2020年经济学人 一周要闻 沃尔玛终止以机器人追踪库存 推特CEO将继续留任

The mayor of London reached a financial agreement with the British government that will keep the city’s transport system running for at least another six months. The revenue stream from London’s Tube and buses has dwindled¹ during the pandemic. The government had threatened to take direct control of the network. The mayor has agreed to some cost savings², but he will not have to extend the size of the capital’s congestion-charging zone outside the centre.

伦敦市长与英国政府达成了一项财政协议，该协议将使伦敦的交通系统至少再运行6个月。伦敦地铁和公共汽车的收入在疫情期间减少了。政府曾威胁要直接控制该交通系统。该市市长同意削减一些成本，而不必将首都拥堵收费区扩大至市中心以外。

More oil companies reported their earnings³, spotlighting⁴ the impact that falling oil prices and reduced demand are having on the industry’s bottom line. ExxonMobil posted its third consecutive⁵ quarterly net loss, this time of $680m. It plans to cut 15% of its global workforce⁶ next year. Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil company, made a net profit of $11.8bn, but that was 45% less than in the same three months last year. It still intends to pay out dividends⁷ totalling $18.8bn. Most of that will go to the Saudi government, which owns the vast bulk of Aramco’s shares.

更多的石油公司公布了财报，凸显出油价下跌和需求减少对行业利润的影响。埃克森美孚(ExxonMobil)公布了其连续第三个季度的净亏损，这次亏损金额为6.8亿美元。该公司计划明年在全球裁员15%。全球最大的石油公司沙特阿美石油公司(Saudi Aramco)净利润为118亿美元，但比去年同期下降了45%。该公司仍打算支付总计188亿美元的股息。其中大部分股息将归沙特政府所有，该政府持有沙特阿美大部分股份。

A committee of the board at Twitter that reviewed the company’s management structure “expressed its confidence” in the current arrangements, confirming that Jack⁸ Dorsey will remain chief executive. The committee was created after Elliott, an activist⁹ hedge fund, questioned Mr Dorsey’s commitment to his job. Twitter’s share price has risen sharply this year, rewarding Elliott and other investors¹⁰, though it was dented¹¹ recently by weak daily-user numbers.

Twitter董事会的一个委员会审查了该公司的管理结构，并对目前的人事安排“表示了信心”，确认杰克·多尔西将继续担任首席执行官。该委员会是在对冲基金埃利奥特质疑多尔西对工作的承诺后成立的。Twitter的股价今年大幅上涨，给埃利奥特和其他投资者带来了回报，尽管最近由于每日用户数量疲软而受到了影响。

Both Lufthansa and Air France-KLM reported another heavy quarterly loss. The German and French-Dutch airlines have received huge state bail-outs during the pandemic. Lufthansa said it would restructure its business further; Air France-klm is to curtail¹² its flight schedule for the rest of the year. Ryanair also made a loss as passenger numbers plummeted¹³. Michael O’Leary, its combative¹⁴ boss, blamed the first lockdowns in Europe earlier this year, which he said had “achieved nothing”, and lambasted the second lockdowns, many in force this week, which he thinks will achieve “even less”.

汉莎航空(Lufthansa)和法航荷航(Air France-KLM)都报告了另一个严重的季度亏损。德国和法荷航空公司在疫情期间接受了政府的巨额救助。汉莎航空表示将进一步重组其业务；法航荷航集团将缩减今年剩余时间的航班计划。瑞安航空也因乘客数量锐减而出现亏损。该公司好强的老板迈克尔·奥利里(Michael O’leary)指责今年早些时候欧洲的第一次封锁“毫无成效”，并痛斥了第二次封锁，其中很多封锁措施在本周实施，他认为这次封锁的“效果更差”。

Berlin Brandenburg Airport at last opened to passengers after a decade of delays, six missed openings and huge cost overruns. The airport’s inaugural¹⁵ arrival flights were operated by easyJet and Lufthansa. Even the opening had a hitch¹⁶. Bad weather stopped a planned parallel landing by the aircraft.

