谁动了苹果投资者的“奶酪”？

周三早上，苹果的股票在接连五天下跌至自一月以来股价最低点之后，终于刹住了脚步。在苹果股价的连续走低背后，到底隐藏着投资者怎样的顾虑？市场是否不再接受苹果独居鳌头的状况？消费者对于苹果的期待值和需求狂潮是否就此消退？究竟是谁，动了苹果投资者的“奶酪”？

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

bullish 积极乐观的，看涨的

behemoth 巨头

Atop 在…顶上

What is eating Apple investors?（432words）

By Kadhim Shubber

Apple's shares slid to their lowest point since January on Wednesday morning before its five-day losing streak finally halted as buyers emerged.

The world's most valuable company has been hit by investor concern about its business in China,where there are signs economic growth is slowing and where Apple has recently slipped from its pre-eminent position in the smartphone market.

Despite Tim Cook's bullish comments on China during Apple's recent third-quarter earnings call,investors have sold off the company,wiping more than $111bn off its market value since July 21,a 15 per cent drop.

Shares opened a further 2 per cent lower on Wednesday but recovered by mid-morning,leaving it up 1.6 per cent at $116.44.The technology behemoth has fallen in 10 out of the past 12 trading sessions and a further drop on Wednesday would have been the stock's sixth straight day of losses — the longest such stretch since February 2013

Apple's share price slide has weighed heavily on broader stock market indices,with every $1 change in Apple's share price resulting in a 0.65 point shift in the S&P 500,according to Howard Silverblatt,senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

“The combination of Apple's size and price moves results in an enormous impact on indices,with the only comparison being International Business Machines' impact in the early 1980s,when PCs were new,and IBM was expected to own the market,” he said in a note.Although Apple more than doubled its sales in China to nudge third-quarter revenues and earnings just ahead of market forecasts,investors were rattled as iPhone sales fell short of expectations.

Their concerns were reinforced after research outfit Canalys said this week that Apple has lost its position atop the Chinese smartphone market to local upstart Xiaomi during the second quarter.

Apple dropped to third in China in the second quarter,according to Canalys,falling behind Xiaomi at number one and Huawei in second place. “Competition among major brands has never been so intense,” said Jingwen Wang in the report.

Sliding commodity prices,which Wall Street has taken as evidence of a slowdown in China's economy,along with turmoil in the country's stock markets,have added to bearish investor sentiment around Apple.

During Apple's earnings call on July 21,chief executive Tim Cook shrugged off concerns about the sharp drop in China's stock markets and worries about its economic growth,saying the company remained “extremely bullish” on the country.

“Nothing that's happened has changed our fundamental view that China will be Apple's largest market at some point in the future,” he said.

1.Which market is the most concerning to investors ?

A.America

B.India

C.China

D.UK

[1] 答案

2.Which company in the 1980s' market can be a comparison of Apple in today's market?

A.Microsoft

B.Intel

C.Cisco

D.IBM

[2] 答案

3.What is Tim Cook's attitude towards the Chinese market?

A.Indifferent

B.Negative

C.Don't know

D.Positive

[3] 答案

4.Which domestic company did Apple lose its atop position in the Chinese market to?

A.Xiaomi

B.Huawei

C.Samsung

D.HTC

[4] 答案

[1]答案：C.China

解释：文章第二段提到投资者最担心对他们有影响的就是苹果在中国市场的表现。

[2]答案：D.IBM

解释：文章第六段作者在举例的时候说，只有1980年代的IBM可以和现在的苹果做比较。

[3]答案：D.Positive

解释：文章第三段Tim Cook对中国的发言被形容成是“bullish”－看涨的，说明他对中国市场还是很正面乐观的。

[4]答案：A.Xiaomi

解释：文章倒数第五段写了苹果是让位给了小米。同时，应该了解小米和华为是中国大陆公司，三星是韩国公司，HTC是台湾公司。