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1.VOA常速
【Hispanic Voters Could Play Key Role in US Election】
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TEXT:Luis Torres and Willie Fernandez run a Houston company that does completion work on construction projects.
But when it comes to politics, they differ, with Fernandez being more critical of President Obama, the Democratic Party candidate.
“Look at the deficit we are in now, economically,” Fernandez said.
“I don't think that is all due to Obama; it all came from before,” said Torres.
“No, but $15 billion in the first year...” noted Fernandez.
“Well, he has inherited a lot of this,” replied Torres.
But, while Torres defends President Obama, he is still not sure how he will vote in November.
“The last time I voted for Obama. I am disappointed in what he has done. I mean, he has really not done much. , I don't know if it is all due to the politics that are in play, but he has not fulfilled the promises that he made,” Torres said.
In recent speeches, President Obama has argued that he needs more time to deal with the nation's enormous problems.
“I know we have gone through some tough years and I know that for all the things we have done, we still have so much undone,” Obama said.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney discussed the economy in a recent speech in Washington to a group of Hispanic small business owners.
“I know your prosperity means greater opportunity, for you, for your families, for your employees, for your communities and for the nation,” Romney said.
What Romney did not mention was his hard-line policy on illegal immigration, which some Hispanic supporters, like Willie Fernandez, find troubling.
“Here you have to look at who is the worst of all evils, I mean the reality. Am I happy with him? No, I am not. Am I happy with Obama? No, I am not,” Fernandez said.
Both Torres and Fernandez are naturalized U.S. citizens; Torres came from Colombia, Fernandez from Cuba. They both favor some form of immigration reform and think it would be counterproductive to deport millions of laborers who are needed here.
Another issue of concern to Luis Torres is that the number of Hispanic elected officials does not match the size of the Hispanic population in many states and Hispanic voting rates are generally low.
“Hispanics have to get behind their candidates and get them elected so that they can have more representation,” Torres said.
But Willie Fernandez thinks the ethnicity of candidates is often over-emphasized.
“If you are elected by the people, you should represent the people, whoever you are. You can't bend it to one ethnic group or another, you have to represent the people,” Fernandez said.
Both men strongly believe in the democratic system and plan to vote in November, but neither one is entirely sure whom they will support.
2.VOA慢速
【Facebook Stock Goes on Sale】
TEXT：This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
這里是美國之音慢速英語經(jīng)濟報道。
Facebook is the world’s biggest social network. It has over nine hundred million users worldwide. And it reported three point seven billion dollars in sales for last year.
Facebook是全球最大的社交網(wǎng)絡，它在世界各地擁有超過9億用戶。據(jù)報道，其去年的收入就達到了37億美元。
The company has been privately held since two thousand four. That was when Mark Zuckerberg and several classmates at Harvard University started Facebook as a business. But on May eighteenth, Facebook becomes a publicly traded company. That means its shares will be listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, and sold to the public.
從2004年以來，該公司一直是私人所有，當時馬克?扎克伯格和幾名室友在哈佛大學創(chuàng)辦Facebook。但在5月18日，F(xiàn)acebook成為一家上市公司，這意味著它的股票將出現(xiàn)在納斯達克證券交易所，并向公眾出售。
Interest in the stock has been building since Facebook announced details of its initial public offering, or IPO, earlier this year. The IPO will make billionaires of the company’s founders, including Mr. Zuckerberg. Eduardo Saverin, a co-founder, has been strongly criticized for giving up his United States citizenship. He will avoid a fifteen percent tax on the value of his shares by claiming to be a citizen of Singapore.
從Facebook今年早些時候宣布首次公開募股(IPO)的細節(jié)以來，其股票已引起了人們的興趣。首次公開募股將使包括扎克伯格先生在內(nèi)的幾名公司創(chuàng)始人成為億萬富翁。創(chuàng)始人之一的Eduardo Saverin因放棄美國公民身份而一直備受指責，由于聲稱自己為新加坡公民，他將免于繳納他所持有股份15%的稅收。
This week, Facebook told the Securities and Exchange Commission that it wanted to increase the number of shares being offered to over four hundred twenty million. The company had earlier said it planned to offer three hundred thirty-seven million. The starting price has been set at between thirty-four and thirty-eight dollars -- also an increase. Now, some financial experts say Facebook could raise sixteen billion dollars, making it one of the biggest IPOs ever.
本周，F(xiàn)acebook向證券交易委員會表示，希望將股份數(shù)目增加到4.2億份，此前該公司曾表示，計劃出售3.7億份股份。在24-38美元的初始定價也有所增加。目前，一些金融專家稱，F(xiàn)acebook將能募資160億美元，成為有史以來最大規(guī)模的公開募股。
Facebook says most of its money comes from online advertising. But the company also says it expects to earn money from fees charged on the sales of virtual goods. These are digital products used in social games, not physical goods. Facebook says it sees important income coming from this new market, which could reach fourteen billion dollars by twenty sixteen.
Facebook稱其大部分的收入來自在線廣告。但該公司也表示，希望從虛擬商品銷售中收取費用，包括社交游戲中使用的電子產(chǎn)品，而不是實物商品。Facebook稱從這一新市場中看到巨大收入來源，到2016年可達到140億美元。
Not everyone is pleased. General Motors ended its advertising agreement with Facebook this week. The carmaker said it did not see results from the millions of dollars it spent on advertising with Facebook.
并不是每個人都為此高興，通用汽車本周終結(jié)了與Facebook的廣告協(xié)議。該汽車制造商稱在Facebook上的數(shù)百萬美元廣告支出不見成效。
And Facebook has been criticized for some recent business decisions. It offered one billion dollars to buy Instagram, an application for sharing photographs. The deal requires government approval and has yet to be finalized.
Fcebook也因最近的一些商業(yè)決策而受到指責，該公司曾提出以10億美元的價格收購 Instagram，這是一款用來共享圖片的應用程序，這項交易需要政府批準，目前尚未完成。
So is Facebook worth the price of the stock? That will be for investors to decide.
因此，F(xiàn)acebook值這個股價嗎？那將由投資者來決定。
