经济学人:一周商业要闻8

 　　Business this week. 一周商业要闻

　　It was a big week for the mobile phone industry, with the announcement of two long mooted¹ deals. 对移动电话行业来说这周很重要，这周公布了两个酝酿已久的交易。

　　In the first, and after years of talks, Verizon agreed to buy the 45% stake held by Vodafone in Verizon Wireless², the pair's joint³ venture in America, for $130 billion. 第一起交易，经过多年的谈判，Verizon公司同意收购沃达丰在美国的合资公司Verizon无线45%的股份，价值130亿美元。

　　It is the third biggest business transaction yet seen( behind Vodafone's own purchase of Mannesmann and the merger⁴ of AOL and Time Warner) and will reap $ 5 billion for the American taxman. 这是迄今为止的第三大交易（仅次于沃达丰自己对曼内斯曼的收购以及AOL和时代华纳的并购），美国会从中收取50亿美元的交易税。

　　Vodafone's investors⁵ will also benefit, from an $84 billion payout in cash and shares. 沃达丰的投资者也会从840亿美元支出的现金和股份中受益。

　　In the second big deal of the week Microsoft beefed up its business in mobile devices and services by agreeing to pay euro 3.8 billion( $ 5 billion) for Nokia's handset division, which makes smartphones based on Windows. 本周第二起交易是微软加强了其移动设备和服务业务，同意支付38亿欧元（约合50亿美元）购买诺基亚生产基于Windows系统智能手机的手机部门。

　　Nokia had tried various turnaround plans to tackle its shrivelling market share. 诺基亚尝试了各种周转计划解决其日益萎缩的市场份额。

　　It will still exist, focusing on networks and mapping, but 32,000 of its staff now work for Microsoft, including Stephen Elop, who was its chief executive. 诺基亚仍然还会存在，专注于网络和地图，但是包括其首席执行官史蒂芬埃洛普在内的32000名员工现在为微软工作。

　　He is now a candidate to replace Steve Ballmer when he steps down as Microsoft's boss. 埃洛普现在是鲍尔默下台后接替其职务的候选人之一。

　　Samsung unveiled its first smartwatch, the Galaxy⁶ Gear, beating Apple in bringing the first significant wearable device to market. 三星发布了其第一款智能手表the Galaxy Gear，击败苹果上市了第一款重要的可穿戴设备。

　　The watch will cost $300 and can only link to Galaxy phones and tablets; other new smartwatches will work with lots of Android products. 这款手表售价300美元，只能连接Galaxy手机和平板，其他的新智能手表将会支持大量安卓产品。

　　It is still unclear how much demand there is from consumers for the gadgets⁷. 目前还不清楚消费者对这款设备的需求程度。

　　LinkedIn said it would issue new stock in a secondary offering, through which it should raise $ 1 billion. LinkedIn表示，将进行第二次公开募股发行新股票，预计能筹集10亿美元。

　　The social network for professionals has seen its share price rise by 200% since its IPO in 2011. 自2011年上市以来，这家专业人士社交网站的股价已经上涨了200%。

　　Time Warner Cable ended its blackout of CBS channels in several American cities, including New York, after the two sides resolved a dispute over rights. 时代华纳有线在包括纽约在内的多个美国城市结束了其对CBS频道的封杀，此前，双方在版权上存在争端。

　　Like other broadcast networks CBS is keen to retain the ability to develop business in the future with blossoming internet streaming services,  such as Netflix, over the heads of the longer established cable providers. CBS与其他广播电视网，比如Netflix一样热衷于绕过建立已久的有线供应商，保留未来发展繁荣的互联网流媒体服务业务的能力。

　　The European Commission turned its sights on money market funds, with proposals that would require funds guaranteeing a stable share price to build up capital buffers⁸. 欧盟委员会将目光投向货币市场基金，出台了提议要求各基金保证稳定的股票价格，从而建立资本缓冲。

　　American regulators are also eyeing similar restrictions⁹. 美国监管机构也盯上了类似的限制。

　　Standard & Poor's upped the ante in its legal fight with the American government when it asserted that it is being sued in" retaliation¹⁰" for exercising its right to" free speech" in downgrading's America AAA credit rating. 标准普尔增强了其与美国政府的法律斗争。标普坚持认为在行使其将美国的AAA评级下调的言论自由权后得到了美国政府的报复性起诉。

　　S & P made the claim in court papers it filed defending itself against the lawsuit¹¹, which alleges¹² that S & P gave sound ratings to bad mortgage products to keep its clients in the banking¹³ industry happy. 标普在自我辩护的法庭文件中提出这一观点，美国政府起诉其给予不良抵押贷款良好的评级，以此取悦其银行业的客户。

　　Bank of America decided¹⁴ to sell its remaining 1% stake in China Construction Bank, which should fetch around $1.5 billion. 美国银行决定出售其在中国建设银行拥有的1%的股份，市值约为15亿美元。

