VOA慢速英语:Words and Their Stories: Let's Do Business

There are many special terms in the world of business.
商界的专用术语多不胜数。

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.
下面的这则故事是关于我在上周达成的一笔私下交易。我与一个朋友交易，双方都从中获利。

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.
几年前我建立了一个小公司，为了盈利我苦心经营。它是一个广告标牌制作公司，公司规模小，并不是很赚钱的蓝筹大企业。公司制作的标牌质量并未响誉全国，也没有几百万美元的利润。公司是私企，不是可以在股市上进行股票交易的上市公司。

Still, I worked hard building up my business. I did not work only a few hours each day -- no banker’s hours for 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.
然而，我坚持努力发展我的公司。我每天的工作时间与生活安逸的银行家们不同，不只短短4至5个小时。为了公司的发展，我每周工作7天，每天都工作很久。我在经费方面从不刻意节省。我从一列我从未谋面的人中选出潜在的客户，并给他们打推销电话，进行硬性推销。我必须坚持不懈。

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.
有时候我也会亏本销售标牌，那时我的产品就没有盈利。这时候就必须消减开销。我只有减少原料和员工人数。但几年之后，公司收支平衡，盈利与开支持平。紧接着，公司实现盈利。我制作的标牌卖的很快，它们成为了畅销产品。

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.
我很高兴，公司正在往前迈步稳定发展。它正在盈利而不是负债，正在赚钱而不是亏钱。

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.
我朋友了解我的事业。他是广告牌制造行业的领头羊——如果你明白我的意思，那你就知道他是一个真正的大人物了。他主动提出买下我的公司。我朋友想让公司上市，向大众销售公司股份。

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.
我朋友坚信做事应该趁热打铁。他希望在最佳时期采取行动而不是等待。他给出一个买下我公司的大致价钱，但我知道这个粗略的估计低估了公司价值，我的公司比这更加值钱。他让会计仔细琢磨一下这个价钱，换句话说，就是让会计员盯紧我公司的财务情况，再决定它值多少钱。然后我的朋友把价钱往上提了。

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.
我朋友的正式报盘是写在白纸黑字上交给我的，这个价钱写在文件上，比我做梦时卖出公司的价格还要高。我终于可以休息一下了。我的公司赚到了高额利润，而我朋友也赚到了——他花钱买到了一个成功的企业。

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