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。
2
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.
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.