TO MAKE IT = *****cceed E-TAILER = retailer who does business electronically on the Internet TO TURN A PROFIT = to show a profit, to make money DARLING = favorite CUSTOMER BASE = group of customers who do business with a particular company DOT - COMS = Internet companies PORTFOLIO = all the stocks owned by someone TO HIT A PEAK = to reach a high. This expression is often used to describe market movements. TO TREND DOWNWARD = to go down generally (though there may be a few increases too) "Can Amazon Make It? Some investors are wondering if the e-tailer will ever turn a profit Since the beginning of the year, it has been evident that Wall Street has become disenchanted with its former Internet darling, Amazon.com Inc. Sure, Amazon (AMZN) still had its impressive customer base, over $1 billion in cash, and expanding sales. But as with the smaller dot-coms, Amazon seemed a long way from profitability and was boasting an increasingly unjustifiable valuation. Top tech-fund managers began to reduce and even eliminate Amazon from their portfolios. It was the end of Amazon's fairy-tale existence as the one e-tailer with seemingly unlimited prospects. After hitting a peak of 106 11/16 on Dec. 10 and trending downward until mid-June, Amazon's stock price appeared to settle into a trading range between the mid-40s and mid-50s." Business Week Online, July 2, 2000. Nvta
TO HEAD INTO = to go into TO BE UP = to show an increase TO BE ON TRACK = to be following a logical procedure and timetable toward a goal TO BE ON THE UPSWING = to show a general increase TO SOAR = to increase dramatically TO SPUR = to cause, to encourage TO SNAP UP = to buy TO PICK UP = to increase "On the steamy streets of Bangkok, where Asia's economic crisis began, something is happening: People are heading into stores again. ...Retail sales were up 20% over last year. 'The government is right on track,' glows Suthichart Chirathivat, chief executive of Central Retail Crop., Thailand's major department-store group. He thinks rejuvenated [= refreshed, revived] Thai consumers could push retail sales growth up 15% this year. That's good news for U.S. exporters. After two years of severe economic woes [= troubles], Asian economies are clearly on the upswing... Many Asian stock markets are soaring, its key currencies have stabilized, and, more importantly, its citizens are starting to buy again. While that hasn't yet spurred a rush to snap up U.S. goods, exporters hope the urge to buy American picks up..." Business Week, September 27, 1999, page 44. Nvta
TO PULL OFF A MINOR MIRACLE = to accomplish something of enormous importance OVERWHELMINGLY = by a very large majority TO TOSS OUT = to remove from political office, to remove from power POWERHOUSE = central area of great energy and drive TO BE HUNGRY FOR = to be very anxious to receive [something]. In the example below, the people are very anxious for political change. ALL ROLLED INTO ONE = separate elements which are grouped together as one "Mexicans pulled off a minor miracle on July 2, when they voted overwhelmingly to toss out the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which has ruled the country since 1929. From impoverished [= very poor] Chiapas state to the industrial powerhouse of Monterrey, Mexicans hungry for political change after seven decades of one-party rule gave the National Action Party candidate 43% of the vote and just 36% to his PRI rival, Francisco Labastida. 'It's comparable to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of apartheid, and the vote to oust [Chilean military dictator Augusto] Pinochet, all rolled into one,' exulted independent Senator Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, a Fox adviser." BusinessWeek Online, July 17, 2000. Nvta
TO RIDE TO VICTORY ON = to win based on [something] ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNMENT = government which is responsible, not corrupt A SECOND WAVE OF = a second round of, a second group of FREE-MARKET INITIATIVES = government steps toward a free-market economy TO FOLLOW THROUGH = to continue one's efforts until the final outcome is achieved AGENDA = list of priorities DESTINATION FOR FOREIGN CAPITAL = center for international investment money TO THROW OPEN = to make available MOVE UP THE LADDER = to progress to a higher level "[Mexican President-elect Vicente Fox], the 6-foot, 5-inch rancher and former Coca-Cola Co. (KO) executive rode to victory on a pledge [= promise] to bring accountable government to Mexico. But his ambitious vision goes far beyond that. The 58-year-old president-elect wants to see Mexico transformed by a second wave of reforms that build dramatically on the free-market initiatives of his presidential predecessors. . . If Fox follows through on even half this agenda, Mexico could move to the next stage as a destination for foreign capital. That would throw open the whole country to the effects of the global economy--not just the northern border, where the majority of the maquiladora factories [= textile and clothing factories ] of Western and Asian manufacturers are concentrated. A planned doubling of the education budget would raise the skills of Mexico's young and enable them to move up the ladder of jobs. The policymakers of China and Southeast Asia will undoubtedly be watching to see how much more investment Fox can attract, and whether Mexico will become their strongest rival in the race for global capital." BusinessWeek Online, July 17, 2000. Nvta