　　Many big American banks bought stakes in Chinese state banks several years ago, and have been cashing in their lucrative¹⁵ holdings. 许多美国大银行几年前从中国国有银行购买了股份，并从中赚取了现金。

　　BofA paid $ 3 billion for an initial 10% stake in CCB. 美国银行花费30亿美元购买了中国建设银行10%的初始股份。

　　The OECD revised its growth forecasts to reflect a moderately better outlook in rich countries and the" widespread loss of momentum¹⁶" in emerging markets. 经济合作与发展组织修订了其增长预测，以反映富裕国家更好的前景和新兴市场广泛的动力不足。

　　It now expects output in America, Japan and Germany to expand by 2.5% at an annualised rate in the third and fourth quarters's. 现在该组织预测美国，日本和德国三四季度的GDP按年利率计算会增长2.5%。

　　Britain GDP is projected to grow by 1.5% this year, 0.7 percentage points higher than the OECD's previous estimate. 英国的GDP今年预计将增长1.5%，比该组织的预测高0.7%。

　　The latest raft of purchasing manager surveys suggested that manufacturing in America and the euro zone is growing at the fastest pace in over two years. 最新的大量采购经理调查表明美国和欧元区的制造业现在以两年多来最快的速度增长。

　　Britain's services industry, meanwhile, grew at the quickest rate in six years. 同时，英国的服务业迎来了六年来最快的增速。

　　Ryanair's share price fell sharply after it issued a surprise profit warning amid a price cutting war among Europe's budget airlines. Ryanair在欧洲廉价航空公司价格战后发布了一个令人惊讶的利润警告，使得其股价大幅下跌。

　　The carrier said sales were weak during the summer and bookings are down for this autumn. 该航空公司表示夏季的销售疲软，今秋的预定额也下降了。

　　Yankee Candle, which is based in Massachusetts, was bought by Jarden, a consumer products company that owns a wide range of brands in a $1.8 billion deal. 总部设在美国马萨诸塞州的扬基蜡烛被贾登收购。贾登是一家拥有交易额达18亿美元的广泛品牌的消费产品公司。

　　The firm started in 1969 when its teenage founder¹⁷ made a Christmas gift for his mother. 扬基蜡烛成立于1969年，十几岁的创始人做了一个圣诞礼物送给她的母亲。

　　According to its" Learning Scentre", it now produces 200m aromatic¹⁸ candles a year and is expanding in Europe. 根据其说法，现在每年生产200米的芳香蜡烛，在欧洲呈扩张趋势。

　　The annual Global Competitiveness index placed Switzerland in the top spot for the fifth consecutive¹⁹ year, followed by Singapore, Finland and Germany. 瑞士连续五年荣登全球竞争力指数榜首宝座，紧随其后的是新加坡，芬兰和德国。

　　America reversed a four year decline to climb to fifth place and Britain fell to tenth. 美国扭转了连续四年的下跌攀升至第五位，英国下降至第十名。

　　Among the BRICs, China came in at 29th, Brazil at 56th, India at 60th and Russia 64th. 金砖四国中，中国位列29名，巴西位列56名，印度位列60名，俄罗斯位列64名。

　　Greece was 91st, behind Iran and Moldova, but ahead of Serbia and Libya. 希腊在伊朗和摩尔多瓦之后，位列第91名，但是领先于塞维利亚和利比亚。

1 mooted   

adj.未决定的，有争议的，有疑问的v.提出…供讨论( moot的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The is sue was mooted on the Senate floor. 该问题在参院被提出讨论。 来自辞典例句
• The question mooted in the board meeting is still a moot point. 那个在董事会上（提出讨论）的问题仍（未决的）。 来自互联网

2 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

3 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

4 merger   

n.企业合并，并吞

参考例句：

• Acceptance of the offer is the first step to a merger.对这项提议的赞同是合并的第一步。
• Shareholders will be voting on the merger of the companies.股东们将投票表决公司合并问题。

5 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

6 galaxy   

n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物)

参考例句：

• The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
• The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。

7 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

8 buffers   

起缓冲作用的人（或物）( buffer的名词复数 )； 缓冲器； 减震器； 愚蠢老头

参考例句：

• To allocate and schedule the use of buffers. 分配和计划缓冲器的使用。
• Number of times the stream has paused due to insufficient stream buffers. 由于流缓冲区不足导致流程暂停的次数。

9 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

10 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

12 alleges   

断言，宣称，辩解( allege的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The newspaper article alleges that the mayor is corrupt. 报纸上断言该市长腐败。
• Steven was tardy this morning and alleges that his bus was late. 史提芬今天早上迟到的说词是公车误点了。

13 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

14 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。

15 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

16 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

17 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。

18 aromatic   

adj.芳香的，有香味的

参考例句：

• It has an agreeable aromatic smell.它有一种好闻的香味。
• It is light,fruity aromatic and a perfect choice for ending a meal.它是口感轻淡，圆润，芳香的，用于结束一顿饭完美的选择。

19 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。