2022年经济学人 当Meta宣布裁员1.1万人

The world this week--Business

本周国际要闻--商业

Meta laid off 11,000 employees, or 13% of its workforce¹, amid falling revenues from advertising² and e-commerce.

在广告活动和电子商务收入下降的情况下，Meta解雇了1.1万名员工，占员工总数的13%。

The parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp is also considering other cost-cutting measures, and suggested it would close offices.

Facebook、Instagram和WhatsApp的母公司Meta也在考虑其他削减成本的措施，并表示将会关闭办公室。

In a separate filing it said it expects losses to grow significantly next year at its Reality Labs division, at a time when investors³ are already frustrated⁴ with Meta’s focus on creating a metaverse at the expense of the rest of the business.

在另一份文档中，Meta表示，预计其Reality Labs部门明年的亏损将大幅增长，目前投资者已经对该公司以牺牲其他业务为代价专注于创建元宇宙（metaverse）感到失望。

Mark Zuckerberg said he took full responsibility.

扎克伯格表示，他将承担全部责任。

The company’s market value is now around $270bn, down from $1trn in September 2021.

该公司目前的市值约为2700亿美元，低于2021年9月的1万亿美元。

Meta was not the only big tech company to announce job cuts.

Meta并不是唯一一家宣布裁员的大型科技公司。

Stripe, an online payments firm, is letting go of 14% of its workforce, and Lyft, a ride-hailing company, of 13%.

在线支付公司Stripe将裁员14%，网约车公司Lyft将裁员13%。

Amazon has introduced a freeze on hiring for its corporate⁵ jobs.

亚马逊已经冻结了企业职位招聘。

Twitter laid off half its staff following Elon Musk’s takeover, though it has reportedly asked some of them to come back.

推特在被埃隆·马斯克收购后，解雇了一半的员工，尽管有报道称，推特已经邀请一些员工返岗。

More than 12m people signed up to Disney+ in the three months to October 1st, taking the total number of subscribers to 164m.

在截至10月1日的三个月内，超过1200万人注册了迪士尼+，使其用户总数达到1.64亿。

That is a faster rate of growth in users than at Netflix, though Netflix has 223m subscribers.

尽管网飞拥有2.23亿用户，但迪士尼+比网飞的用户增长速度更快。

Operating losses at Disney+ have soared, however, causing Disney’s share price to drop by 13%.

然而，迪士尼+的运营亏损飙升，导致迪士尼股价下跌13%。

Following Netflix, it is introducing an ad-supported subscription⁶ plan next month to entice⁷ consumers and generate new revenue streams.

继网飞之后，迪士尼为了吸引消费者、产生新的收入来源，将于下个月推出广告支持订阅计划。

Advancing its ambitions in the electric-car market, Foxconn said it would invest $170m in Lordstown Motors, a startup that is developing an electric-powered pick-up truck at a factory in Ohio.

富士康为了振兴电动汽车市场的雄心，表示将向初创公司Lordstown Motors投资1.7亿美元。这家初创公司正在俄亥俄州的一家工厂开发一款电动皮卡车。

Renault is rearranging its business around five divisions, including one based on “new mobility⁸, energy and data-based services”.

雷诺正在围绕五个部门重整业务，包括一项基于“新移动出行、能源和数据服务”的业务。

The overhaul⁹ accelerates the flotation of its electric-vehicle unit, Ampere¹⁰, next year.

此次全面改革加速了其电动汽车单元Ampere明年的上市。

Renault also launched a joint¹¹ venture with Geely, a Chinese carmaker, to make internal-combustion, hybrid¹² and plug-in hybrid engines.

雷诺还与吉利(中国汽车制造商)成立了一家合资企业，生产内燃机、混合动力和插电式混合动力引擎。

In Britain speculation¹³ mounted that the government will impose a road tax on electric vehicles for the first time when it unveils a budget on November 17th.

在英国，越来越多的人猜测，政府将在11月17日公布预算时，首次对电动汽车征收道路税。

EVs are currently exempt¹⁴ from the tax, but the government is looking at ways to offset¹⁵ a fall in revenues from fuel duties because of the switch away from petrol to electric.

电动汽车目前免税，但为抵消从汽油转向电动而导致的燃油税收入下降，英国政府正在寻找方法。

The global cryptocurrency market was shaken by the looming¹⁶ collapse¹⁷ of FTX, one of the biggest exchanges, after a run of customer withdrawals¹⁸ left it facing a liquidity¹⁹ crunch²⁰.

全球最大的交易所之一FTX即将崩溃，动摇了全球加密货币市场，此前一系列客户撤资导致该交易所面临资金紧缩。

FTX turned to Binance, an arch-rival, for help.

FTX向主要竞争对手Binance寻求帮助。

Binance at first said it would take over FTX, but then pulled out of the deal, citing reports that FTX had “mishandled customer funds” and was being investigated by the authorities.

Binance最初表示将收购FTX，但随后退出了这笔交易，理由是有报道称FTX对“客户资金处理不当”，并正在接受相关部门的调查。

Cryptocurrency prices plunged²¹. Bitcoin fell to around $16,000, its lowest level in two years.

加密货币价格暴跌。比特币跌至约1.6万美元，为两年来的最低水平。

1 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。

2 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

3 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

4 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

6 subscription   

n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方）

参考例句：

• We paid a subscription of 5 pounds yearly.我们按年度缴纳5英镑的订阅费。
• Subscription selling bloomed splendidly.订阅销售量激增。

7 entice   

v.诱骗，引诱，怂恿

参考例句：

• Nothing will entice the children from television.没有任何东西能把孩子们从电视机前诱开。
• I don't see why the English should want to entice us away from our native land.我不明白，为什英国人要引诱我们离开自己的国土。

8 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

9 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

10 ampere   

n.(电)安培

参考例句：

• This piece of equipment needs a thirty-ampere fuse.这设备需要30安培的熔丝。
• The units in which we show voltage and current are volt and ampere respectively.我们用以表示电压和电流的单位分别为伏特和安培。

11 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。

12 hybrid   

n.(动，植）杂种，混合物

参考例句：

• That is a hybrid perpetual rose.那是一株杂交的四季开花的蔷薇。
• The hybrid was tall,handsome,and intelligent.那混血儿高大、英俊、又聪明。

13 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

14 exempt   

adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者

参考例句：

• These goods are exempt from customs duties.这些货物免征关税。
• He is exempt from punishment about this thing.关于此事对他已免于处分。

15 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

16 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

17 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。

18 withdrawals   

n.收回，取回，撤回( withdrawal的名词复数 )；撤退，撤走；收回[取回，撤回，撤退，撤走]的实例；推出（组织），提走（存款），戒除毒瘾，对说过的话收回，孤僻

参考例句：

• He has made several withdrawals from his bank account. 他从银行账户上提了几次款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It is not the bank's policy to deduct interest on withdrawals. 提款需扣除利息这并非是本银行的政策。 来自辞典例句

19 liquidity   

n.流动性，偿债能力，流动资产

参考例句：

• The bank has progressively increased its liquidity.银行逐渐地增加其流动资产。
• The demand for and the supply of credit is closely linked to changes in liquidity.信用的供求和流动资金的变化有密切关系。

20 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。

21 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。