【News-Learning】 Intel Plans to Spend $7 Billion on New U.S. Plants

Intel Corp., the world’s largest maker of computer chips, will spend $7 billion on new plants in the U.S. over the next two years, an effort to extend its lead in manufacturing technology. The investment will boost production of so-called 32- nanometer chips at sites in Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico, Intel said in an e-mailed statement. Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini will talk about the plans at an event today at the Economic Club of Washington. 

Intel, the biggest spender in the chip industry, is aiming to build more advanced plants at a time when its competitors can’t afford to. Chip-industry profits are drying up as global demand for personal computers plummets. The investment will support about 7,000 jobs, Intel said. 

The announcement won’t change Intel’s current capital spending plans. The company’s budget for new plants and equipment this year will be little changed or slightly lower than 2008’s $5.2 billion, Santa Clara, California-based Intel said last month. 

Computer chipmakers are locked in a race to narrow the width of microscopic circuits in semiconductors, which makes their manufacturing processes more efficient and their products perform better. Intel makes the majority of its chips with 45 nanometer technology. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. 

Intel’s largest competitor, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., is upgrading its plants, which are located in Dresden, Germany, from 65 nanometers to 45 nanometers. 

Intel’s commitment to the U.S. comes as unemployment reached 7.6 percent in January, the highest since 1992. The company does about three-quarters of its manufacturing in the U.S., while making about the same portion of its sales overseas. 

Intel fell 13 cents to $14.78 at 9:34 a.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares fell 45 percent last year. 

---To contact the reporters on this story: Ian King in San Francisco at ianking@bloomberg.net; 

Last Updated: February 10, 2009 09:35 EST . By Ian King (Bloomberg. com) ---

--------****Words****----------

1. chip --- n.碎片, 筹码,芯片v.削成碎片, 碎裂2. computer chips --- 电脑芯片
3. manufacturing technology --- 制造技术
4. investment --- n. 投资, 可获利的东西
5. boost --- v. 推进
6. so-called --- 所谓的
7. nanometer --- n.十亿分之一公尺,毫微米, 纳米
8. e-mailed statement --- 电子邮件声明
9. Chief Executive Officer --- 首席执行干事
10. Executive --- adj. 实行的, 执行的, 行政的 n.执行者, 经理主管人员
11. event --- n.事件, 事变, 结果, 活动, 精力, 竞赛
12. spender --- 挥霍者, 浪费者, 用钱的人, 挥金如土的人
13. industry --- n. 工业, 产业, 行业, 勤奋
14. aim --- n. 目标, 目的, 瞄准v.对...瞄准, 打算
15. aiming --- 瞄准, 对准
16. advanced plants --- 先进的工厂
17. competitor --- 竞争者 
18. afford to --- 承受得起
19. profit --- n. 利润, 益处, 得益vi.得益, 利用vt.有益于, 有利于
20. dry up --- v.干涸, 枯竭, 萎缩
21. plummet --- n. 铅锤, 重荷,钟摆 vi.垂直落下,骤然跌落
22. announcement --- n. 宣告, 发表, 通告,声明,言论; 谈话, 一项公告, 一项私人告示
23. capital spending plans --- 资本支出计划
24. budget --- n.预算vi.做预算, 编入预算
25. equipment --- n.装备, 设备, 器材, 装置, 铁道车辆, (一企业除房地产以外的)固定资产, (工作必需的) 知识, 才能
26. slightly lower than --- 略低于…
27. locked in a race to --- 禁锢于… 
28. narrow --- n.狭窄部分, 海峡, 隘路adj.狭窄的, 精密的, 严密的, 有限的, 气量小的, 勉强的, 眼光短浅的vi.变窄vt.使变狭窄, 使缩小
29. microscopic --- adj. 用显微镜可见的, 精微的
30. circuits --- n.电路, 一圈, 周游, 巡回[se`kit]
31. semiconductor --- n.[物] 半导体
32. efficient --- adj.(直接)生效的, 有效率的, 能干的[e`fficient]
33. perform --- vt.履行, 执行, 表演, 演出v.完成任务
34. majority --- n.多数, 大半n.[律] 成年 [ma`jority]
35. nanometer --- 纳米 [nano`meter]
36. nanometer technology --- 纳米技术
37. upgrade --- n.升级, 上升, 上坡adv.往上vt.使升级, 提升, 改良品种
38. commitment --- n.委托事项, 许诺, 承担义务,买卖（契约）,信奉； 赞助
39. unemployment --- n.失业, 失业人数
40. three-quarters --- 四分之三的
41. portion --- 一部分, 一分

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【M's Lessons】02: About ordinal numbers

We have learned about basic numbers last lesson. So, I’d like to learn words about ordinal numbers following.

