which gave them capital gains treatment;

会让他们获得资本利得优惠待遇
so, they needed to get a bunch of money.

因此他们需要一大笔钱
The way they thought about getting some money was to

而他们获取这笔钱的方式是
sell one of their big assets;

卖出大量资产
the asset they chose to sell was their railroads

他们选择卖出的资产有铁路
and barge lines and ore boats on the Great Lakes.

驳船线路以及五大湖中的矿船
To make steel, for those of you who have never done it,

炼钢可能在座没人做过这事
it's a lot like cooking.

很像烹饪
You need a variety of different ingredients and the ingredients,

你需要多种不同的配料而这些配料
instead of just being carried into your house in a shopping bag,

你装在袋子里就可以带回家的
come in on a railroad because they're iron ore, and coke,

铁矿石则需要用铁路运输
and all these really heavy things.

都是些很重的东西