柏林勃兰登堡机场在经历了10年的延误、6次错过的开放以及巨额超支后，终于向乘客开放了。该机场的首批抵达航班由易捷航空(easyJet)和汉莎航空(Lufthansa)运营。甚至开幕仪式也出现了问题。恶劣天气导致原定的飞机平行降落的计划被打乱。

There was a sliver¹⁷ of hope for the human race this week, with the reported news that Walmart has scrapped¹⁸ plans to use robots to check stock levels, prices and misplaced items. The retailer¹⁹ will instead retain flesh-and-blood workers, who have been found to be just as adept²⁰ at those tasks during the pandemic.

本周，人类还有一线希望。有报道称，沃尔玛(Walmart)取消了使用机器人检查库存水平、价格和错位商品的计划。相反，这家零售商将保留有血有肉的员工，公司发现，员工在疫情期间同样擅长这些工作。

1 dwindled   

v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Support for the party has dwindled away to nothing. 支持这个党派的人渐渐化为乌有。
• His wealth dwindled to nothingness. 他的钱财化为乌有。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

3 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

4 spotlighting   

v.聚光照明( spotlight的现在分词 )；使公众注意，使突出醒目

参考例句：

5 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

6 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

7 dividends   

红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金

参考例句：

• Nothing pays richer dividends than magnanimity. 没有什么比宽宏大量更能得到厚报。
• Their decision five years ago to computerise the company is now paying dividends. 五年前他们作出的使公司电脑化的决定现在正产生出效益。

8 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

9 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

10 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

11 dented   

v.使产生凹痕( dent的过去式和过去分词 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等）

参考例句：

• The back of the car was badly dented in the collision. 汽车尾部被撞后严重凹陷。
• I'm afraid I've dented the car. 恐怕我把车子撞瘪了一些。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 curtail   

vt.截短，缩短；削减

参考例句：

• The government hopes to curtail public spending.政府希望缩减公共事业开支。
• The minister had to curtail his visit.部长不得不缩短访问日期。

13 plummeted   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Share prices plummeted to an all-time low. 股票价格暴跌到历史最低点。
• A plane plummeted to earth. 一架飞机一头栽向地面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 combative   

adj.好战的；好斗的

参考例句：

• Mr. Obama has recently adopted a more combative tone.奥巴马总统近来采取了一种更有战斗性的语调。
• She believes that women are at least as combative as are.她相信女性至少和男性一样好斗。

15 inaugural   

adj.就职的；n.就职典礼

参考例句：

• We listened to the President's inaugural speech on the radio yesterday.昨天我们通过无线电听了总统的就职演说。
• Professor Pearson gave the inaugural lecture in the new lecture theatre.皮尔逊教授在新的阶梯讲堂发表了启用演说。

16 hitch   

v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉

参考例句：

• They had an eighty-mile journey and decided to hitch hike.他们要走80英里的路程，最后决定搭便车。
• All the candidates are able to answer the questions without any hitch.所有报考者都能对答如流。

17 sliver   

n.裂片，细片，梳毛；v.纵切，切成长片，剖开

参考例句：

• There was only one sliver of light in the darkness.黑暗中只有一点零星的光亮。
• Then,one night,Monica saw a thin sliver of the moon reappear.之后的一天晚上，莫尼卡看到了一个月牙。

18 scrapped   

废弃(scrap的过去式与过去分词)； 打架

参考例句：

• This machine is so old that it will soon have to be scrapped. 这架机器太旧，快报废了。
• It had been thought that passport controls would be scrapped. 人们曾认为会放开护照管制。

19 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

20 adept   

adj.老练的，精通的

参考例句：

• When it comes to photography,I'm not an adept.要说照相，我不是内行。
• He was highly adept at avoiding trouble.他十分善于避开麻烦。