2021年经济学人 三星电子对其高级管理团队进行重组

The world this week -- Business

本周国际要闻——商业

Samsung Electronics overhauled¹ its senior management team and is to merge² its smartphone business with its hitherto separate and wider consumer-electronics division.

三星电子对其高级管理团队进行了重组，并即将把智能手机业务与此前一直独立的业务更加广泛的消费电子部门合并。

Combining the two will boost Samsung’s ability to provide customers with joined-up services across devices, similar to Apple.

这两个部门的合并将提高三星为客户提供跨设备连接服务的能力，类似于苹果。

Concern grew about the Russian state’s intentions for social media when a complex set of deals involving subsidiaries linked to Gazprom gave the state-owned gas company voting control of VKontakte, Russia’s largest social network.

俄罗斯天然气工业股份公司关联子公司参与了一系列复杂交易，使这家国有天然气公司获得了俄罗斯最大社交网络VKontakte的投票权，这让人们对俄罗斯政府意图掌控社交媒体的担忧与日俱增。

Its chief executive stepped down.

VKontakte的首席执行官已下台。

Russian media speculated that his replacement³ might be a senior executive at the state telecoms group, who is also the son of Vladimir Putin’s deputy chief of staff.

俄罗斯媒体猜测，接替他的可能是这家国有电信集团的一名高管，此人也是弗拉基米尔·普京副幕僚长的儿子。

Faced with an annual inflation rate running close to 11%, Brazil’s central bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the seventh time in 2021, by a hefty 1.5 percentage points to 9.25%, and indicated there will be more to come in 2022.

面对接近11%的年通胀率，巴西央行在2021年第七次上调基准利率，大幅上调1.5个百分点，至9.25%，并表示2022年还会进一步上调。

Productivity among American workers in the third quarter declined by 5.2% from the previous quarter (on an annualised basis), the steepest such fall since 1960.

第三季度美国工人的生产率比上一季度下降了5.2%（按年率计算），这是自1960年以来的最大降幅。

The number of hours worked rose by 7.4%, far outpacing a 1.8% jump in output.

工作时间增加了7.4%，远远超过了1.8%的产出增幅。

The supply-chain crunch⁴ may have been a factor.

供应链短缺可能是一个因素。

The takeover of Arm, a British chip designer, by Nvidia, an American company which designs and sells computer chips, came closer to collapse⁵.

设计和销售计算机芯片的美国公司Nvidia对英国芯片设计公司ARM的收购濒临瓦解。

America’s Federal Trade Commission sued to block the deal, arguing that it will harm competition.

美国联邦贸易委员会提起诉讼，要求阻止这笔交易，理由是这将会损害竞争。

British and EU regulators are also investigating the takeover, though the EU has paused its inquiry⁶.

英国和欧盟监管机构也在调查这项收购，尽管欧盟已经暂停了调查。

The takeover was announced more than a year ago.

这项收购是在一年多前宣布的。

Uber’s business in London took another knock when the High Court ruled that it cannot act as the agent between the passenger and driver, meaning Uber, and not the driver, is liable for any mishaps⁷ affecting car journeys.

当高等法院裁定优步不能充当乘客和司机之间的代理人时，优步在伦敦的业务再次受到打击，这意味着要对任何影响汽车行驶的事故负责的是优步，而不是司机。

Uber had sought a clarification of the law after the British Supreme⁸ Court decided⁹ in February that its drivers are workers, not contractors¹⁰.

在英国最高法院2月份裁定优步司机是员工，而不是承包商后，优步曾寻求对这一法律的详细解释说明。

This week’s ruling will apply to all private-hire car firms in the capital.

本周的裁决将适用于首都所有的私人租车公司。

London is one of Uber’s biggest urban markets.

伦敦是优步最大的城市市场之一。

A report from Inrix, a trans port analytics firm, found that London had become the world’s most congested city, with motorists spending an average of 148 hours in traffic jams during 2021.

交通分析公司Inrix的一份报告发现，伦敦已成为世界上最拥堵的城市，2021年驾驶员平均花费148小时在交通堵塞上。

The report (which omits cities such as Cairo and Lagos where Inrix lacks data) said that congestion¹¹ in London was almost back to pre-pandemic levels, even though trips to central London were still down on those of 2019.

这份报告（不包括开罗和拉各斯等Inrix缺乏数据的城市）显示，伦敦的拥堵状况几乎回到了疫情前的水平，尽管前往伦敦市中心的行程数量仍低于2019年的水平。

In New York the overall number of hours lost to traffic delays was 27% below those of 2019 and in Los Angeles, 40%.

在纽约，因交通延误而造成的时间损失比2019年减少了27%，洛杉矶减少了40%。

In Paris it was 15%.

在巴黎，这一数字为15%。

1 overhauled   

v.彻底检查( overhaul的过去式和过去分词 )；大修；赶上；超越

参考例句：

• Within a year the party had drastically overhauled its structure. 一年内这个政党已大刀阔斧地整顿了结构。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A mechanic overhauled the car's motor with some new parts. 一个修理工对那辆汽车的发动机进行了彻底的检修，换了一些新部件。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 merge   

v.(使)结合，(使)合并，(使)合为一体

参考例句：

• I can merge my two small businesses into a large one.我可以将我的两家小商店合并为一家大商行。
• The directors have decided to merge the two small firms together.董事们已决定把这两家小商号归并起来。

3 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

4 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

5 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

6 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

7 mishaps   

n.轻微的事故，小的意外( mishap的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a series of mishaps 一连串的倒霉事
• In spite of one or two minor mishaps everything was going swimmingly. 尽管遇到了一两件小小的不幸，一切都进行得很顺利。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 congestion   

n.阻塞，消化不良

参考例句：

• The congestion in the city gets even worse during the summer.夏天城市交通阻塞尤为严重。
• Parking near the school causes severe traffic congestion.在学校附近泊车会引起严重的交通堵塞。