新视野大学英语读写教程听力 第四册 课文 te-09b_new

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[00:00.00]喜欢hxen.net，就把hxen.net复制到QQ个人资料中！ Not to Expect Profits Soon from Euro Disney
[00:-1.00]The Euro Disney Corporation,
[00:-2.00]acknowledging that its elaborate theme park had not performed as strongly as expected,
[00:-3.00]announced Thursday that it would sustain a net financial loss
[00:-4.00]of uNPRedictable scale in its first financial year.
[00:-5.00]At the time of the April opening of the park,
[00:-6.00]which stands on a 4,800-acre site 30 kilometers (20 miles) east of Paris,
[00:-7.00]Euro Disney officials said they expected to make a small profit
[00:-8.00]for the financial year ending September 30.
[00:-9.00]But since then the park has been hit by a number of problems.
[00:10.00]"We were geared up for a very high level of operations,"
[00:11.00]John Forsgren,
[00:12.00]the company's chief financial officer said in a telephone interview.
[00:13.00]"It has been very strong, but not as strong as we geared up for."
[00:14.00]"While attendance is very strong," he said,
[00:15.00]"our cost levels do require adjustment for the current revenue level."
[00:16.00]The parent company, Walt Disney Corporation,
[00:17.00]said Thursday that its income rose 33 percent in the quarter.
[00:18.00]But it warned investors against expecting profits soon from Euro Disney,
[00:19.00]of which it owns 49 percent.
[00:20.00]Euro Disney said that although attendance levels had been high,
[00:21.00]"the company anticipates that it will sustain a net loss
[00:22.00]for the financial year ending September 30, 1992".
[00:23.00]It added that "the amount of the loss will depend on attendance and hotel use rates
[00:24.00]achieved during the remaining portion
[00:25.00]of the critical European summer vacation period".
[00:26.00]The announcement amounted to an extraordinary reversal for Euro Disney,
[00:27.00]which opened amid immense celebration
[00:28.00]and widespread predictions of immediate success.
[00:29.00]At the time of the opening, on April 12,
[00:30.00]the company's shares were trading at 140.90 francs ($28.07),
[00:31.00]and had been as high as 170 francs earlier in the year.
[00:32.00]They dropped 2.75 percent Thursday to close at 97.25 francs.
[00:33.00]Mr. Forsgren said he thought the market had "reacted a bit emotionally
[00:34.00]to preliminary information".
[00:35.00]He added that "by all objective standards the park is very successful.
[00:36.00]The long-term acceptance is strong, the rest is just details."
[00:37.00]The company said that 3.6 million people had visited the park
[00:38.00]from April 12 to July 22,
[00:39.00]a performance superior to that of comparable start-
[00:40.00]up periods at other Disney theme parks.
[00:41.00]But it warned that, given the likely strong seasonal variation in attendance,
[00:42.00]it was not possible to predict future attendance or profits.
[00:43.00]Reacting to the announcement,
[00:44.00]stock market experts Paribas Capital Markets Group
[00:45.00]issued a "sell" recommendation on Euro Disney stock,
[00:46.00]saying that attendance levels for the period
[00:47.00]were 15 percent below its expectations
[00:48.00]and spending on food and other goods was 10 percent below.
[00:49.00]It predicted that the company would lose 300 million francs
[00:50.00]in the current financial year and continue losing money for two more years.
[00:51.00]The main problem confronting Euro Disney appears to be managing its costs
[00:52.00]and finding an appropriate price level for its over 5,000 hotel rooms.
[00:53.00]Clearly, costs have been geared to a revenue level that has not been achieved,
[00:54.00]and the company is beginning to drop hotel prices
[00:55.00]that have been widely described as excessive.
[00:56.00]Mr. Forsgren said the number of staff, now at 17,000,
[00:57.00]would "come down significantly in the next two months,
[00:58.00]mainly through the loss of seasonal employees".
[00:59.00]Of the current staff, 5,000 are employed on a temporary basis, he said.
[-1:00.00]He also acknowledged that the lowest-
[-1:-1.00]priced rooms at the resort had been cut to 550 francs ($110)