新奇事件簿 网购严重冲击英国实体店（在线收听）

The Internet has changed the nature of the way we shop. More and more of us are shopping online instead of in "bricks and mortar" stores. In the United Kingdom, this is having dire consequences for the traditional high-street store. A respected business leader has released a report containing grim statistics on the future of U.K. retailing. 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 demise 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 retail space. Grimsey said many stores have not sufficiently risen to meet the challenge posed by the Internet. He said that rather than looking to the future, and at innovative ideas to lure customers back, many stores are still stuck in the past. In particular, he said companies were too "nostalgic". Another reason is that multinational 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。