Unfortunately, they took up empire-building at precisely the moment when the costs of imperialism began to exceed the benefits.

不幸的是，他们开始扩张疆域的时间恰好处于帝国主义的成本开始大于其效益的这一节点。

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The dense timber was shipped around the world and used for such empire-building projects as lining the Suez Canal and, after world War II, for rebuilding London's Tilbury Docks.

密纹木材被运往全世界，用于修筑苏伊士运河这样的帝王建筑项目，以及在二战以后，用于建设伦敦的蒂尔·伯里码头。

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Sadly for the telecoms firms, bottom-fishing for distressed assets rarely worked, and investors vetoed empire-building deals involving mature assets that yielded few cost synergies.

可悲的电信公司，对那些贬值的资产抄底很少奏效，而投资者否决涉及到成熟资产的扩张交易，它们几乎不产生协同成本。

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The Empire State Building opened in nineteen thirty-one.

VOA: special.2009.05.22

The reasons vary, but empire-building by power-hungry bosses is implicated in many failed deals.

ECONOMIST: Sharing the limelight

For all its empire-building it has shown no great aptitude for running conventional businesses.

ECONOMIST: Business and politics in Taiwan

Compared with his Central Asian empire-building predecessor, Genghis Khan, Temur emerges as not without virtues.

ECONOMIST: Tamerlane: Lame but never halting | The