Accountants and auditors look at many different types of numbers to record the success or failure of a company but the two most important things are whether the company makes a profit or loss.
　　會計和審計員要看很多不同種類的數字以記錄公司的成敗，但其中最重要的兩項就是公司是在贏利還是在虧損。
　　There are two main types of profit: Gross profit and net profit.
　　贏利又分主要兩種：總利潤和純利潤。
　　Gross profit is a simple calculation of income minus the cost of the goods of services sold.
　　總利潤的計算很簡單，是指用總收入減去售出商品及服務的成本。
　　Net profit is income (also called revenue) less all of the company expenses. Net profit is the most important figure for working out if a company is healthy or not.
　　純利潤是用收入（也叫收益）減去所有公司支出。純利潤是衡量公司健康運做與否的一個最重要的數據。
　　The opposite of a profit is a loss. If a company spends more than it makes, you can say that it has made a loss.
　　與利潤相對的是虧損。如果公司花的比掙得多，你可以說它虧損。
　　Before investing in a company or buying share in a company listed on a stock exchange, it is vital that you find out about the company's operations. Take care to look at the gross and net profit figures for at least the last three years. A net profit margin of at least 10 percent is considered good.
　　在對一個公司進行投資或購買某個上市公司的股票之前，了解清楚這個公司的運作情況是非常重要的。要留心至少最近3年此公司總利潤和純利潤的情況。純利潤率值至少在10%，才被認為是好的。
　　Dialogue
　　Beth: Sally, do you have some batteries that I can borrow?
　　Sally: Sure, why do you need them?
　　Beth: I need my calculator to work out the profit from last month.
　　Sally: It is very important that you don't make mistakes when you are calculating those numbers so, take my calculator.
　　Beth: Thanks Sally. The senior managers need the results from last month straight away, so I can't stop to talk.
　　Sally: See you later Beth.
　　Sally: I will bring your calculator back as soon as I have finished with it.
　　Beth: No problem, just make sure the profits are right!
　　Sally: Don't worry so much - worrying is my job!
　　貝絲：薩利，我想借塊電池，你那兒有么？
　　薩利：沒問題，你為什么要電池呀？
　　貝絲：我要用計算器算從上月起的公司利潤。
　　薩利：你在算這些數的時候，千萬別出錯誤，這非常重要，就用我的吧。
　　貝絲：謝了，薩利，高級主管馬上就要上個月的結果，所以我不能跟你說話了。
　　薩利：一會兒見，貝絲。
　　紗麗：我一算完就把計算器還你。
　　貝絲：沒問題。只要保證利潤核算正確就好。
　　薩利：別太擔心了，擔心的應該是我