2019年经济学人 一周要闻 iphone中国销量不断下跌 谷歌前CEO将离职 Facebook聚焦隐私愿景

 

The world this week

本周要闻

Business

商业

Apple’s latest quarterly earnings¹ were viewed positively² on balance. Revenue from the iPhone continued to slow, falling by 17% in the first three months of the year compared with the same quarter in 2018; the device accounts for an ever-smaller share of Apple’s revenues. And overall sales from China, where Apple faces stiff competition, were down by a fifth. But compensating³ for the bad news the company’s revenues from services—apps, music-streaming and the like—grew by 16%.

苹果最新的季度盈利总体上收到了正面的评价。iPhone营收继续放缓，今年第一季度营收同比下降17%;这款设备在苹果公司的收入中所占份额越来越小。苹果公司在中国面临着激烈的竞争，其在中国的总销量下降了20%。不过好消息是，该公司从应用程序、音乐流媒体等服务中获得的收入增长了16%。

By contrast, Alphabet’s earnings were interpreted negatively. Although revenues at Google’s parent company grew by 17%, that was the slowest pace in three years. Booking its latest antitrust fine from the EU caused net income to plunge⁴, to $6.7bn. The company also announced that Eric Schmidt, who was Google’s boss for ten years until 2011, is to step down from the board.

相比之下，Alphabet的盈利收到的评价是负面的。尽管谷歌母公司的收入增长了17%，但却是三年来的最低增速。欧盟最新的反垄断罚款导致该公司净利润暴跌至67亿美元。该公司还宣布，在2011年之前担任谷歌老板10年的埃里克·施密特(Eric Schmidt)将辞去董事会职务。

“The future is private”

“未来是私人的”

Stung by accusations⁵ of ethical⁶ shortcomings, Facebook held a conference to discuss its new “privacy-focused vision”. It also rolled out a programme whereby research academics will gain access to user data. Facebook stressed that privacy was being protected, and that it had consulted privacy experts. If anyone had private doubts about its new-found devotion, it is also testing a “differential privacy” application. All this comes as Facebook negotiates with regulators about beefing up its oversight⁷ of privacy, which reportedly may mean it appoints a privacy tsar.

受“道德问题”的谴责，Facebook召开了一次会议，讨论其新的“聚焦隐私”的社交网络愿景。该公司还推出了一项计划，让科研人员能够获得用户数据。Facebook强调，隐私正在受到保护，并且已经咨询了隐私专家。如果用户对新建立的架构有所怀疑，公司还会测试“差异隐私”的应用。这些动作都发生在Facebook与监管机构就加强对隐私的监管进行谈判之际。据报道，这可能意味着Facebook会任命一位隐私政府顾问。

Uber offered an initial price range for its forthcoming IPO of between $44 and $50 a share. That is a bit lower than had been expected, and would value the ride-hailing firm at up to $92bn when it lists (it may alter the price range).

优步为其即将进行的IPO设定了一个初始价格区间——每股44美元至50美元。这比预期价格低一些，这将使这家叫车服务公司上市时的估值达到920亿美元(这可能会改变价格区间)。

In another highly anticipated stockmarket flotation, Beyond Meat priced its IPO at $25 a share, the top end of its price range. The startup is totemic of the market’s current taste for plant-based food companies.

在另一场备受期待的股票发行中，Beyond Meat将IPO定价为每股25美元，这是其价格区间的最高端。这家初创公司标志着当前市场对植物性食品公司的青睐。

Occidental appeared to have scuppered Chevron’s deal to take over Anadarko, when the latter said that it now considers Occidental’s offer to be superior. Occidental has valued the transaction at $57bn; its proposal includes a $10bn capital injection from Warren Buffett. Anadarko has huge shale⁸ assets in America’s Permian Basin, making it an attractive partner for energy firms.

雪佛龙(Chevron)收购阿纳达科石油公司(Anadarko)的交易似乎被西方石油公司(Occidental)破坏了，当时阿纳达科石油公司表示，现在认为西方石油公司的出价更高。西方石油公司对这笔交易的估价为570亿美元;该提议包括沃伦·巴菲特(Warren Buffett)注资的100亿美元。阿纳达科公司在美国二叠纪盆地拥有巨大的页岩资源，这样的合作伙伴对各大能源公司来说极具吸引力。

1 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

2 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。

3 compensating   

补偿，补助，修正

参考例句：

• I am able to set up compensating networks of nerve connections. 我能建立起补偿性的神经联系网。
• It is desirable that compensating cables be run in earthed conduit. 补偿导线最好在地下管道中穿过。

4 plunge   

v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲

参考例句：

• Test pool's water temperature before you plunge in.在你跳入之前你应该测试水温。
• That would plunge them in the broil of the two countries.那将会使他们陷入这两国的争斗之中。

5 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

6 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

7 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

8 shale   

n.页岩，泥板岩

参考例句：

• We can extract oil from shale.我们可以从页岩中提取石油。
• Most of the rock in this mountain is shale.这座山上大部分的岩石都是页岩。