本期導讀
本文節選自《經濟學人》20200912期。「我們不生產水,我們只是大自然的搬運工」,這句耳熟能詳的話出自農夫山泉的廣告語,今天我們就來看一下我們的「搬運工」——農夫山泉。
Beverages
H20,000,000,000
Nongfu Spring is a hit with tipplers and investors alike
beverage 意思是「(除水外的)飲料」hit 用作名詞,意思是「很受歡迎的人或事物」tippler 本意是「傾卸工」;investor 本意是「投資者」,在這裡可以分別理解為「搬運工」和「印鈔機」;我們知道農夫山泉被稱為「搬運工」和「印鈔機」,所以這裡with tipplers and investors alike 就是說農夫山泉像搬運工和印鈔機一般。
「We are not manufacturers of water.We are porters of nature.」 So goes a famous quip by Zhong Shanshan, the 66-year-old founder and boss of Nongfu Spring, China’s most popular brand of bottled water. On September 8th the Hangzhou-based bottler listed on Hong Kong’s bourse to spectacular fanfare. Demand for shares from retail investors outstripped supply by 1,148 times (see chart). The share price shot up by 60% over the first three days of trading. Its market capitalisation reached $53bn. Mr Zhong, who still owns 84% of Nongfu Spring, is now China’s third-richest person, narrowly trailing two tech moguls: Jack Ma of Alibaba and (unrelated) Pony Ma of Tencent.
manufacturer 意思是「生產者」,動詞是manufactureporter 意思是「搬運工」;port 動詞意思是「搬運」,名詞是「港口」。quip 意思是「俏皮話,妙語」bottled water 指「瓶裝水」bourse 意思是「證券交易所」spectacular 意思是「壯觀的,壯麗的」,這裡活用作動詞。fanfare 意思是「號角花彩,號角齊鳴(歡迎儀式等上奏的響亮短曲)」share 是指「股份」retail investor 是指「小額投資者」outstrip 意思是「超過,勝過」shoot up 意思是「猛漲,迅速上升」trail 本意是「追蹤,跟蹤」,這裡的narrowly trail 就是指「緊隨其後」,相當於narrowly followmogul 意思是「大亨,有權勢的人」,通俗的講就是「大佬」。
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