Ordinal numbers 序数

EN -------------------------- CN
1st first -------------------- 第一 (dì yī)
2nd second ----------------- 第二
3rd third ------------------- 第三
4th fourth ------------------ 第四
5th fifth -------------------- 第五
6th sixth ------------------- 第六
…

The rule of the English ordinal numbers

1. normally the ordinal number in English is adding –th except first, second, third.
2. the ending letter of E will be taken away, and adding –th. eg: ninth
3. the ending letter of Y will be change as IE, and adding –th. eg: twentieth, thirtieth
4. for the two or more digits of number, it will keep the fore number still and change the last number. Eg: twenty-first, ninty-fifth.

The rule of the Chinese ordinal numbers

Well, it’s very simple. We never change the shape of the character of numbers. We put 第(dì) in front of the number describe about ordinal, that’s all.

It’s too simple for learning this lesson. So I don’t left any exercises for you. See you next lesson.



-------------------********-----------------------------

PS: The answers of exercises of last lesson
... Apparently nobody take it serious :( I know it's too easy, but everything must be have a simple start. There must be someone to start it...

1. Translate the numeral into Chinese

• 87946413 = 八千七百九十四万六千四百一十三 bā qiān qī bǎi jiǔ shí sì wàn liù qiān sì bǎi yī shí sān
• 687893 = 六十八万七千八百九十三 liù shí bā wàn qī qiān bā bǎi jiǔ shí sān
• 49894 = 四万九千八百九十四 sì wàn jiǔ qiān bā bǎi jiǔ shí sì
• 6564 = 六千五百六十四 liù qiān wǔ bǎi liù shí sì
• 1354 = 一千三百五十四 yī qiān sān bǎi wǔ shí sì
• 12 = 十二 shí èr
• 6 = 六 liù

2. Translate the numeral into English

• 1,689,465,460 = one billion six hundred eighty nine million four hundred sixty five thousand four hundred sixty
• 681,503,522 = six hundred eighty one million five hundred three thousand five hundred twenty two
• 49,646,230 = forty nine million six hundred forty six thousand two hundred thirty
• 1,978,904 = one million nine hundred seventy eight thousand nine hundred four
• 654,654 = six hundred fifty four thousand six hundred fifty four
• 10,006 = ten thousand six
• 1,602 = one thousand six hundred two
• 302 = three hundred two

【M's Lessons】01: About Numerals

I spoke about writing something about Chinese lessons in English for Chinese-learning beginner with Fred days ago. I thoght it's the most useful way for both of us to learn. I can practice my English writing, and the Chinese learner can learn something from my writing.

So, here we go.

Most of Chinese babies learn basic knowledge start with learning numerals. So I choose, with reason, talking about numerals as my first lesson.




-------- The cardinal numerals 基数-------

Arabic numeral --- CN reading--- EN reading
0--零（líng）--zero　
1--一（yī）--one
2--二（èr）--two ( 二also can be ” 两liǎng ” )
3--三（sān）--three
4--四（sì）--four
5--五（wǔ）--five
6--六（liù）--six
7--七（qī）--seven
8--八（bā）--eight
9--九（jiǔ）--nine

10--十（shí）--ten
11--十一（shí yī）--eleven (literal means: ten one)
12--十二（shí èr）--twelve (literal means: ten two)
13--十三（shí sān）--thirteen (…)
14--十四（shí sì）--fourteen
15--十五（shí wǔ）--fifteen
16--十六（shí liù）--sixteen
17--十七（shí qī）--seventeen
18--十八（shí bā）--eighteen
19--十九（shí jiǔ）--nineteen

20--二十（èr shí）--twenty (literal means: two ten)
21--二十一（èr shí yī）--twenty one (literal means: two ten one)
22--二十二（èr shí èr）--twenty two
23--二十三（èr shí sān）--twenty three
...
30--三十（sān shí）--thirty (literal means: three ten)
40--四十（sì shí）--fourty (literal means: four ten)
50--五十（wǔ shí）--fifty
60--六十（liù shí）--sixty
70--七十（qī shí）--seventy
80--八十（bā shí）--eighty
90--九十（jiǔ shí）--ninety

