It comes on the back of major investments in our company in recent years.

My comments:

They have been interested in our company for years, and “this” comes now, following major investments in recent years.

It may be helpful to understand “back” as the backside of somebody, back against the front. As one moves forward, his backside follows in the same direction. “On the back”, hence, hints at “following something closely, or coming immediately after.”

It may also help to learn this together with the American phrase of “back to back”, which means one after another – one immediately following another, with no one else in between.

The Miami Heat, for example, won back to back championships in NBA basketball back in June. That means they won two consecutive titles, or two straight titles, two titles in a row.

To wit, they won in 2012 and again in 2013.

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本文僅代表作者本人觀點(diǎn)，與本網(wǎng)立場無關(guān)。歡迎大家討論學(xué)術(shù)問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發(fā)布一切違反國家現(xiàn)行法律法規(guī)的內(nèi)容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.