Kathleen: Have you heard the news, Oscar? The InFashion merger² with Artingdales has just been approved.
　　Oscar: Yeah, I heard. They’ve just leap-frogged ahead of us by a good margin³. Our 265 shops nationwide pales in comparison to their 710. On top of that,they now have a top manufacturer as part of their operation.

　　Kathleen: For sure. Most analysts⁴ think that Debusy Manufacturing was the crown jewel of Artingdales.
　　Oscar: This really gives InFashion a huge competitive advantage over us. Do you have any news on potential acquisitions we might go after?

　　Kathleen: Actually, I do. You may be a little surprised at this one. I’ve been checking up on Clarisa Exclusives.
　　Oscar: Clarisa! They’ve never shown any interest whatsoever⁵ in a merger, and they would probably never agree to an acquisition.

　　Kathleen: I know, but the time might be right for a takeover.It’s not a well-known fact, but their finances are in poor shape. Actually, they could turn out to be a Sleeping Beauty. I think their assets are highly undervalued in the industry.
　　Oscar: Wow, that would surely put us back in the thick of things. OK, Kathleen, give me a report on the finances involved as soon as you can. Let’s go after them!

　　参考译文：
　　在以下这段对话中，Oscar Davidson是一家服装零售连锁店的老板，而Kathleen Harbrough是他的财务主管。他俩正谈论一个竞争对手刚完成的一笔大买卖。

　　Kathleen: 嘿，Oscar, 你听说了吗？InFashion和Artingdales已经成功合并了。
　　Oscar: 我听说啦。他们已经大步向前，把我们远远甩在后面了。你看，全国范围内，我们只有265家店，而他们却有710家。另外，现在还有一个顶尖的制造商加入了他们的行列

　　Kathleen: 的确如此。大多数分析家都认为Debusy制造公司是Arlingdales最具实力的拳头部门。
　　Oscar: 这无疑给Infashion增加了不少竞争砝码，而我们已处于劣势了。对了，对于我们下一步的收购计划你有什么目标吗？

　　Kathleen: 当然。或许你会有些意外，但我现在确实在关注Clarisa专卖店。
　　Oscar: Clarisa！他们对合并可从来没有过什么兴趣，我想他们更不会同意被收购。

　　Kathleen：我知道，但此一时，彼一时，现在也许正是收购的最佳时机。他们的财务状况可以说是一团糟，但这个事实却鲜为人知。可以说Clarisa现在还是一个“睡美人”。据我所知，他们的资产被业界大大低估了。
　　Oscar ：好啊，那肯定会使我们脱离困境的。这样吧Kathleen，你尽快给我一份涉及相关财务状况的报告，是 我们大显身手的时候了！