會的。還有不要忘記訂閱我們的頻道，按讚這支影片，並在我們的網站上進行測驗。

Almost 60 billion dollars in three months, that's how much profit the world's five biggest oil companies made in the last quarter.

世界上最大的五家石油公司在上個季度的收入——三個月內將近 600 億美元。

It comes as energy bills for consumers continue to rise to record levels.

這是因為消費者的能源帳單持續上升到破紀錄的水準。

The high profits are caused by increasing prices for oil and gas because of the war in Ukraine, experts say.

專家說，由於烏克蘭的戰爭，這樣的高利潤是由石油和天然氣的價格上漲造成的。

You've been looking at the headlines, Beth. What's the vocabulary?

Beth，你看過今天的頭條新聞了，要學的詞彙是哪些？

We have 'profiteering', 'laughing all the way to the bank' and 'shatter'.

我們有「暴利」、「輕鬆賺大錢」和 「打破」。

This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

這是 BBC 學英語的新聞評論節目。

讓我們看一下我們第一個新聞標題。

This one comes from The Guardian: BP accused of 'unfettered profiteering' as profits triple

這篇報道來自《衛報》：英國石油公司被指控「不受約束地牟取暴利」，利潤翻了三倍

Now, the word we are looking at is 'profiteering', and there's a big clue in the first half of that word.

我們要學的詞是「暴利」，而這個字的前半部分可以推敲出這個詞彙相關的意思。

Yep. So, the first half of that word is 'profit'. That's the money that you make when you sell something.

是的。所以，這個詞的前半部分是「利潤」。這個用法是表示你賣東西時賺到的錢。

Yeah. And the word 'profit' itself is fairly neutral.

是的。而 「利潤 」這個詞本身是相當中性的。

There's nothing negative or positive about the word 'profit'.

Yeah. That's right, but 'profiteering' is different.

是的，沒有錯，但「暴利 」就不一樣了。

So, the activity of 'profiteering' is about unfairly making money, and this is often because the people buying have no choice.

所以，「暴利 」的行為是關於不公正地賺錢，而這往往是因為購買的人沒有選擇。

Yes. So, people who are critical of the oil companies say that consumers, that's people like me and you, are being treated unfairly.

是的，所以，責備石油公司的人說，消費者，也就是像我和你這樣的人，受到了不公平的待遇。

They don't understand why these big profits from the oil companies are not passed to consumers and why the prices keep going up.

他們不瞭解為什麼這些來自石油公司的鉅額利潤沒有回饋給消費者，以及為什麼價格不斷上漲。

And in this headline, it says the profiteering is 'unfettered'. Now, that means 'without limits'.

而在這個標題中寫到這個暴利是「不受約束的」，意思就是「沒有限制」。

So, the writer thinks there's no control over this profit making.

所以，作者認為我們沒有辦法控制這種營利行為。

Have you got any other examples of 'profiteering'?

你還有其他 「暴利 」的例子嗎？

Yep. So, sometimes lenders are accused of profiteering.

有的。有時候放貸者會被指責牟取暴利。

So, people with very little money might be desperate for a loan.

錢很少的人可能會因為急需而尋求貸款。

But if these people are only offered very high interest rates, we might say that the lenders are profiteering.

但如果這些人只提供非常高的利率，我們可以說，放貸者在牟取暴利。

讓我們來看看下一個頭條新聞。

This one comes from The Independent: BP 'laughing all the way to the bank' with bumper profits while households face poverty, say campaigners

這篇報道來自《獨立報》：倡議人士表示，英國石油公司「輕鬆賺大錢」，利潤豐厚，然而家家戶戶卻面臨貧困危機

'Bumper profits' just means 'really huge profits'.

「豐厚的利潤」就表示「真的很龐大的利潤」。

But we're looking at the expression 'laughing all the way to the bank'.

但我們要學的用法是「輕鬆賺大錢」。

It's a set expression, and it's very descriptive.

這是一個固定用法，而且描述地很生動。

Yeah, I mean, clearly, if you're laughing, you're happy, right?

是的，顯然，如果你在笑就表示你很高興，對吧？

Yes, you think so. And if you have just made a lot of money, and also you need to take it somewhere safe to store it - probably a bank.

是的，你這麼認為。而如果你剛賺了很多錢，而且你還需要把它帶到一個安全的地方去存放，你可能會選擇去一家銀行。

Yep. And I mean, nowadays, you probably wouldn't literally take a huge pile of money while laughing down to the bank. But it's a nice image, isn't it?

是的。但在現今，你不太可能會真的拿一大堆錢同時笑著向銀行走去。但這描述很生動，對吧？

It is. But it's not just about making money, is it?

沒錯。但這不只是有關「賺錢」而已，對嗎？

No, it's not. There's also a sense with this expression that it was very easy to make the money, and because it was so easy - then perhaps it wasn't fair.

沒握。這種表達方式也可以表達賺錢很容易，而且因為太容易，所以可能也不太公正。

As an example, if I sold my car for much more than it was worth, and the person who bought it didn't ask any questions - didn't ask me for a discount.

舉個例子，如果我把我的車以遠超出它的價值賣出，而買它的人也沒有問任何問題，沒有向我要折扣。

Yep. Then you'd be laughing all the way to the bank.

是的。那麼你就是「輕鬆賺大錢」。

I really was laughing all the way to the bank.

是的。我是真的「一路笑著到銀行」。

Let's have a look at our next headline, please.

讓我們看看下一個標題，謝謝。

This one comes from the Financial Times: ExxonMobil and Chevron shatter profit records after global oil price surge

這篇報道來自《金融時報》：全球油價飆升後，埃克森美孚和雪佛龍打破獲利記錄

I know what 'shatter' means, Beth. If you drop a glass on the floor, it shatters; if you throw a brick through a window, the glass shatters.

我知道 shatter 的意思。如果你的杯子掉在地上，它就會「破掉」，如果你把一塊磚頭扔向窗戶，那麼玻璃就會「碎掉」。

And when the glass breaks, it shatters into lots of tiny little pieces.

而當玻璃破碎時，它就會碎成很多小塊。

So, it's quite dramatic and possibly spectacular.

所以，這很誇張，也可能很引人注目。

If you break a record in a big way, we can say you shattered the record.

如果你大舉打破了記錄，我們可以說你 shattered 記錄。

But it's not just records that you can shatter.

No, you can also have your dreams shattered.

沒錯，你也可以讓你的夢想破滅。

Now, Neil. Have you ever had your dreams shattered?

Neil，你的夢想有沒有被打破過？

Well, when I was growing up, I always wanted to play football and cricket for England.

當我小的時候，我一直想代表英格蘭踢足球和板球。

And were your dreams shattered because of injury?

那你的夢想是因為受傷而破滅了嗎？

No. I just realised I wasn't good enough.

不，我只是意識到我能力不夠好。

We've had 'profiteering' - making a lot of money unfairly.

我們學到了「暴利」——不公正地賺了很多錢。

'Laughing all the way to the bank' - again, making a lot of money, but easily, possibly also unfairly

「清鬆賺大錢」——賺大錢，但過程很容易，可能也不公正。

And 'shatter' - break something dramatically.

還有「打破」——大舉地打破一些東西。

Don't forget to try the quiz on our website: www.bbclearningenglish.com.

不要忘記到我們網站上 www.bbclearningenglish.com 進行測驗。

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破紀錄的石油利潤 - BBC新聞評論 (Record oil profits - BBC News Review)

literally

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expression