英语听力：如何描述公司及其业务与历史

In this lesson, you're going to learn how to describe and ask questions about a company. Then, you'll listen and read about one company's history and learn vocabulary so that you can talk about important events in a company's history and describe how a company has changed. At the end of this lesson, you'll be able to describe a company to someone else. Now let's watch someone else describing a company. Watch the video and answer the questions. Cafe Laudro is the name of my company. Started in 1994. We are a coffee retailer as well as a wholesaler and a bakery. So we have three different divisions basically. The retail cafes and then a bakery that supports those cafes and then a wholesale roasting side which we roast for all our own cafes and then a lot of other clients as well. We started with one cafe up on top of Queen Ant Hill. The first cafe was right next door to a Starbucks and everybody thought we were a little bit crazy to open next to Starbucks so our name became the coffee thief, Cafe Laudro. We just last week opened our 15th location and adding one or so a year for the last decade or so.

In Seattle, the coffee market is very sophisticated and Starbucks is sort of more looked like a little bit more like McDonald's of coffee in Seattle. They're very consistent at what they do but they're not the premium product. We are more of a coffee house. Basically it's a seating area and then in the coffee bar, more conducive to studying and having business meetings and things like that. Our retail is all just in Seattle greater, Seattle area. Our online businesses throughout the country, we'd probably sell coffee to every state via online ordering. The logo is the coffee thief. When we first started, we were looking for, in particular, a logo that was distinctive and looked good on a coffee cup. Two parts of our brand are really Laudro, the name, the guy, but then also the color. This is a big part of our brand so when people are walking around just like Starbucks, the green cup is very important for their brand but this is our color. We like to say if you're walking with this cup, we can recognize you from 100 yards. So this has been a really good vehicle for us in our brand. But the guy himself is just, he's the thief. He's the coffee thief. So he's the mysterious tall figure and you can use your own imagination.

Now let's start talking about companies. Do you recognize any of these logos? You'll hear a question. What kind of company is it? Answer the question by reading the sentence with the name of the company. You'll hear the answer after you speak. Number one, what kind of company is it? Amazon is an online store. What kind of company is it? Toyota is a car company. What kind of company is it? Starbucks is a coffee company. What kind of company is it? Nike is a shoe and a parallel company. What kind of company is it? Apple is a technology company. Here are ways we describe company location. Sometimes we use the plural pronoun they to talk about a company. It's based in Seattle. The manufacturing plant is located in Mexico. Their headquarters are in Chicago. They have subsidiaries in Latin America.

Now let's work on the vocabulary you need to describe what companies do. There are many words that describe the activities of companies but the most common word is make. Manufacture means to build something in a factory. Distribute means to arrange for products to be sold in different places. For example, Toyota makes cars. Lego manufactures and distributes toy building blocks. Don't forget the S ending on third person singular verbs. Assemble refers to the activity of putting parts together to make the final product. We can also use build. For example, Boeing assembles planes in a huge factory. They build planes at Boeing. We often use words like develop and design to talk about the creative process. For example, Apple designs and develops apps for its phones. Here are some other common verbs. Some of which you already know. Be sure to use the correct propositions with these verbs. Starbucks buys a lot of coffee beans from Central America. Walmart imports a lot of merchandise from China. Boeing sells airplanes to airline companies. Ford exports cars to many countries. Starbucks competes with McDonald's. Companies in the service industry don't manufacture anything. We say that they provide or offer services. Fidelity provides financial services to large companies. Google offers cloud storage. Many online stores offer free shipping.

Before we go, take this short vocabulary quiz. Predict the verb that completes the sentence. The first letter is given for you. Don't forget the S ending on third person singular verbs. Then listen for the answer. Number one, Amazon sells many different items. Number two, Amazon customers buy products online. Number three, Mercedes builds cars in Germany and exports them to other countries. Number four, Apple designs or develops operating systems for computers. Number five, Boeing imports parts from other countries. Then they assemble the planes in their U.S. factories. Now, predict the propositions. We didn't give you a first letter this time. Number six, McDonald's competes with KFC and other fast food restaurants. Number seven, a middleman buys merchandise from one person and sells it to another person. Number eight, Starbucks imports coffee beans from many different countries. Number nine, India exports cotton to China.

We showed you vocabulary connected to design and manufacturing companies. Now, let's look at vocabulary related to retail. Retail means selling to the public to individual customers not to other businesses. Merchandise is a general word to describe things that people buy and sell. An e-tailor is a store that sells online. The e stands for electronic. For example, Amazon is an e-tailor. A peril means clothing. For example, Nike sells both athletic shoes and a peril. High end means that something is higher quality and higher price than others. Expensive refers mostly to cost. For example, Nordstrom is a high end department store. Its merchandise is usually high quality but expensive. We use inexpensive to talk about cost also. The word cheap is similar to inexpensive but it can also have a negative sense of poorly made or low quality. Walmart sells inexpensive merchandise. It's known for low prices. The clothes are cheap. At a discount means that you can buy something at lower than normal cost. Costco is known as a warehouse store. It sells high quality merchandise at a discount. Some companies offer a combination of services and products. For example, technology companies like Apple and Microsoft offer computers and mobile devices that they also design applications or apps for these products. Complete the company descriptions with the vocabulary you've studied in this lesson. Predict the answer then listen to see if you were right. Number one. Louis Vuitton is a high-end company that sells expensive leather bags and luggage. Number two. Sam's Club competes with Costco. It's a warehouse store that sells high-quality merchandise at a discount. Number three. Walmart sells inexpensive merchandise. It's well known for low prices. Number four. Tablets and cell phones are mobile devices. People download applications also called apps to use on them.