before we do the case,

了解一些背景知识是有益的
and I'm going to descend to the audience and take in the lecture.

那我就坐到观众席中来听你讲课
Lecture!?

讲课
Well--anyway--

好吧
well Enron, like a number of other firms,

安然和许多其他公司一样
got very involved in commodities and commodity financing,

涉足期货和期货融资
and commodity contracts.

以及商品合同
If you're the typical commodity small producer--

如果你是典型的小商品生产商
often times over leveraged, hand to mouth existence,

生意仅够糊口
really can't take a big flying leap

不可能有大的飞跃
and then hope to make a lot of money--

于是人们期望能赚很多钱
what you typically start to do is,

你要开始做的事情是