跟读练习: The Rise And Fall Of Forever 21 | Rise And Fall | Business Insider - 通过YouTube学习英语口语
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Forever 21 was once among America's fastest-growing fast-fashion retailers.
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Forever 21 was once among America's fastest-growing fast-fashion retailers.
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It transformed its once penniless founders into billionaires, established itself as a powerhouse in the fast-fashion world, and, at its peak, made $4.4 billion in revenue.
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But the once flush company is now preparing to file for bankruptcy.
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So, what happened?
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Back in the day, Forever 21 embodied the American dream.
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In 1981, Jin Sook and Do Won "Don" Chang moved to Los Angeles from South Korea with no money, no college degrees, and speaking little English.
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To make ends meet, Jin Sook worked as a hairdresser while Don worked as a janitor, pumped gas, and served coffee.
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Until he noticed that "the people who drove the nicest cars were all in the garment business." So three years later, with $11,000 in savings, the Changs opened a 900-square-foot clothing store called Fashion 21.
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The couple took advantage of wholesale closeouts to buy merchandise from manufacturers at a discount.
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Their system worked.
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The store made $700,000 in sales its first year.
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Fashion 21 was initially only popular with LA's Korean American community.
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But the Changs leveraged their success, opening new stores every six months, which broadened the company's customer base at the same time.
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They also changed the name to Forever 21 to emphasize the idea that it was "for anyone who wants to be trendy, fresh and young in spirit." The company's key to success was simple: cultivate a huge following by selling trendy clothing for low prices.
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While this is something that today's consumers pretty much expect, Forever 21 was one of the first to do it.
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And they were the fastest.
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Jin Sook was eventually approving over 400 designs a day.
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Which meant the company could sell trends as they were happening.
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Even if some of those designs landed Forever 21 in trouble.
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But while other brands and designers might not have been Forever 21's biggest fans, customers couldn't get enough of their affordable styles.
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As a result, Forever 21 became one of the largest tenants of American malls, with 480 locations nationwide.
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And by 2015, business was booming.
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Forever 21's sales peaked, with $4.4 billion in global sales that year.
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As for the Changs?
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They became one of America's wealthiest couples, with a combined net worth reaching an estimated $5.9 billion in March 2015.
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Forever 21's goal was to become an $8 billion company by 2017 and open 600 new stores in three years.
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But the company's aggressive expansion would also lead to its downfall.
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Part of what made Forever 21 popular in the first place was its fast-fashion model.
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Even though its products were always mass-produced, they still felt unique because its stores only sold select styles for a limited time.
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However, as the company focused on growing bigger, its styles became more "cookie-cutter." As a result, Forever 21 started to lose touch with its core customers, while competitors like H&M and Zara rose.
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No longer the trendsetter, Forever 21 became the butt of the joke.
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It's also no longer the fastest in the game.
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Internet brands like Fashion Nova churn out celebrity- and influencer-inspired styles at a rapid-fire pace.
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And as e-commerce has continued to boom, traditional retailers like Forever 21 have struggled to adapt to changing consumer behaviors.
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According to a March 2019 survey, millennials make 60% of their purchases online and overall prefer online shopping over going to a physical store.
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Yet, Forever 21 continued opening new stores as recently as 2016, even expanding existing stores to take over multiple floors with mens, childrens, and home-goods sections.
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Which could help explain why Forever 21's sales are estimated to have dropped by 20% to 25% in 2018.
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On top of that, the Changs, who still own the company, have lost more than $4 billion from their personal net worths.
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The company overall is now $500 million in debt and considering filing for bankruptcy.
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Forever 21 has already started downsizing its stores.
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And as one of the largest tenants of America's malls, a widespread shutdown of Forever 21 could exacerbate what's already being referred to as the "retail apocalypse," which has already closed more than 15,000 retailers across the US and could shut down 75,000 more, according to investment firm UBS.
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But bankruptcy doesn't always mean the end for a company.
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In fact, it could give Forever 21 time to restructure and bounce back.
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The company could shut down its least profitable stores and try rebranding itself.
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But in an age of cheap internet boutiques and fast-fashion empires, this might not be enough.
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So it turns out Forever 21 might not be forever after all.
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为什么要通过这个视频练习口语？
通过观看和练习本视频，学习者可以在轻松的环境中提高自己的口语能力。视频中展示的故事不仅引人入胜，还涉及个人奋斗与商业成功的主题，适合用作讨论或角色扮演。通过模仿视频中的发音和语调，学习者可以提高自己的口语流利度，掌握日常对话中常用的表达方式。此种方式被称为“shadowspeak”或“shadow speak”，是提升口语技巧的有效方式。
语法与表达的背景分析
在视频中，讲者使用了几个关键的语法结构和表达，帮助强化信息的传递：
- 被动语态：例如，“Forever 21 已经开始缩减其门店”，通过这种结构，可以突出公司的行为而不是执行者。
- 过去完成时：如“他们在2015年达到了销售峰值”，这种时态帮助阐明事件发生的先后关系。
- 条件句：如“如果公司关闭最不盈利的店铺，可能会恢复经营”，这种句型强调了因果关系，帮助学习者掌握条件句的用法。
这些语法结构的使用，有助于学习者理解复杂句子的构造，并为他们在实际对话中应用提供了良好的示范。
常见发音陷阱
在这个视频中，有几个词汇和重音可能会让学习者感到挑战：
- “bankruptcy”：这个词发音较为复杂，音节分为三部分，应注意重音放在第一个音节上。
- “expansion”：注意在发音时，前两个音节需要拉长，常常使非母语者误读为“expantion”。
- “retail apocalypse”：在这个短语中，“apocalypse”的重音在第二个音节，声调上升和下降的变化是关键。
这些发音练习可以通过“看YouTube学英语”的方式进行，有助于学习者在影像的帮助下更好地掌握重音和连读。
什么是跟读法？
跟读法 (Shadowing) 是一种有科学依据的语言学习技巧，最初开发用于专业口译员的培训，并由多语言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。这个方法简单而强大：您在听英语母语原声的同时立即大声重复——就像是一个延迟1-2秒紧跟说话者的影子。与被动听力或语法练习不同，跟读法强迫您的大脑和口腔肌肉同时处理并模仿真实的讲话模式。研究表明它能显着提高发音准确性，语调，节奏，连读，听力理解和口语流利度——使其成为雅思口语备考和真实英语交流最有效的方法之一。