新奇事件簿 网购严重冲击英国实体店

The Internet has changed the nature of the way we shop. More and more of us are shopping online instead of in "bricks and mortar¹" stores. In the United Kingdom, this is having dire² consequences for the traditional high-street store. A respected business leader has released a report containing grim statistics on the future of U.K. retailing⁴. CEO Bill Grimsey warns that 47 per cent of Britain's chain stores are "horribly stressed financially". This amounts to some 20,000 stores. He predicts a quarter of these will be out of business within the next three years. Mr Grimsey has also said that the continual demise⁵ of traditional shopping streets has led to what he termed as "ugly" town centres.

互联网改变了人们的购物方式。比起实体店，越来越多的人选择在线购物。在英国，互联网对传统购物街构成了严重影响。一位商界领袖发表了一份关于英国未来零售业的报告，报告中包含了许多惨淡数据。首席执行官比尔·格里姆塞警告称，英国有47%的零售商店遭受到了严重的财政状况。这相当于2万家商店。他预计在未来的三年内，四分之一的商店将退出市场。格里姆塞先生还称传统商业街的陨落将导致他所说的，市镇中心的衰败景象。

Mr Grimsey provided a range of reasons for the degeneration of Britain's downtown areas. Over 40,000 of Britain's shops are empty; roughly eleven per cent of all retail³ space. Grimsey said many stores have not sufficiently⁶ risen to meet the challenge posed by the Internet. He said that rather than looking to the future, and at innovative⁷ ideas to lure⁸ customers back, many stores are still stuck in the past. In particular, he said companies were too "nostalgic". Another reason is that multinational⁹ companies are draining local areas of money. He said: "It is not difficult to keep local money within the local economy, but it doesn't work if…we are listening too much to big firms."

格里姆塞先生就英国市中心的陨落说了几点原因。超过4万家英国商店空无一人；这大约为11%的零售市场空间。格里姆塞认为许多商店无法应对互联网所带来的挑战。他称比起面向未来，运用创新方式吸引顾客，许多商店还是止步不前。他称特别是许多企业，他们太怀旧了。另一个原因是跨国企业正在掘取当地资本。他称：“要让本地资金留在本地经济中，这不难，但是如果我们一味听从大公司，那就无济于事了。

1 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

2 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

3 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

4 retailing   

n.零售业v.零售(retail的现在分词)

参考例句：

• career opportunities in retailing 零售业的职业机会
• He is fond of retailing the news. 他喜欢传播消息。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 demise   

n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让

参考例句：

• He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标，但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
• The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。

6 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

7 innovative   

adj.革新的，新颖的，富有革新精神的

参考例句：

• Discover an innovative way of marketing.发现一个创新的营销方式。
• He was one of the most creative and innovative engineers of his generation.他是他那代人当中最富创造性与革新精神的工程师之一。

8 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

9 multinational   

adj.多国的，多种国籍的；n.多国籍公司，跨国公司

参考例句：

• The firm was taken over by a multinational consulting firm.这家公司被一个跨国咨询公司收购。
• He analyzed the relationship between multinational corporations and under-developed countries.他分析了跨国公司和不发达国家之间的关系。