英語新聞一點通：潛艇堡微幅領先大麥克－【精英翻譯】的部落格

Footlong Inches Ahead of Big Mac

For years, McDonald’s has been the leader of the fast food field. It has had the most franchises, the widest international reach, and the highest profits. Now, however, Subway, the sandwich maker, has nosed ahead of the famous chain. At the end of 2010, Subway had 33,749 restaurants worldwide, whereas McDonald’s had 32, 737. This is a result of Subway’s aggressive expansion strategy. It has broken away from the pack mostly because of its determination to develop world markets. For example, it already has 199 stores in China, and expects to have more than 500 by 2015.

Even so, McDonald’s is far from an also-ran. Its revenues still make it the favourite for most analysts. With 24 billion dollars worth of sales last year to Subway’s 15 billion, it’s still too early to scratch the long-time champion from the race.

潛艇堡微幅領先大麥克

多年以來，麥當勞一直是速食界的龍頭，不僅擁有最多的經銷店、遍及全球的影響力，還有最高的利潤。然而，Subway潛艇堡專賣店卻已微幅領先這家知名連鎖店。截至2010年底，Subway在全球共有33,749家連鎖店，而麥當勞則擁有32,737家店，顯現出Subway積極擴展策略的成果，他們脫穎而出的主要原因是其開發國際市場的決心。例如，Subway在中國已擁有199家店，並預期將在2015年之前達成超過500家店的目標。

即便如此，麥當勞並不是個失敗者，因為它的營收對於大多數的分析師而言仍是最被看好的公司。麥當勞去年總營收達240億美元，而Subway的營收則為150億美元，所以若要判定這名長期的贏家出局，目前還言之過早。

字彙

franchise 經銷店；經銷權
chain 連鎖店
aggressive 積極的
expansion strategy 擴展策略
determination 決心
revenue 營業收入
analyst 分析師

解讀

Racing metaphors, especially horse racing metaphors, are a popular way of talking about business. Races are often won by inches or a nose, and competing companies are described as a pack or field. Favourites are the gamblers’ choice. An also-ran is a horse that does not come in the top three, and scratch from the race means to drop out.

作者談到商業活動時經常會使用和比賽相關的比喻，尤其是賽馬的用語。比賽常以「幾吋」或相當於「一個鼻子」的差距分出勝負，而互相競爭的公司則被形容為「一組」或「全部的賽馬」。「大家一致看好的熱門馬」是下注者的選擇，「失敗者」則是未擠進前三名的賽馬，而「自比賽中出局」代表退出比賽。

文句練習

I plan to open a fast food _____________ in my neighbourhood.
_________ is a key indicator of success.
After the global recession, our company’s _____________ is starting to recover.
Our _____________ involves marketing to new customers.
Sometimes, you need to be ________ to break away from the pack.
The Starbucks ______ was one of the great business successes of the late 90s.
Financial ________ say the earthquake in Japan will have a severe effect on the country’s stock market.

文句練習解答