VOA慢速英语2015 阿里巴巴双十一再创销量纪录（在线收听）

AS IT IS 2015-11-14 Alibaba Sets Sales Record on Singles' Day

E-commerce giant Alibaba broke records with sales of $14.3 billion on China’s Singles’ Day.

电子商务巨头阿里巴巴在中国“光棍节”当天创下143亿美元的销售记录。

It is the largest online shopping day in the world.

这是全世界最大的网上购物日。

Online sales from last year increased 60 percent, according to Alibaba. Most people shopped on mobile devices, said the firm. The numbers are preliminary and unaudited, the company said.

阿里巴巴表示，在线销售比去年增加了60%。该公司表示大多数人通过移动设备购物。这些数字只是初步数据，尚未经过审计。

China Singles’ Day takes place November 11, or 11.11 each year. Alibaba promoted it as a shopping day in 2009. There are steep discounts and other promotions designed to attract online customers.

“光棍节”是在每年的11月11日。2009年，阿里巴巴将其推广为一个网购日。这一天会推出低折扣和其他促销活动，用来吸引网上顾客。

Singles’ Day quickly became a retail sensation.

光棍节很快发展为一场零售业盛事。

China Singles’ Day “has now become larger than both Cyber Monday and Black Friday combined,” the two biggest shopping days in the U.S., reported NBC News.

美国全国广播公司(NBC)报道称，双十一现在已经超过了美国最大的两个购物日，网络星期一和黑色星期五的总和。

Kitty Fok is China manager for market research from IDC. She told the BBC that online shopping had become a comfortable channel for most consumers.

霍锦洁(Kitty Fok)是IDC中国区总裁。她对BBC表示，网上购物已经成为大多数消费者一个舒适的购物渠道。

“China is a big market with close to one billion smart, connected device users. It is good news for both Alibaba and their competitors,” she said.

“中国是一个巨大市场，有近10亿智能联网设备用户。这对阿里巴巴及其竞争对手来说都是一个好消息。”

Jack Ma is Alibaba’s founder and executive chairman. He told journalists in Beijing that the event’s annual growth in the future should be more than 50 percent.

马云是阿里巴巴集团的创始人和执行董事长。他在北京对记者表示，未来该活动的年度增长率应该会超过50%。

The company is focusing on international e-commerce for future Singles’ Days, reported Reuters.

路透社报道称，该公司正致力于未来光棍节的国际电子商务活动。

“Within the next five years, we expect China will become the world’s largest e-commerce market for imported products,” President Michael Evans told reporters on Wednesday. 

阿里巴巴集团总裁兼执行董事，迈克·埃文斯(Michael Evans)周三对记者表示，“我们预计未来五年中国将成为进口产品最大的电子商务市场。”

Alibaba Chief Executive Daniel Zhang said in a statement that Singles’ Day would mean that “the whole world will witness the power of Chinese consumption.”  

阿里巴巴首席执行官张勇(Daniel Zhang)在一份声明中表示，光棍节意味着全球将会见证中国消费者的力量。

Over 130 million users visited Alibaba’s marketplace app, Taobao, reported the BBC. 

BBC报道称，超过1.3亿用户访问了阿里巴巴的市场应用程序淘宝网。

Words in This Story

transactions – n.  a business deal : an occurrence in which goods, services, or money are passed from one person, account, etc., to another

preliminary – adj. coming before the main part of something

unaudited – v. not conducting a complete and careful examination of the financial records of a business or person

steep – adj.  very high

discounts – n. an amount taken off a regular price : a price reduction

promotions – n. the act of promoting someone or something

sensation – n. someone or something that causes a lot of excitement and interest

channel – n. a system used for sending something (such as information or supplies) from one place or person to another

consumption – n. the act of buying things