Paraphrasing (Briefing)
Main idea of the passage：
With the stock prices tumbling and returns shrinking, investors are deserting the funds and the mutual-fund industry is experiencing a difficult time. Looking into it, one can find out that several factors contribute to the situation the industry is facing: a crucial one being that while trying to increase the sales of funds, the mutual-fund companies neglected and even damaged the core of the business, that is, the industry should produce superior returns at low cost while protecting the investors from untoward risk, they judge their performance in relative rather than absolute terms. In the situation, bigger companies are faring even worse because of their high operating costs, their defective business model, their act of charging investors royally, and the competition from successful small companies. To restore their fortunes, it is suggested that the industry should buy portfolio management from specialists to boost their sickly performance; diversify into other business like hedge funds, separate accounts for affluent households and individual retirement accounts, develop new business like exchange-trade funds, etc
随着股票价格的暴跌和收益的锐减，投资者弃基金而去，共同基金行业陷入危机。细看一下，人们可以发现有诸多因素造成了共同基金行业目前所面临的局面：一个极其重要的因素是，在试图增加基金的销售时共同基金公司忽略甚至损害了其自身业务的根本核心：基金公司应以较低的成本产生可观的收益并避免不必要的风险；基金公司衡量业绩时使用相对的概念，而不是按绝对值的增长来衡量。在这种形势下，由于其较高的运营成本、有缺陷的运营模式、向投资者收取高额费用的行为、以及来自较小但成功运营的公司的竞争，较大的共同基金公司度日更加艰难。要找回客户、找回财富，文章建议共同基金行业向投资组合专家购买服务以提升他们糟糕的业绩，转入其它如对冲基金、为富裕家庭开立分立账户和个人退休金账户等业务，开发新的如通过交易所交易的基金等业务。
Structure of the passage：
The passage can be divided into five parts, the first three paragraphs being the first part, paragraph 4 to paragraph 6 being the second part, paragraph 7 to paragraph 10 the third part, paragraph 11 to paragraph 16 the fourth part, and paragraph 17 the last part.
The first part serves as the introduction – the U.S. mutual-fund industry rode a decade-long bull market and a booming retirement business by the end of 2000. Since then, the industry has been in free fall: investors like Marilyn Male saw their earnings shrink, and more than half of all U.S. fund companies saw more money head out the door than come in. Even more pain awaits the big mutual fund companies, as a corps of smaller, low-cost funds with smart managers and decent returns starts to compete head-on with them.
The second part tells the reader why the mutual-fund industry is in a mess – investors deserting their fund -- while building a huge machine to muscle into every brokerage office and onto every household computer screen, the companies neglect and even damaged the very core of its business: investors’ belief that the funds could produce superior returns at low cost while protecting them from untoward risk. In addition, mutual-fund managers and other investment pros such as pension-fund managers judge their performance in relative terms while most ordinary investors want to see their wealth expand in absolute terms.
The third part tells the reader the difficulties the big mutual-fund companies are experiencing – competition from small companies with successful managers, who are drawing business from institutional investors such as pension funds; their own act of charging investors royally for lackluster results which compel investors to desert them; their business model which has serious chinks, and high operating costs including the hefty paychecks to many fund execs.
The fourth part offers some suggestions for mutual-fund companies – e.g. coming to terms with the reality of huge marketing machines and rather indifferent money managers and buying portfolio management from specialists to boost their sickly performance; diversifying into other business like hedge funds, separate accounts for affluent households and individual retirement accounts, and developing new business like exchange-trade funds, etc.
The last part serves as a conclusion – to restore their fortunes, mutual-fund companies should make it its top priority to enrich their clients.