100--一百（yí bǎi）--one hundred ( 百means hundred)
101--一百零一（yí bǎi líng yí）--one hundred and one (literal means: one hundred zero one)

111--一百一十一（yí bǎi yí shí yī）--one hundred (and) eleven(literal means: one hundred zero one ten one)
200--二百（èr bǎi or liǎng bǎi）--two hundred
…
1,000 -- 一千（yí qiān）--one thousand
1,015 -- 一千零一十五--one thousand fifteen (or一千零十五)
1,255 -- 一千二百五十五 -- one thousand two hundred fifty five
…
10,000 -- 一万（yí wàn）--ten thousand
100,000 -- 一十万 --one hundred thousand
1,000,000 -- 一百万 --one million
10,000,000 -- 一千万 --ten million
100,000,000 -- 一亿（yí yì）-- one hundred million
1,000,000,000 --一十亿-- one billion
10,000,000,000 --一百亿-- ten billion
100,000,000,000 --一千亿-- one hundred billion
1,000,000,000,000 --一万亿-- one Trillion
10,000,000,000,000 --一兆（yí zhào）-- ten Trillion

… …
Zillion (数不清的无法计算的大数字)

---------------end of ---------------

Got a head ache? Yep, me too. But I searched more numerals through internet, and the zeros drive me crazy. I even don’t know how to translate into Chinese in the end of the list.

---------------****************---------------
1, 000 Thousand (千)
1, 000, 000 Million (百万)
1, 000, 000, 000 Billion (百万)
1, 000, 000, 000, 000 Trillion (十亿)
1, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 Quadrillion (百兆)
1, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 Quintillion
1, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 Sextillion
1, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 Septillion
1, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 Octillion
1, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000 Nonillion
---------------****************---------------

I remembered I discussed about the numbers with Sit once. And it takes us a long time to understand part of them. I always get trouble with numbers. I don’t know whether I can read out part of them when I meet them somewhere.

I know there’re total different numeral systems between EN&CN. I even didn’t know how to translate the numeral before I wrote this lesson, for example “two million five hundred sixty seven thousand two hundred sixty two”, if you don’t give it in Arabic numeral “2,567,262” to me.

Usually we use the Arabic numeral in writing as well. But we have no commas between numbers in Chinese. We take 2,567,262 as 2567262.

How can we read out those numbers? Well, there is a sort cut to know it. I learned it at primary school. I don’t know how to descript perfectly. But I will try. We use decimal system (十进制). We have a principle to correct which number is thousand and which is hundred.

The ruler is:
← the larger --------------- the smaller →
……京-亿兆-千兆-万兆-百兆-十兆-兆-万亿-千亿-百亿-十亿-亿-千万-百万-十万-万-千-百-十-个

For example,

百万-十万-万-千-百-十-个
2-5-6-7-2-6-2
So， 2567262 is: 二百五十六万七千二百六十二 (2百5十6万7千2百6十2)

万-千-百-十-个
6-5-2-3-1
So，65231 is: 六万五千二百三十一

十-个
2-5
And, 25 is 二十五

We count the number form right to left. 个 (gè) means one digit numeral (from 1 to 9). 十means two digits numeral (from 10 to 99). 百 means three digits numeral (from 100 to 999)……

It’s all my faults if you don’t get it. I tried my best to explain it. I hope someone can complement it for us.

And I can easily to read the numeral in English after I wrote this lesson. Well, if there is thousand / million / billion / trillion, there will be a comma in Arabic numeral. And vice versa (反之亦然).

For example,
1,264,985 = one million two hundred sixty four thousand nine hundred eighty five

I have to do more practice to read more numerals. Caz I still can’t write the numeral immediately when I hear about it from somewhere. Well, practice makes perfect.

加油哦!


PS：

1. when you read 10-19 in Chinese, you can elide the 一(one) before 十(ten). You can say: 十 instead 一十，十二instead一十二，十三instead一十三…十九instead一十九.

2. when accountants hand writing receipts / invoices / cheques of payment, they usually use the traditional Chinese instead simple prevent someone else alter it. They have different look but pronounce the same.

Simple 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十
Traditional 壹 贰 叁 肆 伍 陆 柒 捌 玖 拾







Exercises：

1. Translate the numeral into Chinese

87946413
687893
49894
6564
1354
12
6

2. Translate the numeral into English

1,689,465,460
681,503,522
49,646,230
1,978,904
654,654
10,006
1,602
302