2021年经济学人 脸书封禁特朗普账号延长至2023年

The world this week

本周国际要闻

Business

商业版块

The approval granted by America’s Food and Drug Administration to a new drug to combat Alzheimer’s disease was hailed as a breakthrough, even though the FDA conceded that the drug, aducanumab (to be marketed as Aduhelm), is not proven to work. It has shown success in reducing the build-up in the brain of a protein known as beta-amyloid, one of the possible causes of Alzheimer’s. Biogen must now conduct a large-scale clinical trial to determine whether it does also slow memory loss and cognitive¹ decline.

美国食品和药物管理局（FDA）批准了一种治疗阿尔茨海默氏症的新药，尽管FDA承认这种阿杜卡努单抗（Aducanumab）药物还没有被证明有效，但它还是被誉为一项突破，该药物将以Aduhelm的名字上市。这种药物成功地阻断了大脑中β淀粉样蛋白的积累，β淀粉样蛋白可能是诱发老年痴呆症的病因之一。渤健现在必须进行大规模临床试验，以确定该药物是否也能减缓记忆丧失和认知衰退。

A consortium of private-equity² funds, which includes Blackstone, reached an agreement to take a majority stake in Medline, a privately³ held supplier of medical equipment. At $34bn the deal is one of the biggest ever buy-outs involving private equity.

一个由私募股权基金组成的财团（包括黑石集团在内）达成了一项协议，收购Medline的多数股权，Medline是一家私人持有的医疗设备供应商。这笔价值340亿美元的交易是迄今规模最大的私人股本收购交易之一。

The American Senate passed a mammoth⁴ bill that aims to counter China’s rising expertise⁵ in technology. The legislation would, among other things, fund research in artificial intelligence and quantum computing⁶ and support the American chip industry. The House of Representatives will soon debate its version of the bill. Separately, Joe Biden ordered a security review of all apps based in countries such as China.

美国参议院通过了一项大规模的法案，旨在对抗中国日益增长的技术专长。该法案将为人工智能和量子计算领域的研究提供资金，并支持美国芯片产业。众议院很快将对该法案进行辩论。另外，拜登下令对中国等国家的所有应用进行安全审查。

Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority said it was investigating British Airways⁷ and Ryanair to see if the airlines broke consumer law by offering vouchers⁸ or rebookings instead of refunds¹⁰ to passengers who were unable to fly during lockdowns. The practice is unpopular. In America complaints about airlines refusing to refund⁹ were up by 5,500% in 2020.

英国竞争和市场管理局表示，正在调查英国航空公司(British Airways)和瑞安航空公司(Ryanair)，以确定这两家航空公司是否违反了消费者法，向在封锁期间无法出行的乘客提供代金券或重新订票，而不是退款。这种做法并不受欢迎。在美国，关于航空公司拒绝退款的客户投诉在2020年激增了5500%。

Facebook extended its suspension of Donald Trump¹¹ for at least two years. As he is also permanently¹² banned from Twitter, the former president will not have access to the social-media channels for America’s mid-term elections. From now on Facebook will hold material from any politician in the world to the same standards it applies to content from regular users, but will grant a “newsworthiness allowance” to some political posts that breach¹³ those standards. Its policy change did little to assuage¹⁴ its critics.

Facebook将特朗普社交账号的封禁时间延长了至少两年。由于他的Twitter账号也被永久拉入黑名单，这位前总统将无法使用社交媒体渠道来参与讨论美国中期选举。从现在开始，Facebook将按照普通用户的标准来接收来自世界各地的政治家发布的内容，但会对一些违反这些标准的政治帖文给予“新闻价值补贴”。这一策略变化并没有安抚到批评者的情绪。

1 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

2 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

3 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

4 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

5 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

6 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

7 AIRWAYS   

航空公司

参考例句：

• The giant jets that increasingly dominate the world's airways. 越来越称雄于世界航线的巨型喷气机。
• At one point the company bought from Nippon Airways a 727 jet. 有一次公司从日本航空公司买了一架727型喷气机。

8 vouchers   

n.凭证( voucher的名词复数 )；证人；证件；收据

参考例句：

• These vouchers are redeemable against any future purchase. 这些优惠券将来购物均可使用。
• This time we were given free vouchers to spend the night in a nearby hotel. 这一次我们得到了在附近一家旅馆入住的免费券。 来自英语晨读30分（高二）

9 refund   

v.退还，偿还；n.归还，偿还额，退款

参考例句：

• They demand a refund on unsatisfactory goods.他们对不满意的货品要求退款。
• We'll refund your money if you aren't satisfied.你若不满意，我们愿意退款给你。

10 refunds   

n.归还，偿还额，退款( refund的名词复数 )v.归还，退还( refund的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Tomorrow he would return them to the store and claim refunds. 明天他要把它们退还给商店并要求退款。 来自辞典例句
• The new method means that taxpayers get refunds much faster. 这种新办法意味着纳税人可以较快地领到退还款。 来自辞典例句

11 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

12 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

13 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

14 assuage   

v.缓和，减轻，镇定

参考例句：

• The medicine is used to assuage pain.这种药用来止痛。
• Your messages of cheer should assuage her suffering.你带来的这些振奋人心的消息一定能减轻她的痛苦。