He has asked contractors to cut costs by 30% after profits fell by 14% last year, the first drop in seven years.

在去年利润下降14%后（这是七年来首次下降），他已要求合约部门同事将成本降低30%。

youdao

You first drop the tables, if they exist, so that you can cleanly create new tables with the exact column definitions you need.

如果存在的话，首先放弃这些表，以便您可以用所需的正确的列定义创建新表。

youdao

Orders for capital goods, excluding aircraft and defence, fell by 5.1% in October, the first drop in six months.

10月份，资本物品(除去航空和防务)的订单下跌5.1%，这是近六个月以来的首次下跌。

youdao

The Labor Department says first-time claims for jobless benefits took an unexpected drop last week, to the lowest number since 2009 began, and 20 percent lower than at its peak earlier in the year.

VOA: standard.2009.11.12

But in fact the ball was in play after the first drop - so he incurred a two-shot penalty, leading to the horrendous sextuple-bogey.

BBC: SPORT | Golf | England's Raitt shares SAA lead

Wilkinson missed his first two attempts at goal and a first-half drop-goal but produced the goods when it really mattered in the final few minutes.

BBC: Laporte proud despite France loss

Last November the company suffered its first drop in same-store sales in 10 years.

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