VOA慢速英语:A Comic Book About Business Finance

You probably have heard of comic book heroes like Superman, Batman and Spiderman. But what about Tom the motorcycle shop owner, Joe Knight and Karen Berman?
你可能听说过诸如《超人》、《蝙蝠侠》和《蜘蛛侠》这样的漫画书。那你听说过《摩托车店老板汤姆》、《乔•奈特和卡伦•伯曼》吗？

Tom, Joe and Karen all appear in a comic book called “Financial Intelligence.” But Mr. Knight and Ms. Berman are real people. In two thousand six, they wrote a book called “Financial Intelligence: A Manager’s Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean.” It was written for people who need to learn quickly about accounting. The book explains, in simple ways, often-complex methods of keeping financial information. It became a best-seller.   
汤姆、乔和卡伦一起出现在《金融情报》一书中，不过奈特和伯曼都是现实中的人物。2006年，他们写了一本名叫《金融情报：经理人教你理解数字的真正含义》。这本书是给那些需要快速学习会计知识的人编写的，通俗易懂地解释了通常非常复杂的管理财务信息的方式，然后成了畅销书。

 This month, publisher SmarterComics released a comic book that provides the same information in easy-to-understand, picture form. The new book is a combination of a textbook and a graphic novel. It tells the story of Tom, a mechanic who must quickly learn how to direct the motorcycle repair shop his father founded. Tom has no experience with finance, and is struggling with the business. Joe Knight and Karen Berman help him. Artist Dave Wachter made illustrations for the comic book.
汤姆、乔和卡伦一起出现在《金融情报》一书中，不过奈特和伯曼都是现实中的人物。2006年，他们写了一本名叫《金融情报：经理人教你理解数字的真正含义》。这本书是给那些需要快速学习会计知识的人编写的，通俗易懂地解释了通常非常复杂的管理财务信息的方式，然后成了畅销书。

Franco Arda is the founder and head of SmarterComics. He formerly worked as an investment banker. He started the company almost three years ago with his own money. He wanted to create educational comics that increase understanding.
Franco Arda是SmarterComics公司的创办者和总裁，他之前做过投资银行家，三年前他用自己的资金创办了这家公司，他希望出版知识性的教育类漫画。

FRANCO ARDA: “I think almost everybody understands the phrase that ‘a picture says a thousand words,’ so, I mean, mentally, probably ninety percent of us grew up with comics and they understand that comics or illustrations help learning a concept much quicker than just text alone.” (:21)
FRANCO ARDA: “我想，几乎人人都理解这个格言，‘一图胜千言’。所以，我想，有90%的人是看漫画长大的，所以可以更快理解用漫画表示的概念，比单纯的文本要快。”

Franco Arda says “Financial Intelligence” will help readers quickly understand many of the major areas of accounting.
Franco Arda说《金融情报》一书可以帮助读者快速理解会计上多领域的知识。

FRANCO ARDA: “Within an hour, you kind of get the idea of accounting, very quickly and not in a boring way. So you get these illustrations, you get the basics of accounting and you get some balance sheets and cash-flow statements.” (:13)   
Franco Arda：“不到一个小时就可理解会计的概念，很快且不感到乏味。所以，看懂这些插图，就能理解会计的基本知识，就理解了资产负债表和现金流量表。”

The new comic book is available in paperback. There will also be versions for iPad and iPhone users.
市面上目前有这本漫画的平装本，以后还会有供iPad和iPhone用户使用的版本。

 The website Entrepreneur.com named SmarterComics to its list of 100 Brilliant Companies of 2012.  The company has created comic book versions of more than ten other books. These include “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, “The Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli and “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu. Later this year, SmarterComics plans to release a comic book by rapper 50Cent.
网站Entrepreneur.com将出版公司SmarterComics列为2012最杰出公司之一，该公司还出版了另外十多本书的漫画版。包括拿破仑•希尔《思考致富》，尼科洛•马基雅维利的《君主论》，以及孙武的《孙子兵法》。今年晚些时候，该公司还将出版说唱歌手50Cent的漫画书。