2021年经济学人 美国多位富豪花式避税记录遭曝光

El Salvador became the first country to accept bitcoin as legal tender, meaning that businesses will be compelled to accept it as payment along with the American dollar, the official currency. The government hopes the cryptocurrency will appeal to the 70% of the population without access to a bank account.

萨尔瓦多成为首个接受比特币作为法定货币的国家，这意味着企业将被迫接受比特币与官方货币美元一起作为支付方式。政府希望这种加密货币能够吸引70%没有银行账户的人群。

Meanwhile, America’s Justice Department recovered most of the ransom¹ paid in bitcoin to Russian hackers² who had shut down a major pipeline³. The fbi was able to seize the payment by tracking the bitcoin address used by the gang. It also emerged that JBS, the world’s biggest meat-processor, paid $11m in bitcoin to cyber-criminals after they disrupted its plants.

与此同时，美国司法部追回了大部分支付给俄罗斯黑客的比特币赎金，这些黑客曾导致一条主要的输油管道关闭。联邦调查局通过追踪该团伙使用的比特币地址，没收了这笔款项。还有消息称，全球最大的肉类加工企业JBS在被网络犯罪分子破坏了工厂后，向对方支付了1100万美元的比特币。

The Keystone XL pipeline was officially scrapped⁴ following Joe Biden’s decision not to grant it a permit to cross American territory. The project, opposed for years by greens and Native American groups, would have carried oil from Alberta’s tar⁵ sands.

在拜登决定不授予过境美国的许可证后，Keystone XL管道正式被取消。该项目多年来一直遭到环保组织和美国原住民团体的反对，该项目原本要从艾伯塔省的油砂中提取石油。

Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder⁶, is focusing on his long-standing passion for spaceflight. He and his brother will be among the first people to fly with Blue Origin, a rocketry company he founded in 2000, when it makes its first flight with crew to 100km above Earth’s surface on July 20th. Mr Bezos is stepping down as Amazon’s chief executive on July 5th.

亚马逊创始人杰夫·贝佐斯(Jeff Bezos)正专注于他对太空旅行持之以恒的热情中。他和他的弟弟将成为搭乘蓝色起源(Blue Origin)火箭升空的首批乘客之一。蓝色起源是他在2000年创立的一家火箭公司。7月20日，该公司将首次将乘客送入距地球表面100公里的高空。贝佐斯将于7月5日辞去亚马逊首席执行官一职。

Mr Bezos may well want to escape the blue planet for a while, after revelations by ProPublica, a collection of investigative journalists, that he and the 24 other richest Americans pay little or no federal income tax. Between 2014 and 2018 this ultra-rich group, which also includes Elon Musk⁷ and Mark Zuckerberg, paid $13.6bn in federal tax, amounting to an average tax rate of just 3.4%, according to ProPublica. For Mr Bezos it was 0.98%. The Internal Revenue Service is investigating how ProPublica got hold of data on thousands of America’s wealthiest people.

在ProPublica披露他和其他24位最富有的美国人缴纳的联邦所得税很少或根本不缴纳之后，贝佐斯很可能想暂时逃离地球，ProPublica是一家由记者构成的团队。ProPublica的数据显示，2014年至2018年间，包括埃隆·马斯克和马克·扎克伯格在内的这些超级富豪缴纳了136亿美元的联邦税，平均税率仅为3.4%。贝佐斯则是0.98%。美国国税局(Internal Revenue Service)正在调查ProPublica如何获得数千名美国最富有人士的（纳税）数据。

1 ransom   

n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救

参考例句：

• We'd better arrange the ransom right away.我们最好马上把索取赎金的事安排好。
• The kidnappers exacted a ransom of 10000 from the family.绑架者向这家人家勒索10000英镑的赎金。

2 hackers   

n.计算机迷( hacker的名词复数 )；私自存取或篡改电脑资料者，电脑“黑客”

参考例句：

• They think of viruses that infect an organization from the outside.They envision hackers breaking into their information vaults. 他们考虑来自外部的感染公司的病毒，他们设想黑客侵入到信息宝库中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Arranging a meeting with the hackers took weeks againoff-again email exchanges. 通过几星期电子邮件往来安排见面，他们最终同意了。 来自互联网

3 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

4 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。

5 tar   

n.柏油，焦油；vt.涂或浇柏油/焦油于

参考例句：

• The roof was covered with tar.屋顶涂抹了一层沥青。
• We use tar to make roads.我们用沥青铺路。

6 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

7 musk   

n.麝香, 能发出麝香的各种各样的植物，香猫

参考例句：

• Musk is used for perfume and stimulant.麝香可以用作香料和兴奋剂。
• She scented her clothes with musk.她用麝香使衣服充满了香味。